Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng delivers its 10,000th vehicle to Europe while “Chinese electric vehicles maintain a strong competitive advantage despite tariffs”

Photo EV: VCG

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng announced on Monday that it has delivered its 10,000th smart EV to the European market, adding to recent developments that have highlighted the strong presence of Chinese EVs in the EU despite significant additional tariffs .

He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng, said in a post on Sina Weibo that the company is the first Chinese new electric vehicle startup to deliver 10,000 electric vehicles to the European market and ranks first in sales for models priced above 40,000 euros ($41,612.7). among all Chinese automakers this year.

On Sunday, another Chinese electric vehicle company, Nio, said it plans to launch its new Firefly EV brand in the European market early in the first half of 2025. While noting that additional EU tariffs would “certainly ” impact on its electric vehicles, Li Bin, CEO of Nio, said that “Even so, Firefly is very competitive because it is a product developed with true smart EV technologies, which Nio has been investing in for a decade . We are confident in the competitiveness of its products”, according to Reuters.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, introduced additional tariffs of up to 35.3% on Chinese electric vehicles in October. However, Chinese electric vehicles have so far maintained a strong position in the European market, according to a recent report from JATO Dynamics, a leading provider of data and analytics for the global automotive industry.

Released on Friday, the JATO report showed that sales of battery electric vehicles by Chinese automakers almost matched those of Tesla in the European market in November. “The most notable performances of the month came from Chinese automakers, who together recorded more than 24,100 units (of battery electric vehicles) in November (including Volvo, Polestar and Lotus), second only to Tesla,” the report said. .

During the month, the market share of Chinese automakers in the battery electric vehicle category increased from 12.5% ​​in November 2023 to 13.2% in November 2024, with significant growth seen by several Chinese car manufacturers. electric vehicles, including Leapmotor, with growth of 296%, BYD. , with growth of 127 percent and Xpeng, with growth of 93 percent, according to the JATO report.

Zhang Xiang, chief energy storage expert at Jiangsu Gufeng Electric Power Technology Co and electric vehicle industry expert, said the strong performance of Chinese electric vehicles in the European market can be attributed to their competitive advantage. “Chinese electric vehicles maintain a very competitive cost advantage, and even with additional tariffs, they are still doing their best to survive in the market,” Zhang told the Global Times on Monday.

Commenting on the progress of the negotiations at a press conference on Thursday, He Yongqian, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce, said China had consistently done its best in consultations and called on the EU to take action. practices for working with China will jointly advance consultations.