Since the EU announced additional tariffs on China's electric vehicles, China's new energy vehicle enterprises have been concerned, but among them, SAIC Motor has expressed greater anxiety.

The main reason is that SAIC Motor's electric vehicle brands are extremely popular in Europe (such as MG), which has led to the highest tariff imposed by the EU on SAIC Motor.

On August 20, the European Commission released a draft of the final decision on the anti-subsidy investigation results of Chinese electric vehicles and adjusted some proposed tariffs.

According to the EU's latest plan, companies that do not cooperate with the EU's anti-subsidy investigation will be subject to a maximum tariff of 36.3%, lower than the maximum provisional tariff of 37.6% set in July. Companies that cooperate with the investigation (such as Dongfeng Motor and NIO) will generally be subject to a tariff of 21.3%.

Although the provisional tariffs on the three Chinese companies that the EU had previously sampled for investigation will be slightly reduced, with BYD's tariff reduced from 17.4% to 17%, Geely's tariff reduced from 19.9% to 19.3%, and SAIC Motor's tariff reduced from 37.6% to 36.3%.

However, for SAIC Motor, the tariff imposed by the EU is still as high as 36.3%.

On August 21, in response to the "EU's Preliminary Disclosure of Anti-Subsidy Final Ruling," SAIC Motor issued a statement saying that the European Commission plans to make a final ruling by October 30 at the latest. Depending on the development of the situation, SAIC Motor will take further legal measures to actively safeguard its rights and interests in response to the European Commission's determination.

It is reported that during the anti-subsidy investigation process, SAIC Motor actively conducted legal defenses by providing thousands of documents and written evidence through various means such as submitting questionnaires, written defenses, and presenting opinions at hearings.

In fact, SAIC Motor has been engaged in a lengthy tug-of-war with the EU over the relevant anti-subsidy investigation launched against Chinese electric vehicles. It is worth noting that the currently announced higher tariff rate of 36.3% is also the result of SAIC Motor's multiple defenses.

On June 12, the European Commission released a preliminary disclosure of its preliminary ruling, calculating a subsidy rate of 38.1% for SAIC Motor. In response to the calculation errors in the preliminary disclosure, SAIC Motor promptly submitted a defense. On July 4, the European Commission officially announced the preliminary ruling results, announcing a tariff rate of 37.6% and planning to impose provisional countervailing duties accordingly.

Subsequently, also in July, SAIC Motor indicated that it would formally request the European Commission to hold a hearing on the EU's provisional countervailing duty measures on Chinese electric vehicles to further exercise its right to defense in accordance with the law.

In its defense application, SAIC Motor expressed that the EU's anti-subsidy investigation involved commercially sensitive information, such as the chemical formulas related to batteries that were requested for cooperation, which exceeded the scope of normal investigations.

On the eve of the EU's disclosure of the final anti-subsidy ruling, it remains unclear whether SAIC Motor can regain its "justice" through defenses and uphold the legitimate rights and interests of China's electric vehicle industry in going abroad.

(Images in the article are sourced from SAIC Motor's Weibo account)?