The silly oil war in Iran is raising the cost of almost everything, including new cars. This is giving Chinese EVs a huge advantage over Western “legacy” car brands that are already lagging behind in technology and struggling for affordability, and those legacy brands are about to have a whole problem. new for them problem on your hands: Used Chinese electric vehicles.
Western carmakers have relied on protectionist trade policies to keep cheaper Chinese rivals at bay, imposing strict limits on the number of new Chinese cars allowed and high tariffs on new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) reaching 45.3% in the EU. That supply limitation, of course, is increasing demand for low-cost, high-tech Chinese machines, and buyers in Europe and Canada are finding that used Chinese electric vehicles, which offer technology comparable to newer Western electric vehicles, a price up to 40% lower than their already low MSRP, and which are No Subject to the same protectionist import tariffs, they are a viable alternative.
According to data shared by importers/exporters China electric vehicle market (CEVM), used vehicle sales to EU customers grew by 280% year-on-year, with sales increasing to 7,900 units through September.
“Tariffs have already weakened demand for new Chinese BEVs among our European customers. We expect the hybrid import cap to also put pressure on new PHEV sales,” said CEVM COO Jakub Geršl. CarNewsChina. “Used cars are exempt from the additional fees for BEV and the new hybrid (PHEV) quota. That is why we are making used vehicles the main focus of our European business.”
Relentless progress
CEVM has over 2,600 used Chinese electric vehicles on its website as I write this, and its inventory is updated almost daily with new examples of used cars from brands like BYD, Geely, Zeekr and others, and the company claims its prices are about 40% below the original price (MSRP) on average.
“Lower new car prices also put pressure on used vehicle prices,” adds Geršl. “Our Shanghai-based team looks for such opportunities. We regularly find cars with around 6,000 kilometers on them at a price 40% lower than the original list price in China.”
That price reduction is driven by a number of factors, including the relentless march of technological progress, the flood of new and updated electric vehicles coming out of Chinese auto brands, and a burgeoning Chinese national car culture that values novelty above all else. If you read between the lines, I think you’ll find that means more low-mileage, low-price, high-tech, high-value Chinese EVs are coming to the West, and probably much sooner than brands like VW, which are struggling to compete as they are, would want.
And that’s the real problem: whether you agree with him or not, Elon Musk will tell you that technology and markets move faster than legislation, and once consumers go electric, very few of them go back to gasoline or diesel, regardless of what that guy who films himself using PitVipers in the driver’s seat of his truck and your racist uncle on Facebook tells you.
Let us know in the comments if you agree and if you would give a used Chinese EV a chance if one showed up at your local Carvana.
SOURCE | IMAGES: China electric vehicle market.
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