China make some sense of it all
The 2022 version of this story referred to Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares’s wish to see the EU impose tariffs on Chinese-made cars in a bid to stop established European firms from losing ground to newcomers like BYD, MG, Nio and many more.
This year, that view was contrasted by his Renault Group counterpart, Luca De Meo, who is of the more capitalist opinion that these Chinese disruptors deserve to compete in the European market on merit and companies like his own stand to learn a lot from their approach to gaining market share.
“The only thing we can do is to accept that, to actually look at them and be humble, but not play the victim,” he said.
The sticking point is that as the European car industry gets back on its feet in the wake of the Covid pandemic and semiconductor crisis and in the face of huge geopolitical uncertainty, its brands have to square off with Chinese rivals that enjoy the enormous advantages of substantial state subsidies, cheap manufacturing costs and stable local supply chains.
However, de Meo’s opinion is rooted in recent memory, as he likens today’s uneasy competitive environment to those from the 1960s through to the 1990s. “When the Japanese and Koreans came, it was the same thing” he said. “They can play the game.”