Unacceptable! MG's parent company SAIC submits preliminary anti-subsidy defense opinion to the European Commission!

On July 22, SAIC issued a statement saying that at the request of SAIC, the European Commission held an anti-subsidy investigation hearing on July 19 at the Brussels EU headquarters. SAIC submitted preliminary anti-subsidy ruling rebuttal opinions to the European Commission, actively defending their legitimate rights and interests.

It is expected that the European Commission will make a final ruling on November 2. Regarding the unfair, unreasonable, and illegal preliminary ruling of the European Commission (a 37.6% tariff), SAIC reserves the right to take further legal actions.

At the anti-subsidy investigation hearing on July 19, SAIC clearly stated: The European Commission's anti-subsidy investigation involves business-sensitive information, such as the requirement to provide chemical formulas related to batteries, which exceeds the scope of normal investigations. The European Commission's determination of subsidies is erroneous, for example, mistaking foreign joint-venture independently financed auto finance companies as SAIC's affiliated enterprises and including them in the subsidy rate calculation. During the investigation, SAIC has submitted thousands of written materials, but the European Commission has ignored some of the key information and counterarguments submitted by SAIC, artificially inflating the subsidy rate of several projects.

On June 12, the European Commission published a preliminary ruling information disclosure. The European Union will levy tariffs of 17.4%, 20%, and 38.1% on the three Chinese manufacturers BYD, GEELY, and SAIC, which were sampled in the preliminary investigation. A 21% tariff will be imposed on other manufacturers who cooperated with the investigation but were not sampled, and the highest tariff of 38.1% will be imposed on SAIC, which is alleged to have not cooperated with the investigation.

In response to the calculation errors in the preliminary ruling pre-disclosure, SAIC quickly submitted a rebuttal. On July 4, the European Commission announced the preliminary ruling results, declaring a tariff rate of 37.6% and planning to levy a temporary anti-subsidy tax based on this.

SAIC Group Co-operation and Legal Affairs Senior Director Jun Yu

On July 18, organized by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, SAIC participated in the initial ruling hearing of the EU's anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles. The representative of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products clearly pointed out that the European Commission violated many practices of WTO rules and EU anti-subsidy regulations in this preliminary ruling; the subsidy rate calculated in the preliminary ruling cannot reflect the real situation of Chinese sampling enterprises; the European Commission decided to take temporary taxation measures, which was strongly opposed by some EU member states, the German Automobile Industry Association, and major European car manufacturers, seriously damaging the interests of all parties in China and Europe.

Yu Jun, senior director of SAIC's Cooperation and Legal Affairs Department, stated that open competition can bring progress, and protectionism will only lead to backwardness. He hopes that China and Europe can achieve win-win through cooperation, accelerate the convergence of innovative forces, and create global green development together.

Public data shows that in the first half of 2024, SAIC's terminal delivery volume reached 2.122 million units. Among them, the terminal delivery volume of electrified vehicles reached 522,000 units, ranking second among Chinese auto companies; the terminal delivery volume in overseas markets reached 554,000 units, leading the industry continuously.

It is reported that 2024 is a big year for the SAIC MG brand, with 8 new models on the European market alone. With the increasing sales of the MG brand in the European market, SAIC plans to introduce China's electrification automotive technology and green factories into Europe.