Volkswagen has never been able to gain the momentum it wanted in the electric car market. Both a latecomer to the market and not sufficiently focused on the electric car market, VW became a partner with Chinese Xpeng last year. Xpeng, which is slowly becoming popular in the Chinese electric car market, has begun preparations for a European factory.
Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng may build European factory near Turkey
The EU has recently started to demand high taxes for Chinese electric car manufacturers with the laws it has enacted. Again, Canada recently announced that it will impose a 100% tax on electric cars coming from China. Here, manufacturers are responding to this taxation, which was initiated to prevent the influx of cheap Chinese electric cars in the world, by moving factories.
After BYD’s decision to open a factory in Turkey, Xpeng, which VW became a partner with last year, is now looking to open a factory in Europe. Xpeng’s CEO He Xiaopeng announced that they are in the process of choosing a location in Europe. The Xpeng-VW partnership is among the factors that pave the way for the brand to establish a European factory.
He Xiaopeng announced that they are researching countries with lower labor and costs among EU countries. Xpeng or the CEO did not give a clear country name on this issue. However, it is estimated that the research is being conducted in countries such as Bulgaria and Romania.
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Xpeng’s EU factory will also allow VW to be much closer to its partner. Xpeng is a developing electric car brand. However, its sales in the first quarter of 2024 were not as expected. Although BYD is a weak brand compared to brands like Chery, it is looking to make a move with its EU factory.
As you know, there are additional taxes for Chinese electric car manufacturers in the Turkish market. Although Xpeng does not establish a factory in Turkey, it is highly likely that it will come to nearby countries such as Romania and Bulgaria. This indicates that the brand, which entered Turkey last year, will enter the Turkish market much cheaper.
As we said, the brand delivered 50 thousand cars in its 2024 first quarter reports. This is the number of cars delivered by giant brands like BYD in just one month. In this sense, Xpeng, VW partnership and European factory attack can change the whole picture.
So what do you think will be the response from countries like the EU, the US, Canada and the UK to this game change by Chinese electric car companies? We are waiting for your comments.