Why Put up-Brexit Decisions Are Costing Drivers Extra

Put up-Brexit, Britain steered away from EU-style further tariffs on Chinese language electrical autos in a bid to make them cheaper. As a substitute, UK drivers are paying a lot the identical whereas producers seem to pocket the distinction, says Steve McCauley

The European Union imposes heavy anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese language-built electrical autos (EVs) — for instance 17 p.c on BYD and an eye-watering 35.3 p.c on SAIC Motor, the Chinese language state-owned producer whose manufacturers embody MG. The tax is charged on the CIF (Price, Insurance coverage and Freight) landed worth of the vehicles.

That is along with the bottom import obligation of 10 p.c, utilized to the CIF worth of all vehicles introduced into the EU. 1000’s of euros in further anti-dumping duties at the moment are included within the retail value of each Chinese language EV bought in EU nations, because the bloc seeks to guard its producers from what it regards as unfair competitors and subsidised dumping by China.

In distinction, the UK Authorities has used its post-Brexit freedoms to use solely a ten p.c obligation to automobile imports to the UK. There isn’t a further UK anti-dumping obligation geared toward China.

The British Authorities’s reasoning seems to be that avoiding excessive further tariffs will make EVs extra inexpensive and drive take-up. By not imposing punitive EU-style anti-dumping duties, customers ought to, in concept, pay much less.

As such, you may logically assume that comparable Chinese language-built electrical vehicles can be considerably cheaper within the UK than in France or Germany. In spite of everything, the extra 35.3 p.c tax (CIF) on a automobile such because the MG4 — whose retail value in Germany is round £30,000 — is prone to exceed £4,000 (the precise numbers are usually not public). A BYD Atto 2 entry-level Enhance mannequin prices round £30,500 in Germany, suggesting a further anti-dumping tax (17 p.c on the CIF price) of roughly £2,900 constructed into the value.

However you’ll be unsuitable. Nothing is logical in the case of Brexit. 

The UK retail listing value for the favored BYD Atto 2 entry-level Enhance mannequin is £30,135. In France, it’s round £26,200. The MG4 Premium Lengthy Vary 64 kWh retails for £29,995 within the UK — and across the similar quantity in France. As appears so typically to be the case, the UK has used its radioactive post-Brexit freedom to engineer the worst of all worlds.

Chinese language producers look like cannily pricing their vehicles at comparable or increased ranges within the UK than in EU markets and, in impact, pocketing the distinction. That distinction is what they’d in any other case have needed to pay to the UK Authorities had Britain adopted the EU’s lead — or remained contained in the bloc — and utilized anti-dumping duties.

The hypothetical sums are usually not trivial. Chinese language manufacturers bought virtually 200,000 new vehicles within the UK in 2025 — representing 9.7% of the entire market and 12.7% of all EV gross sales. As Chinese language manufacturers take a rising share of the electrical automobile market, gross sales in 2026 are prone to rise additional.

If Chinese language EV gross sales had been to strategy 200,000 models and the foregone anti-dumping tariff averaged £2,500 per automobile, the sum concerned would strategy half a billion kilos.

Put one other manner, UK drivers in mixture could possibly be over-paying by that quantity in 2026 if the absence of an anti-dumping tariff had been mirrored in decrease retail costs than these charged within the EU. The Chinese language-built EVs being purchased by UK drivers ought to, logically, be markedly cheaper than comparable vehicles bought by their neighbours in France and Germany.

There may be one other actuality. Even stripping out punitive import duties and delivery prices, Chinese language EVs are far dearer within the UK and Europe than in China. Competitors within the home Chinese language market is intense and closely supported by state subsidies. The beginning value for an MG4 there may be below £7,500, and a top-of-the-range mannequin might be purchased in Beijing for below £11,000. It’s little surprise that European producers argue they want safety from Chinese language competitors. Neither is this concern confined to Europe: the US has successfully locked Chinese language EV producers out of the American market to guard its home trade, at the least for now.

The UK is a (comparatively) free market, and complicated Chinese language producers and importers are benefitting from the British Authorities’s half-baked coverage. It’s excessive time that UK policymakers and regulators awakened and introduced stress to bear on these producers and distributors to behave pretty in the direction of UK customers — or take motion to compel them to take action.

Within the meantime, potential British consumers of Chinese language-made EVs could be higher off taking the bus.

Steve McCauley is a management coach, strategic advisor and journalist whose profession spans media, authorities, digital expertise and worldwide improvement. A Senior Fellow on the College of Cambridge and licensed government coach, he has suggested presidents, ministers, CEOs and international organisations on technique, governance and artistic considering in advanced environments. As Technique & Artistic Intelligence Correspondent for The European, he writes on management, governance, expertise, innovation and the forces shaping European development. 

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