At the end of last month, the European Union announced a countervailing investigation into Chinese electric vehicles, which aroused strong concern from all parties. According to overseas media reports,BMW seems to be involved too. A report on Friday local time showed that BMW received an "information request" from the European Union about its pure electric model iX3, which will be part of the EU's investigation into subsidies to Chinese electric car manufacturers.
BMW is currently filling out a questionnaire. The chief financial officer told reporters on the phone that BMW must complete the investigation within a week and provide the EU with detailed information on investment and production capacity of electric vehicles exported from China.
Data shows that BMW exported 15,000 to 20,000 iX3 models from China last year. The chief financial officer bluntly said, "This will affect all international car manufacturers doing business in China".
Not only that, the investigation of BMW also means that the EU not only targets local Chinese brand models, such as BYD, NIO, SAIC, Great Wall, etc., but also hopes to obtain data on foreign brands produced in China, including Tesla.
Not everyone agrees with the EU investigation, with Oliver Blumer, chief executive of Germany's Volkswagen Group and Porsche Group, advising politicians to exercise caution when taking action against China's trade practices.
"We stand for fair competition," Blumer told an event in Stuttgart, but protectionism should not result from this because it would lead to more protectionism. also,Investigations into unfair trade practices should not be limited to subsidies received by Chinese suppliers but should cover all market participants.