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"At the request of SAIC Group, the European Commission held a special hearing on anti-subsidy investigations at the EU headquarters in Brussels. SAIC submitted a rebuttal to the European Commission's preliminary anti-subsidy ruling and actively safeguarded its legitimate rights and interests." According to a message released by SAIC Group on July 22, at the hearing, SAIC Group clearly stated that the European Commission's anti-subsidy investigation involved commercially sensitive information and that the European Commission's determination of subsidies was wrong.

According to the procedure, the European Commission is expected to make a final ruling on November 2. SAIC Motor said that it would reserve the right to take further legal measures in response to the European Commission's unfair, unreasonable and illegal preliminary ruling.

In addition, at the hearing, Shi Yonghong, vice president of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (hereinafter referred to as "China Chamber of Commerce for Machinery and Electronic Products"), explained the Chinese viewpoint to the European Commission on behalf of the electric vehicle industry. He said that the European Commission violated many practices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and EU anti-subsidy regulations in the preliminary ruling of this case, and the subsidy range calculated in the preliminary ruling cannot reflect the real situation of the sampled Chinese enterprises. The European Commission's decision to take temporary tax measures was strongly opposed by some EU member states, the German Association of the Automotive Industry and major European automobile manufacturers, which seriously damaged the interests of all parties in China and Europe.

SAIC Motors has submitted a preliminary anti-subsidy ruling to the European Commission in response to a 37.6% tariff increase.

On October 4, 2023, the European Commission issued an announcement to officially launch an anti-subsidy investigation on new battery electric vehicles imported from China. On July 4, 2024, the European Commission issued a preliminary ruling report, deciding to impose temporary anti-subsidy duties on electric vehicles.

Among the three sampled companies, SAIC Motor was subject to an additional tax rate of 37.6%, Geely Automobile was subject to an additional tax rate of 19.9%, and BYD was subject to an additional tax rate of 17.4%. The additional tax rate for other companies that cooperated with the investigation was 20.8%, and the additional tax rate for companies that did not cooperate with the investigation was the same as that of SAIC Motor.

According to the European Commission's anti-subsidy investigation process, after the preliminary ruling is announced, stakeholders can request the European Commission to hold a hearing within 5 days after July 5, and submit objections within 15 days after July 5.

On July 5, SAIC Motor issued an announcement stating that it would formally request the European Commission to hold a hearing on China's temporary anti-subsidy tax measures on electric vehicles and further exercise its right of defense in accordance with the law.

SAIC Group stated that the European Commission's anti-subsidy investigation involves commercially sensitive information, such as the investigation requires cooperation in providing battery-related chemical formulas, which is beyond the normal scope of the investigation; the European Commission made errors in its identification of subsidies, such as confusing the auto finance company wholly owned by a foreign joint venture partner as an affiliated company of SAIC and including it in the calculation of the subsidy rate; during the investigation, SAIC has submitted thousands of written materials, but the European Commission ignored some key information and defense opinions submitted by SAIC, and inflated the subsidy rates of multiple projects.

The China Chamber of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering calls on the European Commission to strictly abide by WTO rules and maintain objectivity, fairness and transparency.

As the industry defense party in this investigation, after participating in the EU's anti-subsidy investigation hearing on China's electric vehicles, the China Machinery and Electrical Chamber of Commerce held a press conference in Brussels, strongly calling on the European Commission to strictly abide by WTO rules and remain objective, fair and transparent.

The China Chamber of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering said that the European Commission's preliminary ruling contained many erroneous findings and violated WTO rules; taking trade remedy measures in this case would harm the interests of all parties, and the development and growth of the EU and Chinese electric vehicle industries lies in cooperation rather than conflict. China remains open to and hopes for a balanced solution to this investigation.

"After the preliminary ruling, some EU member states, the German Automotive Industry Association and major European automakers, such as Volkswagen and BMW, have clearly expressed their opposition to the preliminary ruling." Shi Yonghong, vice president of the China Chamber of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, mentioned that the European Commission's sampling of Chinese and EU companies does not comply with the EU's anti-subsidy regulations, and the information required of Chinese exporters is very broad and harsh, and the tendency to pre-set conclusions is very obvious. At the same time, the European Commission violated the obligation of affirmative evidence and objective review in price comparison, and did not objectively analyze the EU industry damage indicators. He said that the European Commission's investigation was seriously lacking in transparency, which seriously affected the objectivity and fairness of the ruling.

In addition to the company-level protests, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao held a video conference with EU Commission Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on June 22. The two sides agreed to start consultations on the EU's anti-subsidy investigation of Chinese electric vehicles. According to information released by the Ministry of Commerce, China and the EU have held multiple rounds of consultations at the technical level.

On July 19, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group Oliver Blume. Wang Wentao said that Volkswagen and other European automobile companies advocate fair competition and strongly oppose the EU's imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, which China appreciates. We expect Volkswagen and other European automobile companies to continue to play an active role in promoting the European Commission and member governments such as Germany to work with China in the same direction, and on the basis of respecting facts and rules, to speed up the consultation process, reach a proper solution as soon as possible, and avoid the expansion and escalation of economic and trade frictions.

Blume said that Volkswagen has always expressed opposition to the EU's imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, firmly supports market openness and fair competition, opposes trade protectionism, and hopes that the EU and China will properly resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation.

Zhang Bing, a financial reporter from Beijing News Shell, and Chen Li, a proofreader