Ola K01llenius says it will weaken the industry on both sides ahead of act intended to counter non-EU competition
Locking the UK out of the EUs flagship industrial Made in Europe legislation would amount to a deliberate choice by EU leaders to hurt the car industry across the bloc, the head of Mercedes-Benz has said.
Speaking in his capacity as president of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), Ola K01llenius said such a move would weaken the industry on both sides.
He was speaking just weeks before political leaders hope to reach agreement on the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), potentially keeping the UK car industry out of key contracts in the EU.
The act, known as the Made in Europe law, aims to protect local industry by countering competition from outside the EU.
It is mainly aimed at China, which is now enjoying a 051bn a day trade surplus with the EU, but has caused potential problems for the EUs close allies including the UK, Norway, Turkey and Switzerland.
It does not make any sense We would hurt our industry in the UK and the EU. That would be a deliberate choice to worsen the competitiveness of your own [EU] industry, K01llenius said at an annual briefing in Brussels on the state of the car industry.
We are talking about how we industrialise more in Europe, how we build local supply chains, that is what the IAA is all about, he added.
Andy Burnham has been lobbying hard to get the UK included in the Made in Europe legislation but is hitting resistance, particularly from France.
The prime minister intends to raise it at the UK-EU summit on 20 November and is hoping it is not too late, even though EU leaders are aiming for political agreement on the current text by December.
Last month, the EU urged the UK to follow the bloc and impose tariffs on imported Chinese vehicles, which it introduced in 2024.
It argued this would help the UKs case to be included in Made in Europe as it would align more closely with the EU on key trading sectors.
But the UK business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said on a trip to India that this was not on the cards at the moment.
The ACEA is also lobbying hard for an urgent suspension of plans to introduce 10% tariffs on UK electric vehicles (EVs) imported to the EU, and EU EVs exported to the UK.
We are getting very anxious about it. The deadline is in less than three months time. We have our feet to the fire in terms of the tariffs. All our manufacturers are worried, said Jonathan ORiordan, the ACEAs international trade director.
The tariff schedule is written into the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) as a way of incentivising the industry on both sides of the Channel to speed up the production of batteries, which can represent about 45% of the cost of a new car.
Under the TCA, car exports on both sides are tariff-free if they are mainly made in Europe, but with the EU and the UK unable to produce sufficient electric batteries to compete with China, cars exported to each others market would be subject to a 10% tariff from next year.
The tariff was originally due to come into force in 2024 but was suspended for three years to give the car industry more time.
The car industry says it needs a further two- or three-year suspension urgently.
Meanwhile, concern has intensified in the EU in the last three months over Chinas trade surplus with the bloc, with a threat of trade barriers leading to an agreement on Friday between Beijing and Brussels to reduce sales of hybrid electric cars by half over four years.
One official said the time to rebalance trade by increasing EU exports was gone. No amount of champagne [exports] is going to revitalise the relationship [with China], a senior EU official told a separate trade policy briefing in Brussels.
奥拉·凯勒纽斯表示，在旨在应对非欧盟竞争的法规出台前，此举将“削弱双方产业”。
梅赛德斯-奔驰负责人表示，将英国排除在欧盟旗舰产业政策“欧洲制造”立法之外，将等同于欧盟领导人“蓄意选择”损害整个欧盟地区的汽车产业。
奥拉·凯勒纽斯以欧洲汽车制造商协会（ACEA）主席的身份表示，此举将“削弱双方产业”。
他发表此番讲话时，距离政治领导人有望就《工业加速法案》（IAA）达成协议仅剩数周，而该法案可能使英国汽车行业无缘欧盟的关键合同。
这项被称为“欧洲制造”法的法案，旨在通过应对外部竞争来保护本土产业，以抗衡欧盟以外的竞争压力。
此举主要针对中国，中国目前对欧盟的贸易顺差高达每天10亿英镑，但这也给欧盟的亲密盟友——包括英国、挪威、土耳其和瑞士——带来了潜在问题。
“这毫无意义——我们将损害英国和欧盟的产业。那将是故意削弱你们（欧盟）自身产业竞争力的选择，”凯伦纽斯在布鲁塞尔举行的汽车行业年度简报会上表示。
“我们正在讨论如何进一步在欧洲实现工业化，如何建立本地供应链，这正是IAA（国际汽车博览会）的核心所在，”他补充道。
安迪·伯纳姆一直在积极游说，希望将英国纳入“欧洲制造”法案的适用范围，但遇到了阻力，尤其是来自法国的反对。
首相计划在11月20日的英国-欧盟峰会上提出此事，并希望为时未晚，尽管欧盟领导人正力争在12月前就现有文本达成政治协议。
上个月，欧盟敦促英国效仿其做法，对进口的中国汽车加征关税，欧盟已于2024年实施此类关税。
它认为，这将有助于英国被纳入“欧洲制造”计划，因为这将使英国在关键贸易领域与欧盟更加紧密地保持一致。
但英国商业大臣乔纳森·雷诺兹在访问印度期间表示，目前尚无此计划。
欧洲汽车制造商协会（ACEA）也在积极游说，要求紧急暂停对从英国进口至欧盟的电动汽车（EV）以及从欧盟出口至英国的电动汽车征收10%关税的计划。
“我们对此感到非常焦虑。距离最后期限已不到三个月。在关税问题上，我们承受着巨大压力。所有制造商都很担忧，”欧洲汽车制造商协会（ACEA）国际贸易主管乔纳森·奥里奥丹表示。
关税时间表被写入脱欧后的《贸易与合作协定》（TCA），旨在激励英吉利海峡两岸的汽车产业加快电池生产，而电池成本约占一辆新车总成本的45%。
根据《贸易与合作协定》（TCA），只要汽车主要在欧洲生产，双方之间的汽车出口均可享受免关税待遇。然而，由于欧盟和英国无法生产足够的电动汽车电池来与中国竞争，从明年起，双方相互出口的汽车将被征收10%的关税。
该关税原定于2024年生效，但被暂停了三年，以便给汽车行业更多时间。
汽车行业表示，迫切需要再暂停两到三年。
与此同时，过去三个月里，欧盟对中国与欧盟之间的贸易顺差担忧加剧，贸易壁垒的威胁促使北京与布鲁塞尔于上周五达成协议，计划在四年内将混合动力汽车的销量减少一半。
一位官员表示，通过增加欧盟出口来重新平衡贸易的时机已经过去。一位欧盟高级官员在布鲁塞尔举行的另一场贸易政策简报会上表示：“再多的香槟（出口）也无法重振（与中国的）关系。”
