New Delhi: The warning came from Hyundai Motor in this week’s meeting of its CEO, Jose Munoz. If the US government maintains robust trade rules, then the United States may be in for a bumper-to-bumper legion of cheap Chinese vehicles like Europe has just experienced, he said.
China has seen rapid development of their car manufacturers in Europe. Car salesmanship has been transferred from heavy-hitters such as Hyundai and Volkswagen, who have been selling cars for a lot of money. In some countries, such as Italy, Spain and France, Chinese cars are 30-40% cheaper than their rivals, Munoz said.
This is in spite of the fact that in Europe there are already tariffs and price rules in place to prevent Chinese companies selling items at too low a price. However, Britain, which is no longer part of the European Union, does not have this same procedure. This has dramatically transformed the car market in Britain,” said Munoz. Since there are no barriers, Chinese brands are the big hits there, he said.
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If the government does not maintain protections this could begin to happen in the US as well, he believes.
The current tariff on Chinese electric vehicles is approximately 100 percent, virtually excluding them from the U.S. market. Recently, however, President Trump indicated that he would be happy to have Chinese automakers establish factories in the United States. Other U.S. car manufacturers, from Ford’s top executive, have said they are on the brink of seeing Chinese competitors in the U.S. market in 5 to 10 years.
Munoz was formerly the head of Nissan’s business operations in China. He was impressed with the rapid progress made by Chinese auto technology.
Munoz discussed Hyundai’s plans to create an autonomous vehicle in the same interview. The company has delayed its own sophisticated driver-assist system to 2029, a second year later than it was expected to be available, so the tech can gather more safety-related information. Meanwhile, Hyundai is coming together with Nvidia to create an interim system. But Hyundai, in the long term, is interested in developing its own self-driving and battery technology, not just relying on its partners, Munoz said.
