The Chinese government gave BYD 3.4 billion in subsidies to help it expand

The Chinese government agreed direct grants of at least 3.7 billion dollars (3.4 billion euros) for the EV manufacturer BYD, which has been the main beneficiary of China’s large subsidies for green technology, said a think tank Germany close to the Berlin government.

China has recently increased direct government subsidies to some major green technology companies, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said. IfW, in report.

For example, direct subsidies to the BYD carmaker, the main beneficiary of such subsidies, were estimated at around 239 million dollars (220 million euros) in 2020, the Kiel Institute estimated. These direct grants increased to $2.3 billion (€2.1 billion) in 2022, with direct grants of more than $3.7 billion (€3.4 billion) between 2018 and 2022.

“Furthermore, BYD receives higher payments for the purchase of electric vehicles in China than other domestic manufacturers such as GAC or foreign companies that produce locally, such as Tesla or VW joint ventures,” the study says.

“China’s subsidy policy has been a controversial issue for many years: European industries often struggle to compete with their Chinese counterparts on price,” said Dirk Dohse, Research Director of the Kiel Institute and co-author of the report.

“However, without China’s subsidized technology, the products necessary for Germany’s green transition would be more expensive and scarcer,” Dohse added.

Invitation to grant also in the EU

What the German study describes can be read on the one hand as a condemnation of unfair Chinese competition, but, on the other hand, as an open invitation to Germany and the EU to do the same. If only subsidies justify the green transition, then Germany must also subsidize. It’s always the same idiots who pay…

European automakers have already been hit by Chinese electric carmakers’ plans to boost sales in the European Union.
In October, the EU launched an anti-subsidy investigation into imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China, to determine whether BEV supply chains in China benefit from illegal subsidies and “whether these subsidies cause or threaten to cause economic harm to EU BEV. producers”.

The results of the investigation will determine whether it is in the EU’s best interests to impose non-subsidy tariffs on electric vehicle imports from China, the European Commission said at the time.

An EU investigation into China’s subsidies is ongoing and is expected to be completed by November, but the bloc could impose tariffs as early as July.