2024-10-14 09:41:00
It is the annual meeting of the largest producers on the planet. This Monday, October 14, the auto show opens its doors in Paris, in a difficult context for the electric car industry.
« We are in the worst situation », Recognizes Luc Chatel, president of the Automobile Platform, which brings together the actors of the French automotive industry. “ Producers are playing the electricity game, but consumers don’t want it enough “. The phenomenon is observed throughout Europe, where only 12% of new vehicles sold are electric.
Fear of tax increases
The trend does not spare France, where 20% of cars sold last month were electric, far from the 25% target set for next year. All this in a very difficult context for the automotive industry in general, which has just recorded the worst month of sales in the last 20 years. “ After Covid we lost the equivalent of a year’s sales », explains Luc Chatel.
Hence the alarm raised by French producers on the eve of the opening of car showin Paris. “ We risk being penalized because customers are no longer interested in electricity. We don’t have to tax ourselves on thermal vehicles, which still represent the bulk of the activity », explains Luc Chatel. Yet this is what the government is preparing to do. The 2025 finance law, presented last week by Michel Barnierpredicts an increase in the car fine, which will now affect almost all petrol and diesel cars.
Read alsoElectric vehicles: Faced with a slowdown in the market, manufacturers lower their ambitions
Competitiveness gaps with China
The show also opens in a context of commercial competition with the Chinese. Last month, the European Union introduced import surcharges on Chinese vehicles, which are often cheaper and equipped with more advanced technology than their European counterparts.
But more than competition, it is competitiveness that is proposed by producers. “ We cannot continue to buy electricity in Europe at a price 50% more expensive than in China or the United States.United States » pleads Luc Chatel. “ We cannot ask ourselves to do in 5 years what the Chinese have done in 20 years. ».
To remedy this competitiveness gap, the Automotive Platform wants a “ electroshock in the automotive industry » and calls for a European support fund for the sector, training measures for the professions of tomorrow, but above all a harmonization of bonuses across the continent. These famous aids for the purchase of electric vehicles are not the same everywhere in Europe. And above all they are not stable: according to the automotive platform, in France alone the regulations have changed 15 times in 5 years.
Read alsoChina-EU: the debate on electric vehicle prices stumbles over “big differences”
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