smart Mulling European Production Amidst Chinese EV Tariffs

Amidst the impending Chinese EV tariffs, smart Automobiles are planning to set up new production in Europe.

In case you missed it, the European Union (EU) is planning to impose new tariffs of up to 40% for Chinese EVs. This has prompted some automakers, both European and Chinese, to move their EV production away from the Great Wall Nation in a bid to circumvent these gripping tariffs and maintain their market share.

One of those marques, befittingly, is smart Automobiles, which is equally owned by Chinese automotive giant Geely and German automaker Mercedes-Benz. Precisely, smart is mulling over setting up a European-based production facility, citing that this move will help the automaker increase its production volume and efficiency.

Speaking to Autocar UK, smart Europe CEO Dirk Adelmann said that the brand being co-owned by Mercedes-Benz and Geely gives it potential flexibility to globalise its operations.

"We have a parent company based in Germany with production basically all over the world, but also Geely and other daughter companies have production in Europe and other places in the world,” the CEO commented.

smart #1 EV being assembled at Geely's production facility in Xi'an, China.

The CEO also added that building smart cars locally is a good idea for the brand, provided that the cost structure is comparable to the ones they already have for their production facilities in China. This move is also in line with the marque’s plan to venture into more international markets while at the same time diversifying their production footprint.

Both the smart #1 (left) & smart #3 (right) EV crossovers are assembled in China.

Being a semi-European marque, smart is no stranger to producing its models on the Old Continent, with the automaker previously assembling its ForTwo supermini at Ineos’ factory in Hambach, France. With the production of the ForTwo at said plant having finally ceased earlier this year, all smart models, including both the #1 and #3 EV crossovers, are now being assembled exclusively at Geely’s plant in Xi’an, China.

As the brand embarks on its global expansion plan, smart is mulling over the idea of localising its production in other territories around the world, citing that it’d be better to do so in order to meet the rising demand. With the new tariffs imposed by the EU on Chinese EVs set to be implemented any time soon, we’d reckon there’s no better time for smart to diversify its production to other parts of the world.