BYD seen retaining its edge in Europe

BYD's electric cars will still be cheaper than their European rivals even if the Chinese firm moves production to the continent to escape possible import tariffs, says UBS.

Advances in manufacturing and technologies will allow BYD to price its Seal mid-size car between 15 to 25 percent cheaper than European EVs, even if it moves production to Europe, said Paul Gong, head of China autos research at UBS Investment Bank.

BYD not only benefits from cheaper labor in China and low material costs but also from the advanced integrated design of its EVs, he added.

The European Commission has started a 13-month investigation into whether it should levy punitive import tariffs on Chinese EVs which benefit from government subsidies.

Gong said China has stopped subsidies EV makers despite extending tax breaks for buyers, so there is no justification to the claim that Chinese EV firms have this advantage.