The EU has slapped MG's owner, the SAIC Group, with higher tariffs than rivals

In July, the European Union imposed new tariffs on several Chinese car manufacturers, and the SAIC car group was particularly affected. It has now emerged that this happened because the state-owned group failed to properly cooperate in EU proceedings related to investigations into state support and subsidies to Chinese carmakers.

After the investigation, SAIC was given an additional duty of 10% in addition to the existing 37,6% duty. This tariff was recently revised to 36,3%, but it is still much higher than BYD, which was slapped with a 17% tariff, and Geely, which has a 19,6% tariff.

A comprehensive report published by EU authorities in July reveals that SAIC initially complied with the requirements and sent detailed responses to questionnaires. However, according to the European Commission, "these responses were very deficient" and did not provide adequate information on production costs, bills of materials, chemical composition of raw materials purchased from suppliers, and information regarding donations received by SAIC.

In April, the European Commission found that the lack of information provided by SAIC hindered its investigation and notified the automaker accordingly. Not surprisingly, the company announced that they do not agree with the assessment and that according to them they have met all the requirements, so they intend to use all legal means to prove their case. European Commission authorities were particularly surprised to receive only screenshots of important accounting and financial documents, suggesting that they were unable to properly verify the accuracy of the information.

SAIC also failed to provide original copies of its applicable joint venture agreements. Speaking to Bloomberg, the sources said that SAIC was concerned about ensuring the security of its information and that it did not have access to some of its suppliers' data. SAIC also recently took to social media to express its disagreement with the investigation, claiming that the EU had requested sensitive business information, including the chemical formula it uses for its batteries.

In comparison, BYD and Geely have done a better job of complying with the requirements, working with international law firms and collecting data thoroughly. BYD also hired political experts in Brussels. These efforts paid off as the company received the lowest tariff increase.