PARIS (AP) — Automakers racing to encourage drivers to switch to electric cars are targeting everyone from luxury customers to students who haven’t yet gotten their driver’s licenses at the Paris Motor Show. They are introducing cheaper, more high-tech models.
The biennial show dates back to 1898 and has long been a major showcase for the industry.
A trade war with China is brewing, with Chinese manufacturers forced to participate despite the European Union threatening to impose punitive taxes on imports of its electric vehicles. Long-established European manufacturers are fighting back with new initiatives to win over consumers who have been hesitant about high-priced electric cars.
Here’s a look at the first day of the show on Monday.
More new models from China
Chinese EV startups Leapmotor and XPeng displayed models that reportedly incorporate artificial intelligence technology.
Leap Motor, founded in 2015, announced the B10, a compact electric SUV. Zhong Tianyue, head of product planning at Leapmotor, said it will be manufactured in Poland for European buyers. Leap Motor has not announced the price of the B10, which is scheduled to be released next year.
Leap Motor also said its small electric commuter vehicle, the T03, shown in Paris will be sold from a competitive price of 18,900 euros ($20,620). Zhong said the products sold in France will be imported from China, but will be assembled in Poland.
Leap Motor also announced the starting price of its large family car, the C10, in Europe at 36,400 euros ($39,700).
Sales outside China will be through a joint venture with Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker. According to Leap Motor, sales in Europe began in September.
XPeng is wary of being hit by tariffs
Attending the Paris show for the first time, 10-year-old Chinese EV maker XPeng unveiled its sleek sedan, the P7+.
CEO He Xiaopeng said that XPeng aims to be available in Europe starting next year. Planned pricing for the P7+ in Europe has not been disclosed, but the CEO said it will start at 209,800 yuan (equivalent to 27,100 euros or $29,600) in China.
XPeng president Brian Gu says the threat of EU import tariffs will complicate the company’s expansion plans if Brussels and the Chinese government do not find an amicable solution to the trade dispute by an end-October deadline. He said there is a possibility.
Brussels says subsidies are helping Chinese companies unfairly drive down industrial prices in the EU, and the share of Chinese-made electric vehicles will jump from 3.9% of the EV market in 2020 to 25% by September 2023. said.
“Tariffs will put a lot of pressure on our business model. This will directly hit our margins, which are already not very high,” Gu said.
Vehicles for teenagers
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The maker of small electric cars that can be driven without a license in Europe is finding a growing market among 14-year-olds and their parents, who prefer riding around on four wheels to motorbikes for safety reasons. .
Several manufacturers, including France’s Citroën, are exhibiting the two-seater in Paris. Ami, or “Friend,” has a starting price of just under 8,000 euros ($8,720). Launched in France in 2020, the plastic-clad vehicle is now on sale in other European markets as well as Turkey, Morocco and South America.
“It’s not a car. It’s a mobility object,” said Alain Le Gouget, Citroën’s head of product for Ami.
Under European law, teenagers without a full license are allowed to drive Ami and similar buggies from the age of 14 after completing an eight-hour training course. Top speed is limited to 45 kilometers per hour (28 miles).
The vehicle is also finding a market among adults who have had their licenses revoked for driving violations, adults who have never obtained a regular driver’s license, and areas on the outskirts of cities with poor transportation.
Even in the energy-sapping cold of winter, the plastic-clad, license-free, two-seater duo can travel 100 kilometers (more than 60 miles) between charges, Renault subsidiary Mobilise said. The phone app acts as that door and ignition key.
Ligier, another French manufacturer, sells license-free two-seaters in both diesel and electric power.
