{"id":527705,"date":"2026-07-01T14:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/527705\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T14:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:19:08","slug":"eu-urged-to-exempt-uk-from-car-rules-that-could-be-worst-brexit-impact-yet-automotive-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/527705\/","title":{"rendered":"EU urged to exempt UK from car rules that could be worst Brexit impact yet | Automotive industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU\u2019s car industry has called for the UK to be fully included in new \u201cmade in Europe\u201d<\/a> rules that threaten to shut out British manufacturers from their biggest export market.<\/p>\n

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (Acea) on Wednesday urged Brussels to give the UK, Turkey and Morocco \u201cjustified, targeted exemptions\u201d to the rules, which will require cars and parts to be made within the EU to qualify for subsidies or public procurement.<\/p>\n

The European Commission drafted the rules under the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) to try to protect the EU\u2019s industry from China<\/a>, whose cheap but heavily subsidised exports have undercut European products. However, the rules threaten to become the most damaging consequence of Brexit<\/a> yet for British manufacturers because they apply to EU members only.<\/p>\n

Acea, which is seen as highly influential among European governments, said: \u201cThe European automotive industry operates a deeply integrated value chain with the UK, even post-Brexit. Vehicles, components and batteries made in the UK should therefore hold the same status as those made in the EU27 \u2013 with equal access to every policy instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n

The backing of the powerful lobby group will help the UK in negotiations with the EU to avoid damage<\/a>. Britain\u2019s Europe affairs minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, was meeting the EU\u2019s trade commissioner, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, on Wednesday to discuss progress of UK-EU relations, with the IAA part of the agenda.<\/p>\n

Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a UK lobby group, said he was pleased that the European industry\u2019s position reflected \u201cthe integrated nature of our respective automotive sectors\u201d and aligned with European suppliers\u2019 hopes as well. \u201cWe trust European regulators will reflect this mutual interest in their final drafts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hawes told a conference in London on Tuesday that the rules would \u201ceffectively shut out UK-assembled vehicles from most of the European market\u201d. He argued that would be \u201cone of the most spectacular own goals in history\u201d because many of Britain\u2019s plants are European-owned, while the UK and EU are each other\u2019s largest markets for cars and parts.<\/p>\n

The Acea members BMW, Volkswagen and Stellantis respectively own the Mini, Bentley and Vauxhall factories in the UK, while JLR, Ford and Toyota are also part of the group and have big manufacturing operations in the UK. Nissan, another member, has reportedly argued privately that it would have to close its Sunderland factory<\/a> if the rules went ahead. More than half of UK car exports go to the EU.<\/p>\n

Several of the carmakers also have factories serving Europe in Turkey and Morocco.<\/p>\n

Acea said: \u201cExcluding the existing factories of Acea members, for instance, would strand European investments and weaken our competitiveness at the worst possible moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IAA is seen as one of the key trade tools the EU wants to deploy to curb the flood of Chinese components, which industry leaders say is threatening the sovereignty of European industry. On Tuesday, the EU and China agreed to enter three months of diplomatic talks<\/a> to try to avert a trade war.<\/p>\n

Last month, several European trade groups warned of the potential for indigenous industry to be cannibalised in what is being widely described as \u201cChina shock 2.0\u201d<\/a> \u2013 starkly illustrated by Volkswagen\u2019s proposals to cut as many as 100,000 jobs<\/a> in Europe. The trade imbalance is now running at \u20ac1bn (\u00a3860m) a day and is forecast to come close to \u20ac400bn in China\u2019s favour by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

While Acea is heavily influenced by its German members, the IAA is a French-driven piece of legislation and any changes will need the backing of the country\u2019s president, Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n

Germany, whose car industry has significant manufacturing within China, was recently urged by the Centre for European Reform thinktank to \u201cwake up\u201d to the threat of the Chinese<\/a> and the galvanisation of industry voices appears to be having an effect.<\/p>\n

After a summit of EU leaders in June, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, proposed a \u201cplaza accord\u201d to curb the Chinese. But at last month\u2019s G7 summit in France, he blamed an \u201cartificially low\u201d yuan as a key driver of China\u2019s surplus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The EU\u2019s car industry has called for the UK to be fully included in new \u201cmade in Europe\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-527705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}