[_tunic_]

Thanks a lot Soup for the higher resolution image. I had been trying to find myself, but my Google skills are apparently lacking



As I work in the automotive industry, this is what worries me very very much. This is a Google translation of a Dutch press article of this morning, with some minor editing by myself. I guess you guys do not have an expression "sweat the breast" (meaning something like buckle up)?

'Car Wars': why do not we want an American car?

Today, 7:39
Foreign , Economy

Reuters
Written by
André Meinema Reporter economy



There are too many Mercedes cars, BMWs and other European cars around the United States and too few Chryslers, Chevrolets and Cadillacs in Europe. That must and will be different, according to the American president Trump. Europe needs the American car, made in USA.

According to Trump, it is the fault of the unfair and protectionist Europe, that American cars impose an import duty of 10 percent, while the US only charges 2.5 percent on European cars.

If the EU does not cancel this levy, European car manufacturers will be able to buckle up for an American tax of at least 20 percent and perhaps 35 percent. For this reason EU Committee Chairman Juncker is traveling to Washington today to prevent a threat of 'War on Cars'. After the skirmishes around steel and aluminum, the punitive levies on Harley-Davidsons, peanut butter and jeans, a hard price war about cars is something nobody wants.



Five times as much

Cars account for about 10 percent of total trade between the US and EU. According to the ACEA, the association of the European car industry , European car manufacturers exported five times as many cars to the US in 2017 as vice versa. The EU shipped 1.15 million passenger cars to the US, accounting for 37.4 billion euros. In turn, the US spilled 234,065 cars in the EU, worth 6.2 billion euros, which is one-fifth of US car exports as a whole.

Germany is the largest of European car manufacturers. The country of BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes sold in 2017 for 17.3 billion euros cars in the US. The US did not go beyond 5 billion euros in Germany. Europe's car manufacturer number two, the United Kingdom, spent 7.5 billion euros and imported 1.6 billion euros. And the third car manufacturer, Italy, exported 4.3 billion euros from the US, but the US sold only 166 million euros to Italians. In this way, a rather skewed balance.



420,000 jobs

Trump assigns the 10 percent import tax as the cause. But the Japanese have also paid 10 per cent for years to sell their Mazda's and Toyota's on the European market. Incidentally, in the recently concluded trade agreement between Japan and the EU (Jefta) it was agreed that this rate should be abolished step by step and by 2025 at the latest.

The US is also not open when it comes to unfair and skewed rates. On European vans and pick-up trucks, the Americans impose a tax of no less than 25 percent, while Europe only charges 10 percent.

In the US there are also factories of European car manufacturers. And Chrysler, one of the Big Three car manufacturers, is owned by the European Fiat. Those plants in the US where European cars are built, produced 2.9 million cars last year, of which 60 percent were sold abroad, including in the EU. They also provide many jobs, ACEA estimates. 120,000 jobs in the factories, and another 420,000 jobs if you include garages, dealers and suppliers.



VS taste

Why do not we want American cars? It's simple: Americans simply do not build cars that the European consumer wants to have, unlike the Japanese, says Wim Van Weernink.
"American manufacturers have been trying to get a foothold in Europe for years, but our audience does not like the US taste, with a few exceptions: Ford exports the Mustang exclusively to Europe - for enthusiasts - and Chrysler does the same with the big Dodge. Ram pick-ups, but it's always a few thousand cars a year and not millions like the export of Europe and Japan to the US. "

"American cars are not pretty in terms of model, they are often designed for a different kind of use, different distances and for the maximum 65 mph on the Interstate Highways, they are too big for our roads and the city, and they are not really economical, which is not really necessary when you look at the American petrol price. "

European cars apparently appeal much more to the American consumer. "The latest models Mercedes or BMW fly like hot cakes over the counter, even though they are more expensive." The Japanese have felt much better about what Europeans like and want.



Carwars

It can all be true, but the EU is not doing anything right now. The import tariffs will have to go down if the car industry does not want to be in the foot. There is too much to lose, [Dutch bank] Rabobank has calculated that with a 20 percent import levy the European car industry has a loss of 11.5 billion euros.

Lower rates for American cars will leave European competition unaffected, because the consumer does not want to switch for a few thousand euros to an American car.

An unsettling car war with higher taxes on cars and car parts actually hits the US harder than the EU. American consumers have to pay more for the car of their choice and American cars are also more expensive, because many cars have foreign parts, from engines to gearboxes.

It will also cost jobs. Think Tank Peterson Institute has calculated that in the event of a tariff increase the American car sector wastes 195,000 jobs and, in a full trade war, no less than 624,000 jobs. "It is not a game of 'the loss of the one is profit for the other', but a loss for all ', concludes the think tank.



German and French cars

Commission President Juncker stands for the task of convincing Trump of his wrong, and that will be difficult. Another thing is that the European car industry is not in line and has different interests.

The Germans want to scrap European tariffs to accommodate Trump. The French think differently about that. Peugeot, Renault and Citroën do not export cars to the US and are therefore not so afraid of American taxes.