EVs the winners in China’s rules relaxation

EVs get preference in China’s easing of foreign automaker rules.

China has announced plans to relax restrictions in which a foreign manufacturer wanting to sell its cars there must either face a 25% import tariff or build a factory in China with a domestic firm owning half.

The 50% domestic ownership rules won’t apply to EV makers by the end of this year.

Tesla could stand to gain the most but it doesn’t yet have a manufacturing presence in China, and the country has said that it will relax its factory ownership restrictions on EV manufacturing within the year, Ars Technica reports.

It could help GM too – the electric Bolt maker, and perhaps Volkswagen and other brands developing electrified vehicles.

According to the South China Morning Post, the 50% factory ownership restriction will be relaxed in 2020 for non-electric commercial vehicle manufacturers and in 2022 for non-electric passenger vehicle manufacturers.