(Reuters) – Volvo will postpone the U.S. deliveries of its EX30 electric car as it shifts production of the compact SUV out of China in the wake of tariff hikes, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
The EX30’s shipments to the United States were due this fall, but the automaker won’t deliver the cars until 2025 because of the introduction of tariffs of more than 100% on Chinese EV imports by the U.S., the company’s deputy chief executive officer and chief commercial officer Bjorn Annwall told Bloomberg News in an interview.
Volvo Cars did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
“If the tariffs are introduced, it will impact us, our clients and our volumes for a certain amount of time, but it’s during a transition period and only for one model, so it is manageable,” Annwall told Bloomberg News.
U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled steep tariff hikes on Chinese imports last month, including over 100% on EVs.
Following this, the European Commission also said it would impose extra duties of up to 38.1% on imported Chinese electric cars from July, risking retaliation from Beijing, which said it would take measures to safeguard its interests.
Volvo started building the EX30 in Zhangjiakou, China, and will gradually increase production of the small SUV in Belgium next year. That means a 20% additional duty could be levied on EX30s imported to Europe for about a year, if the EU tariffs go into force next month, Annwall told Bloomberg.
(Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
