CUPRA Tavascan EV Exempted from EU Tariffs on Chinese EVs

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

The European Union’s policies and rationale slapping tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) may be a bit better than the USA’s, but they are also quite dubious. One interesting thing the EU is doing now is allowing exemptions for EVs produced in China for European brands. Why should they get exemptions? Well, I’m not really sure, but it is what it is.

The first model to get such an exemption is the CUPRA Tavascan, which is very similar to the Volkswagen ID.5 when you get under the skin, but is produced in China, unlike the ID.5. “The exemption did not come automatically. According to the European Commission, Volkswagen Group successfully demonstrated that the pricing strategy of the Tavascan would not harm the European automotive industry. However, the decision comes with several strict conditions,” AutoNext writes.

“First, the vehicle must respect a minimum pricing threshold, although the exact figure has not been publicly disclosed. Second, the number of Tavascans that can be sold within the EU is limited by a maximum volume cap.

“Finally, Volkswagen Anhui is not allowed to export any additional electric or plug-in hybrid models from China to the EU under the same exemption. These conditions effectively ensure that the Tavascan remains a niche model rather than a mass-market competitor to European-built EVs.”

Okay, I guess those are explanations, or just conditions. It’s certainly getting complicated now.

This is apparently a big relief for CUPRA, but let’s be frank, this is not a mass-market model. “Without the exemption, additional tariffs could have dramatically increased the price of the model in Europe, potentially threatening sales volumes and even jobs within the brand’s European operations. So far, sales numbers remain modest but growing. Since its launch, 1,685 Tavascans have been delivered globally, with 1,407 units sold during 2025 alone.”

We’ll see where these exemptions go. It seems the idea is just to help very niche, low-volume models … for some reason. But, admittedly, I still don’t really get it.