Mazda has a plug-in hybrid perfect for Europe. The problem is that for Europe it is electric and pays tariffs like an electric

If I had to define this story with one word, I would have no doubt: bizarre.

To get an idea of ​​the mess, let’s go with a few strokes that we will break down little by little:

• Mazda has a Chinese electric car that actually has a combustion engine
• The European Union has lifted tariffs on Chinese electric cars and Mazda has to pay 30% for each one it imports into Europe
• The European Union does not impose tariffs on Chinese cars with combustion engines.
• This exception is being used by Chinese brands to gain market share in Europe.
• Mazda does have to pay tariffs for that electric car that, in reality, has a combustion engine even though the European Union does not impose additional tariffs on Chinese cars with combustion engines.

Yes, my head is spinning too.

Let’s try to explain it.

The history of tariffs

To explain a story, Manolito Gafotas was clear: let’s go to the beginning of time.

In October 2024after months warning and after some negotiations with China, the European Union raised some additional tariffs to Chinese electric cars that were already paying 10% per car sold in Europe. These tariffs take into account the alleged state aid that China has given to each brand and the willingness of each brand to collaborate. That is, not all pay the same.

These taxes were placed on all electric cars that came from China, regardless of the brand that imported them. This is key because all the European brands that bring their cars from China they also have to pay given that, except Teslano foreign brand manufactures its cars in China without being linked to a local automaker.

Changan, which is the brand that concerns us here, has to pay 20% additional tariffs that are added to the 10% basic tariffs. That is, for each car sold in Europe, it has to pay an extra cost of 30% on its value.

This Chinese company is associated with Mazda, who uses the base of its Deepal cars to bring the Mazda 6e and the next Mazda CX-6e. The first of them we have already been able to drive it in Xataka And, as we told you, it is a car that carries some of the inconveniences of its Chinese origin but whose main attraction is the price.

This association It has allowed Mazda a very important step. The company is a small company so investments have to be very well directed and, seeing the embrace that the electric car is receiving in Europe, they have done the math and were not interested in paying for the full development of their own car. But, yes, they have to comply with European emissions standards if they do not want to be fined heavily.

One option is to pay the fine. The second is reduce its emissions level below 93.6 gr/k of CO2almost a chimera for a brand where electrification is the exception. The third, and most likely, is to be part of a pool with companies like Tesla to buy their emissions credits.

The Mazda 6e and the Mazda CX-6e is very good news for the company since it puts two electric cars on the market at a very low cost for them and a very high profit. For each electric unit sold, the reduction in emissions is substantial and even if they remain above the limit they will have to pay less for those emissions credits.

An electric that is not (at all) electric

But, in addition to these two aces, Mazda had a third ace up its sleeve. Your saloon Also sold in China as Extended Range Electric (EREV). That is, we are talking about an electric car with 200 kilometers of electric range supported by a combustion engine. In this case, a 1.5 four-cylinder engine that acts as an electrical generator.

He extended range electric It is a solution that Mazda itself uses in a car of its own development, the MX-30 REVand it is the option that is proposed to be able to carry out a new sports car replacing the legendary MX-5. The EREV has the advantage of being able to travel hundreds of kilometers in completely electric mode with the appropriate battery and, if necessary, draw on the combustion engine.

Mazda’s intention is to improve it in its entirely models with a rotary engine. Thus, the motor hardly takes up any space and adds very little weight to an assembly that will inevitably be weighed down by the weight of the battery, what is happening within the Japanese company itself.

But are we talking about a plug-in hybrid? In practice, yes. The car uses the combustion engine as an electrical generator. Thus, it operates at the most efficient rpm in most situations, providing electricity to the battery and that electricity is sent to the electric motors, which are what actually drive the wheels. The advantage is that you have an electric car for everyday lifewith a safety net on long trips and, despite everything, the immediate torque and smoothness of an electric vehicle.

The solution in fact, seems like one of the most logical options with the tightening of the European Union’s emissions conditions. And most Chinese plug-in hybrid cars already work this way on most occasions to lower their consumption.

But at Mazda they send a message: It will be difficult to see this version in Europe.

And there is a technical detail that differentiates a plug-in hybrid from an extended-range electric car. The European Union makes a distinction between the two that does not focus on whether or not it has a gasoline engine, it focuses on what energy propels the wheels.

That is, the Mazda 6e EREV is considered electric because its combustion engine never drives the wheels, always works as a series hybrid. Many Chinese cars prioritize this way of working but they are considered plug-in hybrids because, very specifically, their technology does allow the combustion engine to directly drive the wheels although in most cases it works as an electric generator.

This subtle difference makes the Mazda 6e EREV an electric car in the eyes of the European Commissionregardless of whether or not it has a combustion engine and, in fact, the bulk of its energy comes from gasoline when the battery runs out. That means that Mazda has to pay 30% tariffs to put this car on the market as well.

And the paradox that other Chinese cars, with a very similar technique, don’t pay them.

Photo | Mazda

In Xataka | The plug-in hybrid is China’s Trojan horse: we looked at the electric car and its great weapon was the combustion engine