A key European lobby group has made an urgent call to extend the borders of the European Union’s ‘made in Europe’ tariff exemptions.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has requested that duty regulations designed to protect European automakers from cheaper Chinese imports be extended to include the United Kingdom and protect automaker investments in countries like Morocco and Turkey.

The ACEA represents both European-based brands and foreign automakers with manufacturing interests in Europe. The delay in its stance on production protection is believed to stem from the competing interests of its members.

Proposed local content restrictions tabled by the European Commission would require cars assembled within the EU to comprise 70 per cent European-sourced components by value, or face economic penalties.

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The plan, dubbed the Industrial Accelerator Act, is designed to strengthen European manufacturing and component supply while reinforcing economic protections that already exist to fend off the threat of lower-cost imported vehicles, largely from China.

The exclusion of vehicles produced in the UK, Morocco, and Turkey could have a major impact on brands, including Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Renault and Stellantis, as reported by Automotive News Europe, which has invested heavily in those regions as production bases for vehicles sold in Europe.

EU policy has left the door open to extending its ‘made in Europe’ definition to countries outside of the 27 European Union member states, where favourable trade deals can be arranged. No indication of which countries may be included, or if full or partial tariff exemptions are being considered have yet emerged.

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The ECEA has called for the UK to be viewed as an “equal partner” and released a statement saying, “The European automotive industry operates a deeply integrated value chain with the UK, even post-Brexit.”

The ECEA has also called for a vehicle’s total value – including its R&D investment – to be calculated, rather than just component cost, as a measure to ensure European development is protected and discourage overseas organisations from simply adding European production sites for vehicles largely developed overseas.