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It's not to brag, it's to qualify for state aid.

In France, if a car is not built in the EU, it won't qualify for the 6k€ reduction.

And you don't see the issue with that? Like negative long term second order effects down the line.

Yes, of course it would be better if the cars were designed in the EU as well.

My main point was that them being built in the EU wasn't something auto makers did out of the goodness of their hearts, or for some marketing ploy: it was forced on them by EU law.

I suppose that design requirements could be imposed as well.

The "built in EU, designed in China" situation is more hypothetical. I don't think anyone would seriously say that Europeans have forgotten how to design cars (and designing an electrical car is, besides the battery, easier than designing a gasoline car), it's just that they can't sell them nearly as cheap as the (subsidized) Chinese models.

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