BMW announced on Saturday to lower prices for the US-made X5, X6, X5M and X6M cars. The reason for this is China’s decision to lift the additional tariffs for US cars and car parts.
The price of a new BMW X5, which only hit the market in early December, has dropped to 779,900 yuan. This represents a decrease of 30,000 yuan. Other models such as the X6, the X5M, the X6M and the latest generation of the X5 were cheaper and now have the same price as in June before China in retaliation for US tariffs also increased its import fees for US imports.
This is the second automaker to respond to lower rates. Tesla lowered its prices for the S and X models in China on Friday. According to the Chinese website of the electric car manufacturer, the price for certain S models has been reduced by up to 105,000 yuan and for the X model by up to 65,000 yuan.
The Chinese Ministry of Finance said Friday that additional tariffs on US-made vehicles and auto parts will be cut from January 1, 2019, for three months. This was an agreement between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Donald Trump during their trade talks at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires earlier this month.
This means that the US car tax rate will be reduced from 40 percent back to 15 percent over three months. Whether the lower rates are possibly extended, is not yet clear.
The German automaker BMW said that it will monitor the situation closely and react quickly to any political changes.
