*Alberto Nardelli and Alisha Sachdev for Bloomberg News*
India has agreed to give European automakers a quota more than six times larger than any it has offered before, slashing tariffs under a trade pact with the European Union and granting far greater access to its tightly protected car market.
The agreement will gradually allow up to 250,000 European-made vehicles to enter India at preferential duty rates, according to a statement from the European Commission. While the quota itself is far above the 37,000-unit limit extended to the UK under a separate deal, the deal will see tariffs falling from 110% to as low as 10%, and levies on car parts abolished after five to 10 years.
“India will grant the EU tariff reductions that none of its other trading partners have received,” the Commission said.
Is that really a surprise lol? The EU exports far more cars than the UK does.
AssumptionBudget279 on
I’m confused as a Brit, yes? And?
India is a much bigger country with a huge population, and EU of course is much bigger as well. Why would they not be able to do bigger deals?
thecraftybee1981 on
The EU also produces 16 times more cars than the UK does. That would make it easier to export from the UK.
dat_9600gt_user on
That’s one way to ensure less dependence on China.
kishaloy on
I think a big part that not captured is that the biggest car manufacturer of UK is owned by Tata an Indian conglomerate which is also one of the largest automaker of India Tata Motors. So if Tata wanted to sell more in India it may make more sense to license manufacture in India and sell locally.
For cases where there are specialized systems gearboxes etc manufactured in UK, they can simply be imported as spares, SKUs which has a much lower tariff. Overall, the UK comparison does not work.
havaska on
I don’t understand why news reporting an agreement between the EU and India is mentioning the UK in its headline.
10 commenti
*Alberto Nardelli and Alisha Sachdev for Bloomberg News*
India has agreed to give European automakers a quota more than six times larger than any it has offered before, slashing tariffs under a trade pact with the European Union and granting far greater access to its tightly protected car market.
The agreement will gradually allow up to 250,000 European-made vehicles to enter India at preferential duty rates, according to a statement from the European Commission. While the quota itself is far above the 37,000-unit limit extended to the UK under a separate deal, the deal will see tariffs falling from 110% to as low as 10%, and levies on car parts abolished after five to 10 years.
“India will grant the EU tariff reductions that none of its other trading partners have received,” the Commission said.
[Read the full story here.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-27/india-offers-eu-auto-quota-six-times-larger-than-uk-deal?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2OTUwMzk5NSwiZXhwIjoxNzcwMTA4Nzk1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUOUk3UkVLR0NUR1UwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.jk1JlkTvgQ7ns-RO7uWBhjc-CKOnbGSA4ySlCx-15Ac)
Making deals with India may also give profits in the future as they are the fastest growing economy from the big ones.
So a group of nations [which produces almost 15 million cars per year ](https://www.acea.auto/figure/motor-vehicle-production-in-eu-by-country/)got a quota 6 times higher than a nation that [produces less than 1 million cars a year](https://www.smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/car-manufacturing/)…wow, that is shocking….
more deals for countries that support russia
Is that really a surprise lol? The EU exports far more cars than the UK does.
I’m confused as a Brit, yes? And?
India is a much bigger country with a huge population, and EU of course is much bigger as well. Why would they not be able to do bigger deals?
The EU also produces 16 times more cars than the UK does. That would make it easier to export from the UK.
That’s one way to ensure less dependence on China.
I think a big part that not captured is that the biggest car manufacturer of UK is owned by Tata an Indian conglomerate which is also one of the largest automaker of India Tata Motors. So if Tata wanted to sell more in India it may make more sense to license manufacture in India and sell locally.
For cases where there are specialized systems gearboxes etc manufactured in UK, they can simply be imported as spares, SKUs which has a much lower tariff. Overall, the UK comparison does not work.
I don’t understand why news reporting an agreement between the EU and India is mentioning the UK in its headline.
It’s nothing to do with us, we’re not involved?