Elon Musk's Shanghai-built Tesla EVs targeted in EU probe into Chinese state subsidies to avoid 'a race to the bottom'

EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis (Credit: Simon Wohlfahrt—Bloomberg via Getty Images)

When historians look back on the electric vehicle industry, they may very well point to this past month as the turning point marking China’s emergence as a global player in the auto industry. 

First its electric vehicle manufacturers dominated media coverage of Munich’s biennial IAA auto show, relegating Europe’s carmakers to second fiddle on their own home turf for the very first time.