Stellantis and Renault back UK to get EU car industry protection

Gilles Vidal, Stellantis design vice-president for Europe; Emanuele Cappellano, COO for enlarged Europe and European brands; Antonio Filosa, CEO of Stellantis; Xavier Chardon, CEO of Citroën and DS brands; Omar Sy; and Pierre Leclercq, head of Citroën design, with the Citroën 2CV electric concept car at the Paris motor show. Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters

Stellantis and Renault have backed the UK car industry for inclusion in proposed rules to protect EU industry, but urged the British government to consider limiting imports of Chinese cars.

Emanuele Cappellano, who leads Stellantis’s European brands including Fiat, Citroën, Opel and Vauxhall, and François Provost, the chief executive of France’s Renault, said the UK should effectively be counted as one of the EU’s 27 member states for the purposes of the proposed “Made in Europe” legislation.