While the EU is investigating carmakers for Chinese subsidies, a small Italian company, DR Automobiles, is under investigation by authorities for misleading customers about the origin of its cars.

DR Automobiles was founded in 2006 by Massimo Di Risio and sells cars from Chinese automakers BAIC, Chery Automobile and JAC Motors under its badge. Well, here’s how they do it. They have established a simple system of processing Chinese cars with refined Italian design and partly buying selected European technology. The result is affordable SUV models, and the slogan “Una storia Italiana” itself is part of finely packaged marketing combined with patriotism, trying to hide the origin of the vehicle.

One of the brands whose cars DR Automobiles sells is EVO, and so far around 24,200 vehicles have been sold in Italy in the first nine months of 2023, which is 48 percent more compared to the same period in 2022. That’s a market share of two percent. It’s not a big number, but the affordable prices and attractive design of these cars threaten the competition and take customers not only from domestic but also from some foreign brands such as Honda, Suzuki and Mitsubishi.

Last Thursday, the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) and the Italian tax police conducted an inspection at the headquarters of DR Automobiles and its parent company Donington, the statement said. The “sin” of the company is that it hid information about the country of origin of some of the models. “In some cases, they would omit relevant information about the origin of the cars, suggesting that they were entirely manufactured in Italy, while the vehicles appear to be Chinese-made,” AGCM said in a statement. Representatives from DR Automobile have not commented on this case for now.

Source: Reuters

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