AUBURN HILLS, Michigan, United States, June 13 Reuters Stellantis will stick to its asset light strategy on China, mainly focused on exporting to the country rather than manufacturing there, CEO Carlos Tavares told investors on Thursday.

Stellantis39; investor day came a day after the European Union, one of the FrancoItalian carmaker39;s largest markets, said it would impose extra duties of up to 38.1 on imported Chinese electric vehicles from July.

Beijing criticised the EU tariffs on Thursday as protectionist behaviour and said it hoped the European bloc would correct its wrong practices and handle trade frictions through dialogue.

Tavares has previously criticised EU tariffs on imported Chinese cars.

What is clear is that we don39;t want to be defensive, he said on Thursday, referring to tariffs on Chinese cars. Our strategy that remains an assetlight strategy is about making sure that we are ourselves offensive and surfing the wave of the Chinese offensive, he said during a presentation at the investor day in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Our asset light strategy in China is much more robust than that of many of our competitors.

Stellantis has bought a 21 stake in Chinese automaker Leapmotor and has formed a venture with it allowing the European automaker to sell and manufacture Leapmotor39;s vehicles outside China.

Stellantis leads the JV with a 51 stake.

Earlier on Thursday Stellantis, whose brands include Fiat, Peugeot, Jeep and Ram, maintained its 2024…