PARIS (Reuters) -The European Commission aims to announce the creation of a new category of affordable small electric cars in December in an effort to counter Chinese competition and revive the European market, an EU commissioner said on Tuesday.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

The Commission has been working on creating an intermediate category between quadricycles that weigh a few hundred kilograms and all other cars, so that small electric vehicles no longer have to include as much safety equipment and technology as a large saloon car. So far, the timeline of such a reform was uncertain.

CONTEXT

Several carmakers have been pushing for regulatory change to support sales of small electric vehicles made in Europe, at a time when Chinese brands are starting to gain market share on their turf. Renault Group CEO François Provost recommended on Tuesday that automotive regulations in Europe befrozen for 10 to 15 years to encourage the emergence of thiscategory, which would include cars up to 4.2 metres long.

KEY QUOTES

“The goal for manufacturers is to bring new small vehiclespriced between 15,000 and 20,000 euros to the market, and sinceregulatory constraints also factor into the price, we are goingto create this regulatory framework”, European Commissioner for Industry Stephane Sejourne said at the Automotive Industry Day in Paris.

He added that he aims for the new framework to be includedin the Commission’s announcements on December 10.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, writing by GV De Clercq; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)