Ayvens, Société Générale's car rental subsidiary, announced on Tuesday a partnership with Chinese carmaker BYD for the European electric vehicle (EV) market.

The two groups said in a joint statement that their memorandum of understanding provides for the use of BYD's range of electric vehicles for Ayvens' international and local corporate customers in Europe.

This announcement comes just a few weeks after the European Commission's decision to temporarily impose additional customs duties on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, and just before the EU executive details the results of its investigation into manufacturers such as BYD, which it suspects of benefiting from competition-distorting economic advantages from Beijing.

(Written by Augustin Turpin, with Nick Carey and Gilles Guillaume, edited by Kate Entringer)