LONDON (Reuters) - Chery Auto, China's largest automaker by export volume, expects its planned production in Europe to help offset the impact of European Union tariffs on imports of China-made electric vehicles, a senior executive said on Thursday.

Having local production "should help us mitigate some of the impact" of duties, Charlie Zhang, vice president of Chery Auto and president of its European business, told media a day after the EU said it would impose additional tariffs of up to 38.1% tariffs on Chinese EV imports.

Under the EU's proposal, Chery's imports will incur tariffs of 21%.

In the briefing, Zhang said the company expected to start EV production at its recently-acquired Barcelona factory in Spain by the end of the year.

That site will not be big enough to meet its medium- and long-term plans for Europe, he said, adding the company was looking at options for a second site. He declined to give details.