FRANKFURT, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Chinese-Swedish EV brand

Lynk & Co, which will launch its first China-made

battery-electric car in Europe next month, said it did not

intend to pass on the cost of looming tariffs on the vehicle to

consumers.

"We cannot - a lot of the competitors are produced in Europe

... we need to price the car correctly in the market and work

from there," the brand's CEO for Europe, Nicolas Appelgren, said

in an interview at the Automechanika autos trade fair in

Frankfurt.

Still, whenever the brand - co-owned by Zhejiang Geely

Holding Group and Volvo Cars - releases

its next battery-electric car in the region, it will be made in

Europe, Appelgren said, adding Geely was scouting locations for

a plant.

Lynk & Co's battery-electric car, a compact SUV, would be

subject to a tariff of 18.8% under current plans by the European

Commission to counter what it says are unfair subsidies for EV

makers producing in China.

The carmaker has not yet released a price for the vehicle, a

compact SUV based on the same platform as Volvo's EX30 and

Zeekr's X, which sell at around 40,000 to 45,000 euros

($49,621.50) in Germany.

"We need to find a solution but it's not a knife to the

throat," Appelgren said.

His comments contrast with those by the CEO of car brands

SEAT/CUPRA, Wayne Griffiths, who said a 21.3% tariff on the

CUPRA Tavascan EV, also made in China, would put the financial

future of the company at risk.

Without the projected Tavascan sales, CUPRA - a brand owned

by Volkswagen's Spanish subsidiary SEAT S.A. - would

miss EU-mandated carbon dioxide reduction targets next year due

to its combustion engine sales and face heavy fines, unlike Lynk

& Co which produces only electric cars.

The Swedish brand sells and rents its first European model,

a hybrid SUV, in seven European markets and is in negotiation

with retailers across the region to put its cars in showrooms by

the end of this year, Appelgren said.

It plans to launch another plug-in hybrid next year and

expand its sales to fleet buyers, who account for the majority

of EV purchases in the region.

($1 = 0.9069 euro)