Chinese carmakers have turned up in force at the Paris Motor Show, which opened to media on Monday. Twenty brands are there, double the 2024 count and roughly a third of all participants, according to Reuters as relayed by Auto Trader NZ. If you shop for cars in Europe, this is a preview of who will be fighting for your money.
BYD and Chery are back, Aito and Avatr are making their Paris debuts, and BMW and Mini are skipping the event. Public days run from 13 to 18 October. Aito, the premium label of Seres Group, plans four electric SUVs for Europe. Overseas buyers are still a sliver of its sales, and it wants them to be a fifth within three years, which is a goal, not a result.
How far Chinese brands have come in Europe
Chinese makers now hold roughly one in ten new cars sold in Europe, nearly double a year ago, per Schmidt Automotive Research figures cited by Reuters. In plug-in hybrids they have grabbed more than a quarter of the Western European market. EU tariffs on Chinese-built battery EVs nudged them toward hybrids and petrol models.
European industry is now lobbying for tariffs on Chinese plug-in hybrids too, and Brussels is drafting local-content rules tied to subsidies.
Europe's reply: nostalgia and lower prices
Home brands are leaning on affordability and charm. A revived Citroën 2CV leads the pack, with retro-flavoured cars from Renault, Peugeot, Opel, Lancia and Fiat. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa promised attendees would "witness the reinvention of a European icon". Demand is there: ACEA says fully electric cars made up about 22% of new EU registrations in the first eight months of 2026, up from roughly 16% a year earlier.
Still, analyst Tim Urquhart of Mobility Global calls the outlook "extremely worrying" for traditional European carmakers, pointing to high oil prices and weak confidence. Francois Roudier of industry body OICA put the show's role simply: "It's no show, no sell in a way".
Watch for any EU decision on plug-in hybrid tariffs and the final local-content rules. Would you buy a Chinese-brand car if it were clearly cheaper?
Sources
- 1.Record 20 Chinese brands head to Paris Motor Show · Auto Trader NZ
- 2.Electric cars and rising Chinese brands: Paris Motor Show opens Monday · euronews
- 3.Record Chinese turnout puts European carmakers under pressure at Paris show · Reuters (via Investing.com)
- 4.European, Chinese carmakers launch product blitz at Paris · RTÉ (Reuters sourced)
Reported by the WattsUpNext desk from the sources linked below. Spot an error? Tell us at corrections@wattsupnext.com.
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