Just last Friday Stefan Szejurny, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, came out to openly say that the EU should stop being “naive” and enforce strict protectionism against cars from China and the US. It seems that Mr. Szejurny, old pal of President Macron, in this anachronistic statement that looks like one taken from a history book is still struggling to digest the news that in August 2025 the Chinese car brands in Europe sold more vehicles than good old Renault.
The Renault syndrome
Despite the fact that the Renault brand heritage is as important to the Hexagone as the Eiffel Tower, even a basic trade analyst would have seen that coming. First of all, because Renault has been historically seen as the cheap French middle class option to spend the minimum possible at check out and wave the tricolour flag, while the higher end Peugeot and tech oriented Citroen are pricier and have more diversification to offer. Though undeniably almost all French politicians must been seen by the public driving a Renault to pretend being close to the middle class. Comme il faut.
Nevertheless, no French car brand had a real success in the vast market of China apart from some joint ventures that didn’t walk a long way. Considering how France-oriented the French tend to be, can be another reason for making this clumsy statement.
Step on it like Buick
However, if one looks outside the window he will notice that the US, traditional trade foe of China, managed to foresee the future back in 1998 when this generation of European Commissioners was at primary school playing la chaise musicale (musical chairs). Indeed, the US historic high end brand of Buick built its factory in Shanghai, China some 30 years ago. The primary goal was at the time the large economies of scale of the developping giant. Today, the primary goal for Buick is to learn from the Chinese how to build cars and hop on the Chinese “bullet train” of rapidly innovative automotive industry.
And this brings us to the new fully electric Buick L7 model of the article’s leading picture, a picture to get up to speed with what it means to make real synergies with China, leave aside for a moment “la grandeur” of Renault or Mercedes and see where the market is really going. Surely, it is harsh to admit that good old Mercedes and the peer or even the cheap Renault failed to catch up with the market trends. But still, it is the economy, stupid.
Buick built its L7 electric car just to catch up with the plethora of the Chinese electric car brands out there. A simple drive through the streets of Shanghai is enough for anyone with enough space between the ears to see that over there there’s a parallel universe of automotive industry that doesn’t look anything like Europe. The utter feeling is that the streets are full of millions of a hundred Chinese electric cars brands, with animated moving teddy bears at the rear LED lights and surreal technologies like the ability to float on a river and fully navigate (BYD Yangwang). Then you go back to Europe and you see the 30 year old Renault Twingo at the traffic light struggling to start its engine and you wonder.
Chinese Research and Innovation
According to Nature Index China today leads the global academic research output in the world, far above the US. The tangible outcome of this was that China re-invented the car market with innovation and technology that not even Mercedes can come close to. This is simply the status quo of making cars today and if a car company defies the truth it will end up being obsolete or become an antique even for the sunny days. Just like the BMW 5 330e series these days in Shanghai, a car to show off wealth given their very high price in China but technologically incredibly poor. The new generation of car buyers in 2025 need it all, very large touch screens for all passengers with all technologies and innovations in display, high quality interior leather and very large trunks, and of course everything super cheap.
Where did the European car makers go?
Buick made it by learning from the Chinese how to make cars in Shanghai and caught up with the evolution of the market. How is it possible that the almighty Mercedes and BMWs are left behind? Of course these are Europe’s most important car producers but they have been historically busy with making aggressive adverts trashing each other. Is there any silver lining?
Audi has dared to challenge its own corprorate identity to fit in and changed its logo for the Chinese market, leaving the cacophony of the Saxony rings aside. The car has been built in collaboration with the Chinese to fit in and compete for market share, otherwise Audi cannot sell in China. Similarly, Stellantis, the large car manufacturer aspires to give its Opel logo to the Leapmotor Chinese electric cars, in order to make them more attractive to European consumers. Does this all sound to you like the back to the future Dolorian car? Wake up.
It is not that the market is changing rapidly, it is that the market has already changed. China with all its research and development and massive economies of scale has already shaped the market. Brands like Buick and Audi were able to foresee this turn of events in advance and hopped on the train just on time. What about the rest of the European brands?
Too late for tears
Can the French Commissioner make the clock move anti-clockwise? What if the EU escalates its trade war with China by increasing further the tariffs on Chinese cars, will it stop the technological evolution of cars? And if the EU prolongs the 2035 target for the ban of internal combustion engines in order to make the European cars more competitive against the Chinese ones that are fully electric?
Europe simply cannot stop the river of this car revolution. What it can do though is benefit from synergies with China like the American Buick and the German Audi did. Otherwise, more VW factories will shut down soon, AfD will grow further in Germany, and so on and so forth. Too subtle?
