Chinese NEVs shine at auto shows abroad

"Leveraging our existing global presence, we will soon be able to offer our customers price competitive and tech-centric electric vehicles that will exceed their expectations," said Carlos Tavares, who was then Stellantis CEO.

Chinese carmakers continued their push from Munich to Geneva. At the 2024 Geneva motor show in March, they were the largest exhibitors, as most western carmakers stayed away with the exception of Renault.

"A quick glance at the Geneva auto show might have persuaded jittery Europeans that the real or imagined existential threat to its iconic automotive industry by China's manufacturers had already happened," said Neil Winton in a Forbes report.

BYD, which was lighted at the event in 2008, was the most active participant, introducing the Seal plug-in hybrid and the big Tang 7-seater SUV, plus vehicles from its upmarket brands Denza and Yangwang.

SAIC's MG unveiled a hybrid, which promises to be a big seller. MG is the most successful Chinese brand in Europe currently.

In 2023, Chinese brands sold over 350,000 sedans and SUVs in Europe, mainly electric ones. MG led the way with 239,000 mainly EVs, about double 2022's total.

Two months later, in May 2024, the Geneva motor show's organizer decided to discontinue the century-old event, which seems like a harbinger to the doomed fall of gasoline vehicles and the irreversible rise of NEVs.

"The lack of interest shown by manufacturers in the Geneva Salon in a difficult industry context, the competition from the Paris and Munich shows which are favored by their domestic industries, and the investment levels required to maintain such a show, sound the final blow for a future edition," said Alexandre de Senarclens, president of the Comite permanent du Salon International de l'Automobile Foundation, in a statement.

Paris is seeing the ambition of Chinese NEV makers. At the auto show in the French capital in October, the largest car event in Europe in 2024, nine Chinese brands unveiled their latest models.

The number of Chinese brands was the same as in 2022, when they made up almost half the brands present. In the latest edition, they accounted for only about a fifth of the brands thanks to a much stronger showing from Europe's auto industry — a sign of the latter's determination to defend its home turf.