The Most Chinese-Flavored Paris Auto Show Yet

This year's Paris Auto Show truly has a hint of a Chinese auto show.

Why do I say that? Among the more than 60 automakers participating in this year's Paris Auto Show, 16 are Chinese, with a total of 25 brands. They occupy a significant portion of the entire auto show, and the presence of Chinese automakers has significantly increased compared to the previous edition. This scene reminds Dianchetong of the IAA in September 2025, held in Munich, Germany, where only a few Chinese brands, such as XPeng, participated. Just a year later, the landscape of overseas auto shows has changed dramatically.

World-renowned auto shows thousands of miles away are becoming new stages for Chinese automakers to showcase their global expansion capabilities, indicating that the pace of China's automobile industry going global far exceeds our imagination. So, what are the new highlights of this year's Paris Auto Show, and what trends do the large number of Chinese automakers participating represent?

Today, Dianchetong (ID: dianchetong233) will discuss this with everyone.

BMW's Temporary Absence, Chinese New Energy Brands Showcase Their Strength

As one of the world's top five auto shows, this year's Paris Auto Show has undergone significant changes compared to the previous edition in 2024.

The first notable change is BMW's absence. Earlier this year, BMW officially announced its participation in the Paris Auto Show. However, after BMW Group issued a profit warning in June and new CEO Milan Nedeljković implemented a series of cost-cutting measures, both BMW and MINI, which belong to the same group, officially announced their withdrawal from this year's Paris Auto Show in July.

It's worth mentioning that this year is actually a significant year for BMW's product lineup, with the launch of three new-generation (Neue Klasse) pure electric models, including the BMW i3, iX3 M60, and iX4, as well as the mid-term facelift of the 7 Series, i7, and the fifth-generation X5.

In such a pivotal year, BMW's temporary absence from the Paris Auto Show, held on its home turf in Europe, is somewhat regrettable.

Additionally, among Japanese brands, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, and Mitsubishi have been absent from the Paris Auto Show for three consecutive editions since 2022. However, Honda, which was absent in 2022 and 2024, made a return this year.

After reviewing the absent brands, let's take a look at the new highlights of Chinese brands participating in the Paris Auto Show.

Veteran participants from the 2024 Paris Auto Show, such as BYD, XPeng, and Seres, have also brought new products and technologies this year.

Firstly, BYD has two booths at the Paris Auto Show this year: the BYD booth and the Denza (including domestic Denza and Fangchengbao brands) booth. At the BYD booth, the brand unveiled its first flash-charging model for the European market, the ATTO 8 (domestically named Tang L), which will be officially launched in the first quarter of 2027. Additionally, BYD announced plans to build 3,000 flash-charging stations in the European market by the end of 2027.

In Dianchetong's (ID: dianchetong233) view, the debut of the ATTO 8 in the European market signifies that BYD's flash-charging technology and flash-charging energy replenishment network are expanding from China to the European market. With higher energy replenishment efficiency and a relatively complete flash-charging energy replenishment system, the ATTO 8 and other flash-charging models to be launched in the future are expected to pose significant competitive pressure on other new energy models from European automakers.

(Image Source: BYD)

As for the Denza brand, the focus will be on the double-door sports car, the Denza Z, which was launched in Europe this year. The model is currently available in the UK with a starting price of £142,900 (approximately RMB 1.3 million) and is not yet available in the Chinese market. Additionally, BYD's Tian Shen Zhi Yan (Divine Eyes) assisted driving system will be launched in Europe in 2027, with the first compatible model being the Denza Z9 GT, which will receive updates through OTA.

At this year's Paris Auto Show, XPeng not only showcased new energy vehicles, land aircraft carriers, IRON robots, and other products but also highlighted the demonstration of its intelligent assisted driving NGP.

During this Paris Auto Show, the organizers hosted the "Intelligent Driving Lab" event, but among the participating automakers, only XPeng and Tesla signed up. The event took place on public roads in Paris, allowing the audience to intuitively experience the capabilities of the vehicle's assisted driving system and also tested the adaptability of the assisted driving model to Paris's local roads, posing a significant challenge for automakers.

For XPeng, the "Intelligent Driving Lab" event at this Paris Auto Show holds significant meaning.

On one hand, XPeng is competing head-to-head in Europe with Tesla, a leading brand in the U.S. smart electric vehicle sector, showcasing the technological prowess of Chinese brands in the field of intelligent driving to European and global consumers.

On the other hand, XPeng has been actively promoting the localization of NGP high-level driving assistance in the European market in recent years. Previously, XPeng planned to officially launch NGP in the European market in 2027. The public demonstration of NGP's functionality at the Paris Auto Show allows local consumers to better understand XPeng's comprehensive strength in high-level assisted driving and attract more European consumers to place orders.

As for the Seres brand, it showcased four SUV models at the Paris Auto Show: AITO 6, AITO 7, AITO 8, and AITO 9 (corresponding to the domestic Wenjie M6, M7, M8, and M9). At the booth, Seres also announced that Wenjie automobiles will enter the European market in 2027.

(Image Source: Seres)

As a leading brand in China's domestic new energy luxury SUV market, Wenjie's global expansion finally has a clear timeline. With Huawei's empowerment in product definition, software and hardware technology, and the advantages of Wenjie's exclusive network and franchise model in channel construction, Wenjie's global expansion is expected to give other European luxury brands a taste of Chinese innovation.

After discussing the veteran participants, let's take a look at the new faces.

Among the new faces at the Paris Auto Show, Li Auto has garnered the most attention. In recent years, Li Auto's global expansion has been relatively slow, but this Paris Auto Show marks its debut in the European market. Li Auto's first model to enter the European market, the Li 6 (domestically named i6), will also meet European consumers at the auto show.

Besides Li Auto, Zeekr and Avatr are also participating in the Paris Auto Show for the first time. Zeekr brought heavyweight models like the 9X, showcasing its exploration in the luxury new energy sector to the European market, while Avatr unveiled the global debut of the T09 concept model.

The examples of these automakers participating in the 2026 Paris Auto Show are actually a microcosm of China's automobile industry expanding into Europe. Chinese automobiles are leveraging their advantages in three-electric technology, intelligent technology, and luxury experiences to compete more directly with established European automakers in overseas markets like Europe.

So, are European automakers ready?

When Systematic Global Expansion Becomes the New Norm, the Offensive and Defensive Dynamics Between Chinese and European Automakers Shift

Looking back at the 2024 and 2026 Paris Auto Shows, it's evident that Chinese automakers have undergone significant changes in both technological and global expansion aspects over the past two years.

At the 2024 Paris Auto Show, Chinese automakers primarily focused on the vehicles themselves, with most brands showcasing models targeted at the European market.

In other words, Chinese automakers at the Paris Auto Show that year mainly emphasized exporting individual models, highlighting higher vehicle configurations and cost-effectiveness compared to European models.

By 2026, the situation had changed. The main content showcased by Chinese automakers at the Paris Auto Show was no longer just individual vehicles but the technologies and systems behind them, such as BYD's flash-charging network and XPeng's NGP high-level assisted driving.

In summary, in 2024, Chinese automakers competed at the Paris Auto Show based on high vehicle configurations and cost-effectiveness. However, by 2026, they were competing on systematic advantages such as more efficient energy replenishment systems and more advanced intelligent assisted driving systems.

(Image Source: Li Auto)

If European automakers could still make do (barely cope) with the cost-effectiveness advantage of individual models, the dimensionality reduction strike brought by systematic advantages has truly rattled European automakers and the automotive industry.

On the eve of the Paris Auto Show, Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume stated that it was not too late for Europe to take action to address the competition brought by Chinese automakers, requiring France and Germany to work together to find solutions.

French Industry Minister Sébastien Lecornu also publicly praised Europe's efforts to establish barriers to protect its domestic automotive industry from the impact of Asian automakers on the European automotive market on the eve of the Paris Auto Show.

From the statements of automaker executives and government officials on the eve of the Paris Auto Show, it's clear that the competition between Chinese and European automakers has reached a stage where the offensive and defensive dynamics have shifted.

During the fuel vehicle era, European automakers gained significant sales in the Chinese market with their more advanced engines, chassis, transmissions, and vehicle manufacturing advantages. The Chinese market once became one of the main sales markets for these European automakers.

However, in the new energy era, to boost sales in the Chinese market, these European automakers need to use Chinese teams and technologies to localize their vehicles. Not only have they failed to stabilize sales in the Chinese market, but their home turf has also been infiltrated by Chinese automakers.

For China's automobile industry, as automakers' technological strength grows and they have basically captured the domestic market, choosing to expand overseas to explore new markets is a natural progression. However, for Germany's automobile industry, when Chinese automakers arrive in Europe with flash-charging, high-level assisted driving, and a series of solutions, the pressure they face is immense.

Therefore, for both China's and Europe's automobile industries, the 2026 Paris Auto Show will be a significant milestone. It marks the beginning of China's automobile industry embarking on a systematic "going global" journey and also signifies the turning point where Europe's domestic automotive industry starts to adopt a defensive stance in response to the impact brought by China's automobile industry.

Are Chinese Automakers Truly Ready for Overseas Market Competition?

On the same day as the opening of the Paris Auto Show, the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Council of the China Automobile Dealers Association released the national passenger car market analysis report for September 2026.

The report shows that in September 2026, the retail sales of the national passenger car market were 1.618 million units, down 28.0% year-on-year; from January to September, the cumulative retail sales of the national passenger car market were 13.334 million units, down 21.7% year-on-year.

The significant decline in domestic automobile terminal sales is further driving automakers to explore overseas markets.

At present, the overseas sales of several leading independent brands have accounted for a significant proportion of their total sales. Taking September data as an example, BYD's passenger car sales were 456,713 units, with overseas sales of 179,877 units, accounting for 39.43%; Geely Automobile Group's sales were 292,168 units, with overseas sales of 106,685 units, accounting for 36.5%; Chery's sales were 292,308 units, with overseas sales of 207,814 units, accounting for 71.1%.

It can be seen that leading independent brands are using overseas market expansion to mitigate the impact of declining sales in the domestic market. The next growth point for Chinese automakers will also be overseas markets.

Although Chinese automakers have achieved significant results in their global expansion efforts, leveraging their technological and systematic advantages, and have even put pressure on some overseas automakers, the question remains: are domestic leading automakers truly prepared to become global automakers and compete with international giants worldwide?

In terms of product strength and technological prowess, there is no need to worry about the performance of Chinese automakers. However, issues such as product quality refinement, targeted development and testing for the global market, and whether they can earn the long-term trust of local consumers with vehicle quality remain unknown and will require time to prove.

Now that Chinese automakers have such a significant leading advantage in global market competition, Dianchetong (ID: dianchetong233) hopes that automakers will seize this opportunity and avoid repeating the experience of China's motorcycle industry in the Southeast Asian market in the automotive industry.

Building cars is not easy, and expanding into new markets is even more challenging. At this year's Paris Auto Show, we have seen the leading position of Chinese automakers in the European and even global markets. We also hope that Chinese automakers can extend their leading position to more aspects and help China's automobile industry gain stronger influence worldwide.

Source: Leikeji

All images in this article are from the 123RF royalty-free image library. Source: Leikeji