Chinese car companies appear at the Paris Motor Show: Actively moving towards European localization

China News Service, Paris, October 13 (Reporter Li Yang) The 2026 Paris Auto Show, an important European automobile industry exhibition, kicked off on October 12, local time, and lasted for one week. More than 20 Chinese vehicle brands including GAC, BYD, Ideal, Xpeng, and Changan participated in the exhibition, a significant increase compared with 2024. Actively moving towards European localization has become one of the focuses of many Chinese car companies participating in this exhibition.

Chen Jiacai, deputy general manager of GAC Group and chairman of GAC International, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Service during the auto show. He introduced that GAC has established a design center in Milan, Italy, and an overseas R&D center will be launched in Europe by the end of this year. The new models launched by GAC at the Paris Auto Show were designed by the design center in Milan, and more than 95% of the center's team members are localized. Designers conduct thorough research on these products for local European consumers to ensure that the products meet the needs of local consumers.

Chen Jiacai said that in order to promote the localization of manufacturing and supply chain, GAC has begun to work with European partners to promote localized production and improve the level of localization to better meet European regulations and policy requirements. In order to promote localized marketing and services, the company is also establishing more sales networks and service networks, and establishing a parts center in the Netherlands, which will enable 36-hour "parts response" covering the entire Europe to solve the maintenance and other service support needs of local customers. GAC is also promoting the localization of personnel culture. Excellent local European engineers, sales personnel, and manufacturing personnel can quickly integrate with local culture, helping GAC to quickly integrate into Europe and serve Europe, so that it can go further in the future.

Dorothée Bonassies, general manager of BYD France, introduced the current status and development plans of BYD's localization layout in France during the auto show. According to its introduction, BYD currently has about 130 dealers in France, and its future development goals are very clear, which is to promote the number of dealers to reach 200 by the end of this year. It also hopes to achieve stronger after-sales services and provide a better local user experience.

According to public information, Bonassis graduated from Lille Business School in France. Before joining BYD, he served as a French executive in several international car companies.

Benjamin Baum, senior design director of Li Auto, told reporters that technology can only truly reflect its value when it is integrated into daily life. The new models launched by Lili at the Paris Motor Show have specially tailored the software experience for European users and introduced applications suitable for local users.

Baum is a German designer who has led the design exploration of many Ideal models.

The European localization ideas of Chinese car companies have become clearer in their external displays at this Paris Motor Show. Industry insiders generally believe that Chinese car companies hope to fill the supply gap in the local market, boost the local economy and employment, and win the long-term trust of European consumers through localization. Some results have been achieved so far. However, this road is still complex and arduous, requiring the unremitting efforts of Chinese car companies and the help and support of relevant European parties.