Walk through the halls of this year’s IAA Mobility Show in Munich and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d wandered into a Shanghai expo. Everywhere you looked, Chinese automakers were showing off shiny new EVs, laying out bold expansion plans, and making it clear they want a bigger slice of the European market. GAC was the latest to join the crowd, announcing its Aion V crossover for Europe.
It might feel like too many players chasing the same buyers, but the data shows their presence is starting to pay off.
Europeans Warm Up to Chinese Cars
Market research firm Escalent has been tracking how buyers see Chinese automakers. Its 2025 study, based on surveys in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, shows a sharp change: nearly half of respondents (47%) said they’d consider a Chinese car. Just a year ago, that number was only 31%.
By contrast, American brands are moving the other way. Only 44% of buyers said they’d consider one this year, down from 51% in 2024. That’s a big fall in just 12 months.
Trust Is Creeping Up
Chinese brands are still not fully trusted, but they’re making progress. Nineteen percent of people in the survey said they trust products from China, up from 12% last year. U.S. products, meanwhile, dropped to 24% from 31%.
KC Boyce, Escalent’s VP of Powertrain Innovation & Energy Transformation, thinks politics is part of the story. “Geopolitics, tariffs, trade deals, and the U.S. stance on Russia and Ukraine, has to be playing into European buyers’ sentiment,” he said.
The Price Problem
For all the momentum, one thing hasn’t changed: Europeans expect Chinese cars to be cheap. Seven out of ten respondents said they think a Chinese car should cost less than what they currently drive. Only 13% said they’d pay more for one, even if it were better than rivals.
That’s not great news for brands trying to move upmarket. Aito, for example, showed off its M8 and M9 luxury SUVs at IAA. But with the M9 priced close to $80,000 in China, convincing Europeans to skip the Mercedes or BMW for an unknown name won’t be easy.
Where They’re Winning
The real success story so far has been smaller EVs. Models like the MG4 and BYD Dolphin prove that when Chinese brands hit the sweet spot—compact, affordable, and practical—they can win over European buyers. That’s exactly where demand is strongest, and where U.S. brands don’t have much to offer.
Americans Fade Into the Background
Aside from Tesla, most American automakers aren’t showing up in the parts of the market that matter most to Europeans. Without affordable EV hatchbacks or crossovers, they’re losing visibility, and trust.
The Bigger Picture
Chinese carmakers aren’t out of the woods yet. Trust levels are still low, and convincing Europeans to pay premium prices will be an uphill battle. But the trend is undeniable: Chinese brands are gaining ground, while U.S. ones are slipping.
If the IAA show is any indication, Europe’s next big automotive chapter may be written not in Detroit, but in Shenzhen and Shanghai.
