Rising Competition: Chinese Automakers Influence European Market and Consumer Perceptions

Their competition frightens the historic automobile manufacturers and Europe has triggered an investigation into possible public aid from which they could have benefited to export their models internationally. You will have understood, we are talking here about Chinese manufacturers. These are causing a lot of ink to flow and it is not about to stop. Indeed, despite a image still fragile among motorists, thevalue for money put forward by these brands could remove many hesitations.

Brand images that are gradually being established…

So according to the results of theCetelem Automobile Observatory*, unveiled this Tuesday, November 7, if European brands enjoy an impressive notoriety due to their precedence, almost the majority of European motorists seem to have a good opinion of these new entrants to the market. In France, they are 39%. “One might then think that they still have a lot of work to do in terms ofimage and recognition. But these figures are rather high even though the cars still remain virtualcomments Flavien Neuvy, economist and director of the Cetelem Observatory. This can be explained by two reasons: the first being that we talk a lot about these brands from China. They occupy the media field. The second being linked to theEuropean approval which reassures about the distribution of these models in our markets.“

…and purchasing desires to come true

With this opinion in mind, Chinese brands start from a solid basis for developing on the Old Continent, particularly in view of the efforts made on the quality of the models and meeting the demand of Western customers. Moreover, 34% of respondents believe that they benefit from a good value for money, ahead of European or American brands which only won 30% and 21% of the votes respectively. On this point, Japanese and Korean brands dominate (38% and 36%). Also, 34% of European motorists say they are ready to buy one of the vehicles marketed by these new manufacturers. In France, purchasing possibilities amount to 28%, behind vehicles from European (85%), Japanese (56%), American (45%) or Korean (43%) manufacturers. It now remains to be seen how the evolution of the ecological bonus allocated to electric vehicles in France will impact the entire market.

“This new edition of the Cetelem Observatory shows that motorists are waiting in many respects. It belongs to a number of manufacturers of clarify their industrial and commercial policy, as well as their communication, so as not to definitively suffer from competition which is often one step ahead on the electrical issue. Just as it is up to the public authorities to adopt a clear and stable line, without delay, to facilitate the energy transition in the automotive world“, concludes Flavien Neuvy, Director of the Cetelem Observatory.