Chinese brands take 20 of about 60 spots at the Paris Motor Show, double their 2024 count

Nearly all of the show's growth is Chinese. A show with about 60 brands, up 25% on 2024 ^[1], had about 48 two years ago, and 20 Chinese brands at double the 2024 number ^[2] means about 10 then. The non-Chinese roster therefore went from roughly 38 to roughly 40, while the Chinese roster supplied ten of the dozen added places ^[16]. Mercedes, Fiat, Opel, Hyundai and Volvo all returned after absences of up to 12 years ^[14], so on these rounded figures other non-Chinese brands must have dropped out. The report does not say which.

Sales moved faster than the floor plan. A Chinese share of 10.7% in the second quarter against 5.7% a year earlier ^[7] is a gain of 5.0 points, or 1.88 times, and August's 11.3% across the EU, EFTA and Britain ^[8] sits another 0.6 points higher ^[17].

Backing the August growth rates out gives about 37,000 registrations a year earlier for BYD, Chery, SAIC and Leapmotor combined, against about 78,000 now ^[18]. Chery, up 217.5% ^[10], added about 15,800 of the roughly 41,000, a little ahead of BYD's 14,600 on a 127.9% gain ^[9]; SAIC, up 32.4% ^[11], added about 5,100 ^[19]. The inputs are rounded to the nearest thousand, so the Chery-BYD gap of about 1,200 is close to the rounding error.

More than 15 Chinese automakers and parts suppliers have announced overseas projects since October 2025, with planned investment of about 70 billion yuan, or roughly $10 billion, as of February, according to the Korea Automotive Technology Institute ^[13]. That total is global and the report does not split it by region. "Automakers first placed their overseas plants in emerging markets, where they could avoid tariffs and use cheap labor," said Yoon Sun-ho, a researcher in technology policy at the institute ^[21]. "Now they are expanding into Europe and neighboring regions to respond to EU industrial policy such as the Industrial Accelerator Act." ^[22]

In our view the contest will be settled by who fills European factories. The returns could mean something milder: Mercedes arrived with six premieres ^[15], and a launch calendar can bring a company to Paris whether or not it is under attack. Chinese growth could also flatten as the base gets bigger, and EU policy could change where cars get built. We would be wrong if the Chinese share stalls near August's 11.3% ^[8] and no European plant changes hands.