Chinese automakers seem to be determined to enter the European market for electric vehicles in the consumer and corporate segments. A business from the Middle Kingdom is ready to present here high-tech models with the highest safety rating - at relatively low prices.

In the past few months, several Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers have received a five-star car safety rating from the well-known non-profit organization European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) - this usually requires equipping your vehicles with active and passive systems that are much more efficient than required by law.

All Chinese EV manufacturers want top Euro NCAP scores to become more competitive in the European market, Xpeng said. The company itself has been building stores and service centers in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden over the past three years, and the company will officially introduce the P7 electric sedan and G9 SUV in these countries early next year.

According to European experts, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers have already realized that the safety of electric vehicles plays a huge role in European purchasing decisions, and getting the Euro NCAP rating allows you to get rid of stereotypes about Chinese cars - back in 2006-2007, their crash tests created the impression that they are not particularly safe.

High ratings will also help sales of Chinese vehicles to corporate fleets, which account for about half of all sales in the European Union. Now many of the fleets are making a massive transition to electric vehicles, so purchases are expected in large volumes. Already, the waiting time for deliveries on some models has grown to more than 12 months, which has allowed European manufacturers to raise prices.

This creates a window of opportunity for Chinese business. For example, in October, Sixt, a German electric vehicle rental company, announced its intention to buy about 100,000 electric vehicles from BYD. This and other Chinese manufacturers have already received a five-star Euro NCAP rating for some of their models.

According to French Inovev analysts, about 155 thousand Chinese cars were sold in Europe in the first 9 months - 1.4% of the market, almost twice as much as was sold in 2021 (about 80 thousand). At the same time, almost half of the models sold were electric vehicles - in the electric transport market, the share is already 5.8%. China is expected to sell only electric vehicles in Europe in the coming years. According to the company's forecasts, by 2030, electric vehicles will account for about 40% of all sales of electric vehicles in Europe, and Chinese brands - 12.5-20% of the "electric" market, or 725 thousand - 1.16 million copies. With China offering more affordable options, the numbers could be even higher.

Achieving a five-star Euro NCAP rating is quite expensive, since each car has to be equipped with additional systems - from additional airbags to driver assistance systems and driving monitoring systems. However, Chinese businesses do not stop at additional costs. According to experts, the quality of cars from the Middle Kingdom is now better than that of many competitors.

New models are presented for Europe by BYD, Great Wall Motor (GWM) and others. At the same time, GWM's ORA Funky Cat costs 32,000 pounds (about $36,330) in the UK - almost 5,000 pounds cheaper than the VW ID.3 model, although the Chinese version is not inferior in many ways, and in some ways even surpasses it. functionally.

According to experts, many automakers are inferior to Chinese manufacturers when it comes to price. “The only place on the planet where you can buy affordable electric cars today is China,” they say. At the same time, the country is actively using this advantage.