(Source: "Global Times" 2026-04-20)
Lan Qingxin Xue Yuanjie
Recently, foreign media reported that the European automobile industry giant Stlantis Group is planning to cooperate with China Dongfeng Motor to conduct negotiations on allowing Dongfeng to build cars in Stlantis' factories in Europe and produce some of Stlantis' brand models in China. There have been previous reports that Stratis has been in contact with Chinese car companies Xiaomi and Xpeng. The contact between European automobile giants and Chinese companies not only reflects the potential for cooperation between Chinese and European companies in the automotive field, but also disproves the so-called "overcapacity" accusation of China's new energy vehicles among some people in Europe.
Industry data shows that the average capacity utilization rate of European vehicle factories is only about 55%, which is far lower than the 80% break-even line generally believed by the industry. Stratis has not been spared. The average capacity utilization rate of its European factories is estimated to have dropped sharply to 46%, with approximately 3.5 million vehicles of annual production capacity idle. The "semi-idling" of a large number of production lines is not good news. It means that the company's profitability, innovation capabilities and even the stability of the industrial chain are at risk. There are many factors causing this situation: First, Europe's economic recovery is slow, and it has also fallen into an energy crisis due to events such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US-Israel conflict. The overall market demand recovery is weak; second, the transformation of new energy vehicles in Europe is progressing slowly, and the contradiction between excess production capacity of traditional fuel vehicles and insufficient replacement of new kinetic energy has become increasingly prominent.
Faced with the huge pressure brought by idle production capacity and delayed transformation, European car companies have turned their attention to China. France's Renault and Germany's Volkswagen have established in-depth cooperation with China, and Strantis's choice is the continuation and deepening of this trend. By leveraging the technological advantages of Chinese companies in the fields of batteries, vehicle platforms, and intelligent driving, combined with the existing production capacity of local European factories, both parties can achieve complementary resources, share risks, and share benefits. This cooperation model not only helps to revitalize idle production capacity in Europe, but also provides a more stable channel for Chinese car companies to enter the European market.
The vast space for cooperation between China and Europe in the automotive field also effectively counters the argument that China exports "excess production capacity" to the outside world. In essence, this argument attempts to misinterpret the strong competitiveness of China's manufacturing industry as an impact on the global market. However, the initiative of European car companies to seek cooperation with Chinese companies just shows that, at least in the automotive field, the root cause of the problems faced by European car companies is not the impact of the so-called "excess production capacity" of China's new energy vehicles, but the underutilization of Europe's own production capacity and lagging pace of transformation. The rapid development of China's new energy automobile industry is the result of global market demand driven, continuous iteration of technology, and fierce competition among enterprises. If China's new energy vehicles really have "overcapacity", then why do European car companies still introduce Chinese technologies and products? If Chinese products are "dumped", why are European companies willing to produce them in China and sell them back to the world? The competitiveness of Made in China is based on market rules and technological progress. It is complementary rather than impactful, and it is a win-win situation rather than a threat.
In the long run, China-EU cooperation in the automotive field is a win-win choice. The automobile industry is one of the industries with the longest supply chain in the world, and its healthy development is inseparable from international division of labor and collaboration. Cooperation between China and Europe in the automotive field has long since developed from simple w88 to in-depth integration of joint technology research, capital investment, and market expansion. From a technical perspective, China has global leading advantages in core areas such as batteries, motors, and electronic controls, while Europe still has deep accumulation in traditional vehicle engineering, brand accumulation, and high-end manufacturing. The complementary advantages of both parties can form a mutually beneficial pattern of "you are among me, and I am among you." From a market perspective, China is the world's largest new energy vehicle market, and Europe is one of the world's most mature automobile consumer markets. The coordinated development of the two places will inject new vitality into the global automobile industry. From a strategic perspective, China-EU automotive cooperation will also help jointly address climate change and promote green and low-carbon transformation. The popularization of electric vehicles is one of the important paths to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, and the in-depth cooperation between China and Europe in this field will provide a replicable and scalable cooperation paradigm for the world.
Looking to the future, China-EU cooperation in the automotive field should continue to deepen. The first is to jointly promote the openness and stability of the automotive industry supply chain and oppose the politicization and ideologicalization of economic and w88 cooperation; the second is to strengthen joint research and development in cutting-edge fields and seize the commanding heights of future technology; the third is to explore the establishment of a mutual recognition mechanism for new energy vehicle standards between China and Europe to reduce corporate compliance costs and improve the level of market interoperability; the fourth is to jointly develop third-party markets and use China and Europe's technology, capital and production capacity advantages to serve the global green transformation needs. The continuous deepening of China-EU automotive cooperation is the right direction for the automotive industry to move towards a sustainable future. It will not only bring tangible benefits to both companies and inject confidence and impetus into the transformation and upgrading of the global automotive industry. It is also likely to become an important outcome of China-EU economic and w88 cooperation and contribute to the healthy development of China-EU economic and w88 relations.
(The authors are respectively the director and professor of the BRICS Research Center at the w88 casino, and a doctoral candidate at the w88 casino of International Economics and w88 at the w88 casino)
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