The Paris Motor Show has turned into a geopolitical front, according to Dagens Nyheter, with European manufacturers and Chinese rivals using the event to stake out opposing positions in the electric vehicle market. Europe's answer to China's low-price offensive includes small electric cars, revived classics and bold design, while Chinese brands counter with advanced software, extremely fast charging and a growing share of production inside Europe.
Dagens Nyheter's Jonas Fröberg is at the show and lists ten cars he considers decisive in the contest. The 91st edition of the salon runs from 12 to 18 October 2026, with a press day on 12 October and public days from 13 to 18 October. Organizers expect more than 500,000 visitors.
Why it matters
The show's importance goes beyond product launches. Twenty Chinese carmakers are exhibiting this year, twice as many as in 2024, according to Dagens Nyheter. That surge comes as Chinese companies increasingly build vehicles in Europe to avoid EU tariffs, meaning they are attacking Europe's car industry both from outside and from within.
Volkswagen's CEO has described Europe's car industry as being under "enormous pressure," a claim reported by Affärsvärlden. The Paris displays make that pressure concrete: European firms are trying to prove they can still build affordable electric cars at home, while Chinese firms are demonstrating technology that European buyers may find hard to ignore.
The European counterattack
One of the show's biggest attractions is a world premiere that revives France's classic people's car from 1948 as an electric vehicle. Dagens Nyheter reports an indicative price of 15,000 euros, a launch planned for 2028 and production in Europe. The car also serves as a political argument for the EU's proposed new small-car class with simpler rules. The question hanging over the stand, according to the paper, is whether it is genuinely possible to build such a cheap electric car in Europe.
Dacia offers a more concrete answer. The new generation of its Spring model will no longer be built in China but in Slovenia. In France it costs 17,900 euros and offers an almost embarrassingly simple electric car with 80 horsepower and a range of 25 Swedish miles, roughly 250 kilometers. Dacia's aim is to show that inexpensive electric cars can be manufactured in Europe, even as Chinese brands become more technology-heavy and move production here themselves.
Peugeot, meanwhile, has revived the 205 Turbo 16, the rally monster that won the world championship in 1985 and 1986. The new version is a concept with 816 horsepower, three electric motors and 800-volt technology. Its steering is electronic, with no mechanical connection to the wheels. According to Dagens Nyheter, the concept previews technology and design for the next E-208, and France wants to prove that Europe can still build the cars of the future.
Volkswagen's main countermove against China starts at 320,900 Swedish kronor and has siblings at Skoda and Cupra. The sporty GTI version shines on the stand. Dagens Nyheter's reporter recalls seeing the ID Life prototype in Munich in 2021, with Angela Merkel standing two meters away questioning the VW chief's statement that it would take four years to get the car to customers. In reality it took five. China did not wait, the paper notes: the Leapmotor B03X is somewhat larger, about a thousand kronor cheaper and goes nearly six Swedish miles farther on a charge.
Audi has brought back its idiosyncratic A2 from 1999 as an electric car the size of a Golf. Under the shell sits seven-year-old, though further developed, technology from the VW ID.3. The price is 454,800 kronor. The Chinese competitor Leapmotor B05 costs 95,000 kronor less and charges faster, a comparison Dagens Nyheter says puts Germany's status as a car nation to the test.
China's technological push
Leapmotor's European premiere is described as what Europe's carmakers fear: a small, competent Chinese electric car meant to challenge the Renault 5 and VW ID. Polo. Its range is up to 39 Swedish miles, roughly 390 kilometers, and fast charging from 10 to 80 percent takes 21 minutes. The European price is unknown, but a pointer is that the somewhat larger 03X SUV costs 1,000 euros less than the VW ID. Polo. Leapmotor works with Stellantis and has already begun building a model in Spain.
The Li 6, another European premiere, comes from a Chinese technology company aiming at Volvo and Tesla. It is a roomy, five-seat electric SUV. When Dagens Nyheter test-sat it, the quality feel outdid the Volvo EX60, the paper reports. Among its features is a soft-close function on the front door: a light push toward the door frame is enough for it to pull itself shut, softly and almost silently. It has 800-volt technology and software adapted for eight European languages. The first cars are due in the Netherlands and Norway in spring 2027, with no European price set yet.
Avatr shows a six-seat Chinese luxury SUV with more than 1,000 horsepower and advanced driving systems, aimed squarely at Mercedes, BMW and Volvo. Behind it stand carmaker Changan, technology group Huawei and battery giant CATL. The vehicle is still a concept, but Dagens Nyheter says the larger point matters: Huawei, which was stopped from building Sweden's 5G network after security assessments by Säpo, now wants to conquer Europe's car market with software and computing power.
Xpeng's European premiere plants its flag in the heart of Germany's premium industry. The electric SUV is described as a rolling VIP room with an AI brain, 800-volt technology and charging from 10 to 80 percent in just under 12 minutes. Its Swedish price starts at 849,900 kronor, against 899,000 for the Volvo EX90. The Xpeng SUV is assembled by Magna in Graz, Austria, to avoid tariffs, illustrating how Chinese brands increasingly want to produce in Europe.
Perhaps the show's biggest technical blow comes from BYD. The seven-seat Atto 8 has a range of up to 65 Swedish miles, roughly 650 kilometers, and 775 horsepower in the top version. Above all, it charges from 10 to 70 percent in only five minutes, reaching 97 percent in nine minutes. That requires BYD's own fast chargers of up to 1,500 kilowatts. The first such chargers in Sweden are planned for around the turn of the year. The open question, according to Dagens Nyheter, is how quickly Europe can respond to China's charging revolution.
A salon with a past — and a comeback
The Paris show was founded in 1898, and the first edition was held in the Tuileries Garden, where 232 car models were displayed to around 140,000 visitors. Since 1978 it has been held every other year, in even years, traditionally alternating with the Frankfurt show in odd years; the German event moved to Munich in 2021.
Attendance peaked at 1.1 million in 2016 before falling sharply. In 2018, Volkswagen, Mini, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Nissan, Ford, Bentley and Volvo stayed away, and the VW group saved half a billion kronor by staying home and holding its own events instead. The most recent edition, in 2024, drew 508,007 visitors over six public days, with 48 carmakers and 158 exhibitors and partners taking part.
This year marks an upturn, driven by the 20 Chinese carmakers exhibiting — double the number in 2024.
What happens next will be measured less on the show floor than in showrooms and charging bays: whether European brands can bring their affordable electric cars to market on time, and whether Chinese rivals can keep their technology edge while building inside Europe.
