For decades, Europe’s automotive industry represented engineering excellence. German precision, French innovation, Italian design, and Swedish safety defined global standards. Today, however, many of Europe’s largest automakers find themselves in an unfamiliar position: turning to Chinese competitors for technology, manufacturing expertise, and even production capacity.
The irony is striking. Only twenty years ago, Western automakers were teaching China how to build cars. Now, Europe increasingly looks east for help.
A Historic Reversal
The challenges facing European manufacturers have been building for years.
High labor costs, soaring energy prices, expensive regulatory requirements, slowing domestic demand, and an EV transition that has proven far more difficult than anticipated have left many factories operating below capacity. Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers have rapidly become world leaders in battery technology, software integration, and cost-efficient electric vehicle production.
Instead of competing head-on, several European automakers are now exploring partnerships with Chinese companies.
Stellantis has discussed arrangements that would allow Chinese manufacturers to utilize underused European factories, while Volkswagen has publicly acknowledged that sharing production facilities with Chinese partners could become a practical solution for reducing excess capacity.
More Than Filling Empty Factories
At first glance, these agreements appear sensible.
Idle factories keep workers employed. Chinese companies gain access to European production while avoiding import tariffs. European manufacturers can generate revenue from facilities that would otherwise sit partially unused.
But critics argue that something much larger is at stake.
Philippe Gilleron, a longtime Peugeot veteran and head of a committee representing Stellantis unions across Europe, offered a stark warning:
“When your tech know-how is gone, it becomes nearly impossible to make a comeback down the road,” said Philippe Gilleron, a Peugeot veteran who heads a committee of Stellantis union representatives across Europe. “It’s as if somebody started cooking your meals for you all the time. In the end, you no longer know how to cook yourself.”
His concern extends far beyond today’s production numbers.
Manufacturing is not simply about assembling vehicles. It is about preserving engineering knowledge, supplier ecosystems, research capabilities, and the industrial culture that allows future innovations to emerge.
The Danger of Losing Industrial Know-How
History offers many examples of industries that outsourced production only to discover that expertise eventually followed manufacturing overseas.
Once design engineers, software developers, battery specialists, and manufacturing experts begin working primarily for foreign partners, rebuilding those capabilities later becomes enormously difficult.
Europe’s automotive industry employs roughly 14 million people directly and indirectly. If Chinese technology increasingly becomes the foundation for European-branded vehicles, Europe risks shifting from technology leader to manufacturing contractor.
Europe Created This Situation
The current predicament did not emerge overnight.
Many European manufacturers underestimated both the speed of China’s technological progress and the pace of the global EV transition.
While legacy automakers continued investing heavily in combustion engines and incremental improvements, Chinese companies aggressively built expertise in batteries, software-defined vehicles, integrated supply chains, and low-cost manufacturing.
Companies like BYD, Geely, XPeng, and others are no longer simply low-cost competitors—they increasingly set the benchmark for affordable electric vehicles.
European manufacturers are now attempting to catch up.
A Necessary Partnership—or Strategic Dependence?
Not everyone sees these partnerships negatively.
Supporters argue that collaboration allows European companies to survive an extremely difficult transition while preserving jobs and keeping factories open.
Without outside investment, some plants might simply close.
From this perspective, working with Chinese automakers may buy valuable time until European manufacturers regain competitiveness.
The question is whether temporary cooperation becomes permanent dependence.
If the most valuable technologies—from batteries to software platforms—continue coming from China, Europe may gradually lose control over the industry’s future.
The Bigger Picture
The automotive sector has long been one of Europe’s industrial foundations.
Its success created millions of skilled jobs, supported vast supplier networks, and generated enormous export revenues.
If leadership in vehicle technology permanently shifts elsewhere, the consequences extend well beyond automakers.
It would reshape Europe’s industrial base for decades.
As Philippe Gilleron warned, rebuilding lost expertise is extraordinarily difficult once it disappears.
Cooking is easy when someone else prepares every meal.
Remembering how to cook after years of not entering the kitchen is far harder.
Europe’s automotive industry may now be facing exactly that challenge.
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