European carmakers’ association ACEA welcomed the interim trade deal between the European Union and China as a positive step toward easing tensions, warning that a sudden surge in Chinese hybrid imports was destabilising Europe’s car market.
The Brussels-based group, which represents 17 manufacturers including Volkswagen Group, Stellantis, Renault Group, BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz, said in a statement on Friday that it was still waiting to analyse the full details of the agreement.
“A sharp and sudden destabilisation of the market in Europe, along with price wars that mirror the current market situation in China, would be highly disruptive to the European economy as whole,” said Sigrid de Vries, ACEA’s Director-General.
“Today’s announcement can help facilitate the transition to a new era of Chinese presence in the European market in an orderly way and this is in the long-term interests of all parties,” she said.
ACEA’s statement came hours after Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, said in Beijing that China had agreed to moderate its exports of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the EU.
Chinese Share Jumps
Chinese brands took 14% of Europe’s hybrid electric vehicle market in the first half of 2026, up from 2% in 2024, according to ACEA.
Their share of the plug-in hybrid market rose to 25% over the same period, also from 2% in 2024, the association said.
ACEA did not give unit volumes for those shares, and its statement refers to Europe rather than the EU alone.
The two segments make up a large part of the EU market, with hybrids accounting for 36.6% of new car registrations and plug-in hybrids for 10% from January to August, according to ACEA’s latest monthly data.
Battery-electric cars held 21.7% of the market over the same period, while petrol and diesel combined fell to 29%.
Monthly EU imports of Chinese hybrids rose from about 3,800 vehicles in October 2024 to about 50,000 in July 2026, according to the Financial Times.
BYD alone more than doubled its EU market share to 2.4% in the first half, according to ACEA.
The surge followed the EU’s October 2024 countervailing duties on China-built battery-electric cars, which left hybrids and plug-in hybrids paying only the standard 10% import tariff.
What Brussels and Beijing Agreed
“We have reached a shared understanding to moderate China’s exports of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the EU,” Šefčovič said, according to the European Commission’s transcript of his remarks.
“This opens the prospect of cutting China’s exports by more than a half,” he said.
Asked about the timeframe, Šefčovič said the aim was to reduce Chinese exports to the EU by several million cars over four years, without explaining how the reduction would be enforced.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said in its list of outcomes that the two sides had reached an understanding on hybrid vehicle trade in a manner consistent with World Trade Organization rules, giving no volume, timeframe or tariff.
Brussels had asked Beijing in September to cap Chinese hybrids at about 15% of the EU market, a request China’s Commerce Ministry rejected on September 18, calling so-called voluntary export restraints a serious violation of WTO rules.
The Commission also said China would lower most-favoured-nation tariffs on EU goods ranging from car parts to olive oil and footwear, covering almost €4 billion ($4.5 billion) of current exports and bringing at least €225 million ($252 million) in duty savings.
Chinese carmakers’ US-listed shares rose on Friday after the announcement, with Li Auto up 7.7%, XPeng up 5.8% and Nio up 5.4% in early New York trading.
Who Leads ACEA
ACEA is led this year by Mercedes-Benz Chief Executive Officer Ola Källenius, whom the association’s board re-electedin December to a second one-year term as President.
Under ACEA’s rules, the presidency is a one-year term that can be renewed once, which makes 2026 Källenius’s final year in the post.
De Vries, who signed Friday’s statement, runs the association’s Brussels secretariat as Director-General, a post she took up in September 2022 after serving as Secretary General of European auto suppliers’ association CLEPA.
She previously served as ACEA’s Director of Communications and Public Relations from 2006 to 2012.
Källenius was not quoted in Friday’s statement.
Källenius held a video call with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on September 21, days after Beijing rejected the hybrid cap, according to a Chinese readout of the call.
Källenius said ACEA “firmly supports free trade and market openness” and welcomed Chinese investment in Europe, the Chinese account said, while Wang asked the association to “play a positive role” in pushing the EU toward an early agreement.
ACEA and Mercedes-Benz did not publish their own account of that call.
Friday’s statement goes further than that readout, describing Chinese hybrid imports as destabilising and welcoming a deal designed to reduce them.
It did not mention the EU’s duties on Chinese battery-electric cars, price undertakings or rare earths.
German Industry and Parliament
Hildegard Müller, President of German auto industry association VDA, whose members include Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, called the understanding “a first positive signal,” according to dpa.
A final assessment would only be possible once the concrete details and their effects are known, Müller said, according to the German news agency.
Bernd Lange, a German Social Democrat who chairs the European Parliament’s trade committee, said “initial progress is visible, but this was not yet a central breakthrough,” according to dpa.
Lange welcomed the planned reduction in Chinese hybrid imports, saying it eases pressure on European carmakers without sealing off the market, the agency reported.
Buses and Trucks Next
ACEA said other important issues would need to be addressed in due course, including how imports might disrupt the market in segments such as buses and trucks.
The association’s Commercial Vehicle Board is chaired in 2026 by Daimler Truck Chief Executive Officer Karin Rådström.
Its members include truck and bus makers Daimler Truck, DAF Trucks, Iveco Group, TRATON GROUP and Volvo Group.
ACEA’s statement did not say whether it would seek specific trade measures for commercial vehicles.
Germany’s Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called on September 17 for EU tariffs on Chinese-made plug-in hybrids and tighter local-content rules.
Leaders to Decide
The Commission said the final decision on the package lies with EU leaders, who are due to discuss it at the European Council in Brussels on October 15 and 16.
“It is a crucial first step – but only a first step – in the process of rebalancing,” Šefčovič said.
The two sides plan a ministerial video call in January and a third meeting of their trade consultation mechanism in March 2027.
