Paris motor show: Macron calls for European preference against China

Emmanuel Macron is bidding farewell to the Paris Motor Show. The president of the Republic will head to the Paris event this Monday, a biennial gathering he has never missed, for his final visit as head of state. It will be an opportunity for the man who declared in 2023 that he "loved" cars to take stock of his record in this strategic sector. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT At the Élysée they insist that the car industry is "at the heart" of French manufacturing, providing 400,000 direct jobs nationwide. The presidency particularly points to the ramping-up of electric vehicle production and the emergence of a national battery industry. Before 2017, electric car production in France was still marginal and relied almost entirely on a single flagship model: the Renault Zoe. At the start of Emmanuel Macron's term, a presidential source recalls, the country had "no battery factories at all, obviously". Electrification and "Made in France" Since then, output has taken off, but it is still not enough to meet domestic demand. In 2025, according to Insee (source in French), 331,000 new electric passenger cars were registered in France, compared with 216,000 produced in French factories. But six out of ten electric cars made in France are exported, notably to the United Kingdom and other European markets. In the end, only 26% of new electric vehicles bought in France are manufactured on national soil. Carmakers therefore have to rely heavily on imports to supply the French market. France therefore remains far off the target (source in French) set by the government of producing two million electric vehicles a year by 2030. The Élysée nonetheless highlights progress in the electrification of the car fleet and welcomes the opening of four battery plants in the north of the country. As at every edition, the presidential trip to the show will be preceded, on Sunday evening, by a dinner at the Élysée bringing together representatives of the automotive sector, the presidency has confirmed. Around 60 stakeholders are expected, including carmakers, equipment suppliers, battery manufacturers and companies specialising in rare earths, both French and European. The presidency notes that no brand boss or Chinese exhibitor will attend the dinner. The show itself, however, will host numerous Chinese manufacturers. The following day Emmanuel Macron will stroll through the aisles of the Motor Show, with stops scheduled at the stands of Stellantis, Renault and equipment supplier Valeo. The visit will end with a roundtable devoted to autonomous cars. A strict European preference While China has an export capacity of 55 million vehicles of all types, compared with 12 million for Europe, Paris wants the EU to "finally support what it produces" in the face of the wave that is coming. When it comes to electric cars, France argues that European public subsidies should more strongly favour vehicles produced within the 27 member states. The aim is to establish a "genuine" European preference that covers the entire value chain, from batteries to spare parts. Even though Paris remains open to "high-quality" Chinese investment in Europe, notably including technology transfers, France wants to avoid the creation of "screwdriver factories", where only "the last bolt is tightened in Europe" while all the other components are made elsewhere. This is a position Paris needs to align with Berlin, which "is not easy", as France and Germany have "very different" models, the Élysée points out. "Germany is a country that exports far more vehicles than France, so the interests are inevitably not entirely the same," says a source at the presidency of the Republic. In practice, Berlin fears retaliatory measures against its own manufacturers, which are highly dependent on Chinese customers, if access to the European market were to be restricted for Beijing, whether through a strict European preference or environmental criteria. Talks with Germany still ongoing German business and finance daily Handelsblatt reported on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached between France and Germany: Paris would agree to further relax the European target for cutting CO2 emissions from new cars by 2035, lowering it from 90%, as proposed by the European Commission, to 80% compared with 2021. In return, Berlin would back stricter "Made in Europe" rules. The Élysée has denied this ahead of the Motor Show: "There is no agreement", but "talks" are indeed under way over European preference. After a day reserved for the press, featuring the president's visit, the Paris Motor Show, one of the oldest and best-attended in the world, will open its doors to the public from 13 to 18 October at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre.