News Summary

• As traditional OEMs reduce their reliance on outsourcing, Chinese automakers are stepping in.
• Magna Steyr in Austria, Valmet Automotive in Finland, and VDL Nedcar in the Netherlands traditionally built additional models for Europe’s automakers.
• Today, consolidation sweeps across the industry and the phase-out of many Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle lines leaves European OEMs with low utilization rates at their own facilities.
• GAC and Xpeng are part of a broader second wave of Chinese models entering Europe, characterized by a greater emphasis on localization and sheer variety compared to the first wave in the early 2020s.