Car makers on the Continent struggle with slowing demand and cheaper competition.

Britain and Europe must work together to resist an onslaught of cheap Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), the boss of Renault has warned.

Luca de Meo, chief executive of the French car maker, said the switch to greener vehicles posed the biggest challenge to the industry in 150 years, but warned companies were being over-regulated and lacked financial support. The Telegraph has the story.

He accused European governments of focusing on “deadlines and fines” while the US and China backed their homegrown automotive companies with generous subsidies and supportive industrial policies.

His comments come as car makers on the Continent struggle with slowing demand for EVs and the threat of cheaper competition from China.

China surpassed Japan last year to become the world’s biggest exporter of cars, with more than 460,000 Chinese-made vehicles registered in Europe during the first nine months of 2023.

A shipment of 5,000 electric vehicles made by Shenzhen-based BYD is currently on its way to Europe, according to reports, aboard a cargo ship called Explorer.

The company has been busy acquiring its own fleet of special car-carrier ships following a global shortage of the vessels, which has been constraining Chinese exports.

Critics have long argued that while the UK and the European Union have focused heavily on banning future petrol car sales by 2035, they have offered comparatively little in the way of incentives for consumers to switch to EVs.

Writing in an op-ed for the magazine Autocar, Mr Meo said: “For us Europeans, these are challenging times. But are we fully aware of what is at stake?

“The UK may no longer be part of the EU, but on this issue I think we face the same challenges together.

“It is very simple: strip out the automotive industry and Europe will find itself with a structural trade deficit.

“With the internal combustion engine, our leadership was undisputed. For a century, we benefited from our expertise with this technology, and it was a barrier to entry for newcomers to the industry.

“Today, Europeans find themselves in a position of relative fragility.”

Mr Meo criticised flip-flopping on rules for vehicle emissions and pointed to China’s global dominance over battery production, warning that previous certainties were being “shaken”.

Last year, Rishi Sunak delayed the UK’s ban on sales of new petrol cars from 2030 to 2035, while the EU also watered down emissions rules due to come into force in 2035 to allow cars powered by synthetic fuels to continue being sold, following last-minute demands from Germany.

Mr Meo added: “In addition, while the Americans massively stimulate and incentivise the industry and the Chinese organise it through planning, we Europeans regulate, often with no coherence and without any holistic view of our challenges.”

Europe needs a “one stop shop” for regulation on zero-emission vehicles, rather than different rules in various countries, he said, as well as more government support for companies.

Read the full story here.