At the Paris Motor Show, Avatr confirmed rumors that it will enter Europe next year, starting in select markets. Within three years, the brand promises six models in the higher end of the market. But it risks becoming a leap of faith, reminiscent of Hongqi’s failed plans.
Launching first in Norway and Spain, Avatr will try to woo European luxury customers with the 06T estate and 07L SUV. Four more models will join the line-up in a later phase.
Defying the Rolls-Royce Cullinan
The Paris stand also featured the Concept T09, a Mercedes GLS-sized SUV with a bi-tone color scheme that nods to the German carmaker’s Maybach line. Avatr says the targeted rivals also include the Rolls-Royce Cullinan.
Zooming in on the models already slated for sale, the 06T is a sleek shooting brake offered both as a battery-electric car with a claimed range of up to 740 kilometers (according to China’s optimistic CLTC cycle), and as a range extender with a 1.5-liter gasoline engine, a 45.1 kWh battery, and around 240 kilometers of electric range.
The 07L is a mid-size SUV with an 89.3 kWh CATL pack, a claimed 725 km of CLTC range, and up to 955 hp in three-motor form.
The Changan group owns Avatr and represents the premium branch of a three-band European strategy that already includes the car brand Changan and Deepal. The latter collaborates with Mazda on the 6e and CX-6e.
Europe for margins
But Avatr has multiple shareholders, which helps explain its positioning: Changan assembles the cars, CATL supplies the batteries, and Huawei provides the electronics. The design center sits in Munich, and the brand leans heavily on its European styling credentials.
This European bet doesn’t follow up on a domestic success story. Avatr sold 73,606 cars in China in 2025, but in the first five months of this year, it registered just 20,160 deliveries, fewer than 3,000 of which were overseas. The brand remains deep in the red.
Europe is where the margins are supposed to be, but Chinese brands trying to battle established Western players often take their wishes for granted. Heritage culture might have withered in China; it surely hasn’t in Europe.
Hongqi leaving the building
Luxury brand Hongqi, with its E-HS9 SUV priced at nearly 100,000 euros, has experienced this. In Germany, the brand ended its partnership with Hedin Automotive over disappointing sales.
In Belgium, the independent distributor seems to have scaled back, with the official website now focusing primarily on aftersales services rather than new-car sales. Hongqi hasn’t left Europe, but it lacks customer trust.
As for Avatr, no Belgian launch has been announced. With Norway and Spain riding the first wave, Belgium is at best a 2028 story. Getting the cars ready for homologation will prove the easy part. The business case, on the other hand…
