Football 2024: the Euro will be Chinese

Emmanuelle Ducros 08:54, January 16, 2024

The Euro 2024 football tournament will take place in Germany from June 14 to July 14. UEFA, which organises the event, yesterday unveiled its chosen sponsor for mobility. Amazement in the land of Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen.

It's even a GroBe Katastrophe eine for Deutsche Qualität automobile. UEFA has chosen a Chinese automotive player, BYD, as its mobility sponsor for the competition. Not very well known in Europe, but it won't be long. BYD is the world leader in electric vehicles. In Germany, it's a grey complex. Volkswagen, which was the sponsor of the previous edition, finds itself out of the game on its own turf.

A slap in the face for several reasons

In Germany, where for decades we knew how to make cars better than anyone else. Where cars account for 10% of GDP, UEFA's choice of BYD is seen as an offence.

BYD was born in 1995, it first manufactured only batteries and became number three in the world. It still supplies Tesla, but also BMW, Mercedes and Audi.

And then, in 2003, it started manufacturing its own electric cars. It makes sparks: 5 million cars built. Last year, the group became the number one in the car market in China. BYD stands for Build your dreams.

For German competitors, it is the embodiment of a nightmare.

BYD chairman and founder Wang Chuanfu in August called on rivals to join forces to "demolish old legends" of the auto industry. He carries out his threats. Until last year, Volkswagen was the largest seller of cars in China, which accounted for up to 40 percent of its global sales. It's over, BYD has passed him. And for Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler, who had come to feel at home in China, it smells like scorched. BYD is blowing up their comfortable positions. It shakes hard.

In comparison, German manufacturers look overwhelmed

BYD is THE symbol of the dazzling innovation that leaves the old European car crates in the wind, which makes them old-fashioned. BYD succeeds where the Germans are still fumbling: developing an electric vehicle with reliable technology that sells en masse. Remember, last year, Germany took Europe by surprise by demanding that the European Commission postpone after 2035 for combustion engine cars, which it had wanted to ban. She can't seem to move on.

For BYD, the sponsorship of the Euro football tournament is just the beginning.

You're going to have to get used to pronouncing BYD. In December, the Chinese company announced the construction of its first European factory, in Hungary. The goal: to capture 5% of the European electric car market in Europe, 10% in Germany. In the past, the automobile was a bit like football, it was the Germans who won in the end. But that was before.