[By Guancha Observer Network, Liu Chenghui]

On May 19th, at the "Choose France" International Business Summit held in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron was seen smiling with a futuristic white truck model in his hand.

To his left stood a young Chinese entrepreneur wearing thick black-framed glasses and smiling broadly—the founder of Windrose (苇渡), a Chinese electric truck manufacturer, Han Wen.

The model in Macron's hand was none other than Windrose's electric truck model.

Currently, Windrose is planning to respond to Macron's strategy to build a "Battery Valley" by investing 175 million euros in an electric truck factory in northern France, creating 300 jobs.

"They thought China would remain content as a source of cheap labor... but they didn't realize that while the world slept, China had transformed into experts," said Mark Duchesne, global manufacturing business director of Windrose.

However, facing the contradictory demands of the EU, the path for Chinese enterprises to invest is clearly not smooth.

"Job Creators or Industry Killers? European Electric Vehicle Industry Faces Dilemma Over Chinese Investment," Hong Kong-based English-language media South China Morning Post reported on May 25th, focusing on Europe's complex attitude toward Chinese investment in the electric vehicle industry.

On May 19th, at the "Choose France" International Business Summit held at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, Macron and Han Wen pose for a photo. Social media.

In Macron's reindustrialization plan, building a "Battery Valley" in the northern industrial area is an important part of it. He hopes to establish Europe's largest "Battery Valley"—the "Silicon Valley" of the electric vehicle industry there.

"He said he hoped I would bring the entire electric vehicle ecosystem to France," Han Wen recalled Macron's expectations of him in the interview.

Although currently only 30 Windrose electric trucks are on the road globally, Han Wen has grand ambitions: he hopes to produce 4,000 trucks annually in France by 2027 and plans to build factories in the United States as well. He is preparing to go public in the U.S. and told Macron he hopes to list again in France.

Han Wen said that Macron promised to help Windrose sell trucks and secure financing. Windrose is planning to build a truck factory in Onnaing, a small French town, creating 300 jobs locally, which fits perfectly with Macron's vision for the "Battery Valley."

Le Monde reported that near the area where Windrose plans to start construction, French company Alteo and South Korean W-scope are negotiating a 600-million-euro investment in an automobile battery component plant.

Despite Macron's previous warm welcome to Chinese electric vehicle companies, the scale of China's investments still hasn't reached expectations.

Mathieu Duchatel, director of the Asia program at the Paris think tank Institut Montaigne, said: "Building an electric vehicle battery supply chain is a clear priority for Macron, and attracting Asian enterprises to France is crucial."

He added that in the electric vehicle sector, France is firmly supporting the EU's anti-subsidy actions while also striving to attract companies like BYD to invest in France. This is actually two sides of the same coin, with the core being enhancing France's industrial capabilities.

South China Morning Post noticed that although Macron welcomes job creation from Chinese enterprises, European leaders do not hide their desire to attract high-value-added manufacturing rather than simple assembly plants.

By July 2024, a Windrose electric truck is parked in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Reuters.

On April 24th, Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong stated at the regular press conference that after the video meeting between China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Šefčovič on April 8th, technical teams from both sides have been closely communicating about issues related to price commitments for electric vehicles and trade and investment cooperation, and are accelerating the negotiation process.

He Yadong emphasized that China is willing to work with the EU to properly handle economic and trade frictions through dialogue and consultation, deepen practical cooperation, and inject more certainty and positive energy into the Chinese and European economies and the world economy.

Han Wen hopes that Windrose will become one of the many pioneers investing in Europe.

In an interview at Brussels Airport, he pointed out the passing BYD electric buses outside the window and said: "After announcing our plans to build factories in Europe, numerous battery motor manufacturers have shown great interest. We hope to introduce the entire ecosystem to Europe."

Mark Duchesne said that Windrose is willing to cooperate with anyone. "As long as performance, reliability, and efficiency meet requirements, we really want to use local French batteries, but the reality is that such suppliers don't exist yet."

He also denied the claim that Chinese enterprises would easily transfer technology to European companies, because doing so "is far more complex than imagined, not just simple 'reverse technology transfer.'"

"The relevant technologies originally came from Europe... we are just better at system integration. The real challenge is a shift in mindset rather than knowledge transfer."

Although Mark Duchesne does not agree with the notion that "the whole world cannot compete with China," he admitted that Western mindsets have gradually made them fall behind.

"Western companies were once satisfied with getting cheap contract manufacturing from China... they thought China would forever serve as a source of cheap labor... but they didn't realize that while the world slept, China had already transformed into experts."

"Some of us have forgotten what flexibility, efficiency, and speed feel like," Mark Duchesne said.

In response to accusations that Windrose copied Tesla's exterior design, Mark Duchesne smiled dismissively: "We are often asked if we copied Tesla? Actually, no, we copied aerodynamic laws."

"Chinese companies excel in manufacturing but are not good at marketing," Han Wen said, hoping to "make trucks cool again."

He believes that Europe's skepticism towards Chinese investment will gradually fade away. "It's always hard to be Chinese," he laughed, "many people actually oppose innovation."

Han Wen said that Japan went through a similar situation 30 years ago, but now some of the most popular pickup trucks in the U.S. are made by Toyota.

"South Korea is the same; Hyundai had to offer lifetime warranties just to enter the market back then, and look at their position now," he said.

"This shows that everything can change."

This article is an exclusive piece by Guancha Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7508598457662292520/

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