Shocked by China’s surge in electric vehicles (EVs) following the pandemic, European politicians have since pushed Chinese carmakers to set up joint ventures on the continent and transfer technology to their Western peers.

The demand is so familiar it has been coined “Reverse Deng Xiaoping”, echoing what Beijing required of European carmakers decades ago. But one industry veteran told the South China Morning Post that Europe may be getting exactly what it once gave: not the crown jewels, but a factory.

“So it’s like Germany and France 30 years ago. China will consider what to keep in China and what to industrialise elsewhere,” said Soh Weiming, CEO of Renault China.

“I would foresee that Chinese OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) will set up factories in Europe … then are you really bringing the technology out? It’s factory, it’s industrialisation.”

Before taking over at the French auto giant, the Singaporean businessman spent decades working for European carmakers in China, starting with Daimler before joining Volkswagen, where he spent 16 years rising to executive vice-president of Volkswagen Group China, earning a reputation as “the fixer” for his role in steering the German brand through its dominant run in the Chinese market.

He said there were three categories of know-how in the automotive sector: At the core lay a company’s intellectual property (IP), followed by industrialisation – for instance, how to build components – and the third layer was the supplier ecosystem.