Visitors to the Nio House in Frankfurt can do more than just admire the sleek new electric vehicles on display. Half the showroom, a stone’s throw from the city’s 15th-century Eschenheimer Gate, is a free-to-use co-working space, equipped with meeting rooms, a café and a crèche.

When Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of the Chinese carmaker, attended its opening in late March, he told the freshly hired sales team not to bother with sales targets and to instead “give to the community”. 

The charm offensive is a prelude to an aggressive export drive by the Hefei-based company and other Chinese carmakers that threatens to reshape Europe’s automotive landscape, dethroning its powerful incumbents and forcing governments to choose between protecting their industries and embracing competition and consumer choice.