Stellantis CEO calls on European regulators to establish stronger incentives for car manufacturers producing vehicles in Europe, as the company is facing increasingly fierce competition from Chinese rivals.

Since 2025, Antonio Filosa who has been in charge of this automotive giant, during an interview with “CNBC Conversation” ahead of the Paris Motor Show on Monday, discussed the “impressive” acceleration of the company’s expansion in the European market, as well as the issue of declining sales.

Filosa said in an interview with CNBC journalist Charlotte Reed: "What we strongly support in Europe is to create a fair competitive environment for everyone."

"Specifically, this means that we need to establish genuine regulations... Starting with ‘Made in Europe’, these regulations should be able to motivate, reward, and protect those who can demonstrate their ability to design and engineer cars," Filosa added.

“Made in Europe” refers to a bill proposed by the European Commission that requires car manufacturers to meet minimum local content requirements in order to sell in that regional market.

This global automaker is famous for its main brands such as Jeep and Ram. It is currently undertaking a $70 billion strategy to turn losses into profits, but it is still facing declining demand. The company's stock price has fallen by nearly 60% this year.

According to data from the market research and consulting firm GlobalData, Chinese automobile brands are dominating the global market, with their global car sales share increasing by nearly 70% from 2020 to 2025. Meanwhile, data from German Dataforce shows that Europe's car sales share was close to zero in 2020, but it has risen to 12% as of August this year.

Filosa said, "I believe that the Chinese automobile manufacturers we are familiar with are indeed capable of providing good technology and competitive prices to many consumers in various niche markets."

European Trade Commissioner Maro š Sef č ovi č stated last Friday that, after Beijing had repeatedly rejected such requests before, China has agreed to halve its exports of hybrid vehicles to the EU.

Driven by this protocol news, European automakers rose in the early trading on Monday. Stellantis increased by 2.7%, and French automaker Renault rose by about 3%. French auto parts suppliers Valeo and Forvia also saw gains in the early trading.

A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce responded on Monday to this request, stating that China and the European Union have always maintained trade and investment dialogues and have reached "several key consensuses and outcomes that contribute to maintaining a stable and balanced trade partnership." This is the content translated from Chinese into English according to CNBC.

As part of this agreement, one of the principles listed is 'non-discrimination,' which means that no measures should be specifically targeted at or discriminate against Chinese companies. 'China's quotas will not be lower than those of any other import source in the EU.'

CNBC's Michael Wayland also contributed to this report.