Reuters’ March investigation quantified what the industry felt coming: more than half a dozen Chinese electric truck manufacturers — BYD, Geely’s Farizon, SANY, Sinotruk, Windrose and SuperPanther among them — plan European heavy-truck entries in 2026. Expected pricing: up to 30% below the €320,000 European average, enabled by lower labour costs and the battery supply chain. Analysts and fleet operators told Reuters Chinese electric drivetrain and battery technology sits ‘three years ahead’ of European equivalents — against incumbents’ assumption of a seven-year development buffer.

The structural details matter more than the adjectives: local assembly is part of the playbook (BYD at its Hungary bus plant, SuperPanther at the former MAN/Steyr facility in Austria), blunting both tariffs and the ‘foreign import’ objection; service is being bought wholesale (SANY and SuperPanther signed Alltrucks for ~650–700 workshops); and Europe’s incumbents — Mercedes ~35% and Volvo ~25% of the e-truck market — hold their position through service networks and loyalty ‘far more than any clear technological advantage’.

This report is why WattTonne scores evidence rather than origin. The entries will win where their evidence is strong (warranty terms, TCO, price when published) and lose where it’s weak (opacity, unnamed customers, thin networks) — and the scoreboard, not the headlines, will show it quarter by quarter.