Earlier this week, XPENG announced that it has signed strategic partnership deals in the Netherlands and Sweden. Through this deal, the company will now be able to open its self operated experience stores in Europe.

In other words, the Chinese EV maker is expanding its presence in the European region, and has collaborated with Emil Frey Nederland NV for the market in the Netherlands. Emil Frey has been brought in to develop XPENG’s sales and service network and will also manage its branded stores throughout the country. Through this partnership, XPENG is seeking to widen its footprint in the region and also marks the first agency retail collaboration for the Chinese company in Europe.

Emil Frey is one of Europe’s largest automobile retail organizations. So, XPENG’s retail stores will benefit from this partnership with customers getting consistent pricing, online and offline, along with access to Emil Frey’s established services and distribution network as well. The XPENG retail experience store will be located in the Westfield Mall of the Netherlands near The Hague and will open sometime in March 2022. On the other hand, the brand has entered into an agreement with Bilia for the Swedish market.

Bilia is the largest automobile dealer and distributor in Sweden. This means that XPENG customers will also benefit from Bilia’s well established network, which consists of 58 dealers and 66 service centers in Sweden. He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPENG stated that “Our global journey starts from Europe, propelled by our commitment to increase smart EV penetration. We strongly support the EV development strategy in Europe and are forging partnerships with top tier local players to accelerate energy conservation, emission reduction and electrification in Europe.”

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XPENG Motors, the China-based electric vehicles manufacturers, has become the first Chinese EV company to enter Sweden. This marks the second European market for the company after entering Norway.

The smart car-making company is currently setting up its first store in Sweden and images of the store have leaked on Reddit. As for the location, the experience center is located in Westfield Mall of Scandinavia.

The development is in line with the company’s plan for overseas operations. A few weeks ago, XPENG Motors had revealed that it was planning to enter more European markets in the year 2022 to boost its exports.

The company had previously announced that Xpeng Experience Center will open in Sweden in the first quarter of 2022, i.e. somewhere between January to March. Based on that timeline, we expect the store to open doors in the coming weeks.

Elvis Cheng, Nordic Region Manager for the company claimed that Westfield Mall of Scandinavia is the best place to reach many people in the country. The company will be providing test drives of its models at the location.

He Xiaopeng, co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of the company has said that apart from Sweden, the company also has plans to enter two more European markets this year — Denmark and the Netherlands. It will also put in efforts to expand its presence in Norway.

XPENG Motors is currently building its EVs in Zhaoqing, China and is in the process of setting up new factories in Guangzhou and Wuhan. Once these new units as up and running, the company will have a production capacity of more than 400,000 units. With double-shift, it has the potential to roll out up to 600,000 electric cars annually.

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Earlier this month, Huawei stated that it had filed an appeal against a ruling by a Swedish court back in June 2021. The initial ruling upheld the ban of sale of the company’s 5G telecommunications equipment.

For those unaware, back in January 2021, Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden had dismissed an appeal by Chinese tech giant against its exclusion from the country’s 5G network rollout. The company’s equipment was banned from Sweden’s network and the sale of its 5G gear was also prohibited. The primary reason for the ban was to safeguard the security of Sweden. Huawei insisted that it is being targeted unfairly on false suspicion of links to the Chinese government.

In June, it faced another blow in the region as the court dismissed its second appeal as well. Now, the company has filed another appeal stating that it has requested an oral hearing in the case. Although, the Court of Appeal can decide whether such a hearing should be held or a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice should be requested. This marks another region in Europe where the company is facing a ban.

Furthermore, the situation is made worse by the US legalization against Huawei and ZTE telecom infrastructure in Europe. This move from the US seeks to provide support and funds to its allies in the Eastern Europe that are vulnerable to low cost telecom equipment from these Chinese firms. Meaning, the company is facing increased tensions and scrutiny in the west, as the US continues to pressure its allies to ban Huawei.

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Borje Ekholm, the CEO of Ericsson, had apparently lobbied to overturn the ban on Huawei in Sweden, which prevented the company from participating in the roll out of 5G networking in the region.

According to a Bloomberg report, the Ericsson CEO had pressured a Swedish minister to reverse the ban on Huawei and ZTE as well. Reportedly, Ekholm had lobbied Foreign Trade Minister Anna Hallberg via a series of phone messages to review an order by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS). For those unaware, this order was to operators that were required to remove networking equipment that was bought from the Chinese companies and replacing it from their infrastructure by January 2025.

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An Ericsson spokesperson has confirmed the news that Ekholm was in contact with the minister. Furthermore, the news also arrives after Hallberg said that she did not have any contact with PTS and would never step in as minister and influence the decisions made by individual authorities. Halberg further added that she had never met with Ekholm regarding the matter. Similarly, Jacob Wallenberg, deputy chair of Ericsson’s board of directors, had previously said that “stopping Huawei is definitely not good.”

At the moment, Ericsson brings in 10 percent of its total sales from China, with Huawei being one of its biggest rivals as a telecommunications equipment provider. Notably, China had even warned that the Swedish companies would also see “negative impacts” from the ban if the decision wasn’t reversed. Although, the Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven is standing by the decision of the authority.

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Huawei is apparently ready to accept any terms or requirements that the Swedish government may set on its 5G networking equipment. The company will also be willing to accept any measures to address any other concerns as well to avoid a complete ban in the country.

According to a senior executive from Huawei, the Chinese tech giant is willing to accept any terms after it faced a ban in the region, which also caused a delay in Sweden’s spectrum auction as well. For those unaware, Chinese telecommunications equipment providers Huawei and ZTE faced a ban in Sweden after the country’s telecom regulator PTS banned the use of equipment from both the companies.

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However, since then Huawei has managed to win a court injunction and is even awaiting an appeal from PTS. Kenneth Fredriksen, Huawei Executive Vice President, said that “We are even willing to meet extraordinary requirements, such as setting up test facilities for our equipment in Sweden, for example, if they want to,” in a statement to Reuters. The senior executive further added that the company is “now in the middle of the court process, but we are willing to have pragmatic discussions. I can’t give you a concrete plan, but of course we will fight for our rights.”

In recent months, Europe has followed in the United States’ footsteps and have tightened regulations against Chinese made 5G networking equipment, alleging that the technology might be used by the Chinese government for spying and espionage. At the moment, the 5G spectrum auction has been delayed over the Huawei ban in Sweden, which is the second nation after the UK to ban the company. The date for the appeal court has yet to be set, so stay tuned for more updates regarding the matter.

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Huawei’s woes are far from over but the Chinese tech giant may have found an unusual ally in the CEO of Ericsson, which is one of its main rivals in the network and telecommunications business.

Borje Ekholm, the top executive at the Swedish company has kicked against his country’s Huawei ban. Speaking to the Financial Times, he says the decision will hurt competition. He is quoted to have said – “I belong in that category that believes competition makes us longer term, a better company. It may be painful shorter term but longer term it drives us to be more innovative and make better products for our customers,”.

Sweden announced a Huawei ban last month after advice from its armed forces and security forces; stating the reason as due to the Chinese company’s “extensive intelligence gathering and theft of technology”.

The ban means that Swedish carriers can not use technology and products from Huawei (and ZTE too) for their 5G networks. They have also been given till 2025 to phase out both Huawei and ZTE technology from their existing infrastructure. Huawei is appealing the ban and that is said to have caused the postponement of Sweden’s 5G spectrum which was scheduled for November.

Ericsson’s CEO also revealed that it has collaborated with Huawei on industry standards even though they are big rivals. The Financial Times’ report also says that Ericsson may be protecting its business in Huawei’s home country of China where it has won several deals.

Mr. Ekholm also warns that the focus should be on rolling out 5G coverage as soon as possible so that Europe is not playing catch up as it happened in the case of 4G where China and the US rolled out 4G fastest which ha led to them being the major players in the app business.

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Ever since the United States imposed restrictions on Huawei, the Chinese giant has been struggling to get into the 5G communications market in several countries and the latest country to ban Huawei is Sweden.

After being excluded from the 5G networks, Huawei filed a lawsuit against the Swedish telecoms regulator PTS, and to the relief of the Chinese company, the court has now granted a stay order against the decision.

As per the report coming from Reuters, some parts of PTS’ decision prior to the upcoming 5G auction will not apply until further notice and it would allow Huawei’s involvement in the 5G spectrum auction in Sweden.

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After the court’s decision, the auctions have been halted by the authorities, which would have benefited Nokia and Ericsson. PTS is now planning to review the possibilities of starting the process as soon as possible while Huawei is trying to have a dialogue with them to become a certified vendor.

For those who are unaware, Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers — Huawei and ZTE were banned by Sweden from taking part in the upcoming 5G auction, citing security concerns. Also, PTS had asked companies that are taking part in the auction to remove Huawei and ZTE from existing in the central functions by 1st January 2025.

After the United States banned Huawei in the country for the telecom networks, it is also pressuring other nations to follow the suit with the ban. Several countries bowed down to the pressure, including the UK which banned the Chinese giant and ordered companies to replace all Huawei equipment from the country’s infrastructure by 2027.

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China is urging the Swedish government to reverse its decision of banning Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network. The two Chinese companies are known telecommunications equipment providers and China has asked Sweden to reverse the decision or face “negative impacts” on its own companies.

According to a Reuters report, Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesman, stated that “China expresses strong dissatisfaction with Sweden.” For those unaware, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) has banned Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network earlier this week, just prior to the local government auctioning its 5G spectrum to various telecom operators.

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Zhao further added that “Sweden should uphold an objective and fair attitude, and correct its wrong decision, to avoid bringing a negative impact to China-Sweden economic and trade cooperation and the operations of Swedish enterprises in China.” The reason behind the ban is national security concerns, with PTS following advice from the country’s armed forces and security service that labeled the Chinese tech giants as one of the biggest threats against Sweden”.

This marks the recent trend of various European governments banning Chinese carriers and telecom communications equipment makers like Huawei and ZTE from their 5G infrastructure. It also arrives amid the various pressures the companies face from the US government, which accuses these brands of espionage. A claim that Huawei has denied on multiple counts.

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