PARIS, April 22 -- Chinese carmakers have quickly built up their presence in the lucrative European auto market, buoyed by technological advances their competitors are trying to copy, and analysts say their next step is to begin producing locally.

Largely unknown in the continent three years ago, brands including BYD, Chery, Geely and XPeng achieved a nine per cent share of European sales in March - and 14 per cent of electric cars - according to Dataforce.

That has doubled in a year, and some models even rank among the top sellers in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Their success is shaking up European manufacturers, weakened by a domestic market that has shrunk by a quarter since 2019 and wrong-footed by European Union plans to m...