There are few things more German than 'das auto' and 'die autobahn', as Deutsch as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding is British, and fromage and a glass of wine is the French.

But the future of the car across Europe looks to be electric. That's where Chinese manufacturers like NIO are hoping to grab a big chunk of the European market, using an already strong import relationship with Germany as the route in.

NIO's electric sedan will hit the German market later this year with a range of up to 700km on a full charge. That's how the company is looking to entice European consumers away from some of the continent's auto industry heavy hitters.

CEO and co-founder William Li told CGTN Europe that NIO is here to challenge them.

"China is the most competitive market in the world," he said. "German car brands are very successful in China. NIO has a market share of more than 60 percent in the Chinese electric vehicle market, in which cars are sold at the price of more than $60,000. Chinese customers are very demanding, so we are quite confident that our products will be liked by global customers."

China is the world's biggest market for electric vehicles, and while Germany is lagging behind, it's expected to develop into an important market.

Li hopes that close trade and business links around the world can be used to build bridges around the world.

"China has close trade relations with many countries worldwide, especially Europe, Germany included," he said. "Such trade relations enable people of different cultures to better understand each other, so business is so important to make the world more stable."

Germany's car giants have long been aware of the importance of the Chinese markets. BMW, Mercedes, VW and Audi, among others, all have production in China.

German auto journalist and broadcaster Lars Hoenkhaus told CGTN that he sees more and more Chinese car companies making inroads into Europe with their electric models.

"I think it's important to see the Chinese market and how many car manufacturers there produce electric cars," said Hoenkhaus. "The German market, it's a different thing, so, I think that they are well aware of what they can deliver and that they really try to push quite hard into the market. Because you see so many new brands coming to Germany at the moment, to Europe at the moment, most of them are coming from China, and most of them are electric."

The top-of-the-range version of NIO's ET7 flagship sedan will go from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in a shade under four seconds. That's as much power as the best on offer on the electric market, from the Tesla Model S or the Taycan from German sports car colossus Porsche.

NIO's battery switch technology has been catching attention. Customers will be able to trade out an empty battery for a full one on the road at a NIO automatic swap station. The first one of these stations in Germany is now operational on the A8 autobahn between Munich and Stuttgart. The company plans to roll out a further 120 across Europe by the end of next year.