Europe is snatching up Chinese air conditioners—why has Gree been forgotten?

By | Chief Brand Commentator

This summer, Europe is going through an unprecedented bout of air-conditioner anxiety.

Pishous (France) measured a historical peak of 44.3°C, multiple regions in Germany broke past 41°C, and more than 50 provinces in Paris sounded the highest-level heatwave warning.

Amid the surge of scorching heat, an air conditioner made in China unexpectedly became the most sought-after hard currency in Europe this summer.

Latest statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs show that in the first half of 2026, China’s exports of air conditioners to the European Union totaled $3.76 billion, up 43.2% year over year, hitting a record high for the same period. In just June alone, the export growth rate reached 72.8%.

In this heatwave, China’s entire air-conditioner industry enjoyed a moment in the spotlight. However, as the undisputed leader of China’s domestic air-conditioner sector, Gree’s presence at this European feast has been surprisingly low.

1. Gree is cooling off

First, look at a set of comparison data—you’ll immediately understand Gree’s embarrassment.

Midea is the biggest winner of this cycle. Its PortaSplit mobile split air conditioner, specially developed for the European market, only needed one selling point—“no drilling, self-installation in ten minutes”—to break through the structural pain points that plague Europe’s old buildings, where drilling into exterior walls is hard to get approved and installation fees can easily run into thousands of euros.

In the first half, in Western Europe, Midea’s total air-conditioner sales grew more than 70% year over year. In only the German market, the PortaSplit model alone sold 60k units. Across all of Europe, the product’s full-year sales are expected to exceed 300k units.

Haier followed closely behind Midea, taking a different localization path.

It understood Europe’s unspoken rules: 70% of home air-conditioner orders are recommended by HVAC installation technicians. So Haier launched its Expert series high-end wall-mounted units; installation time was cut by 50% directly. With designs that make them easy to disassemble for cleaning and easy to repair, installation technicians were willing to actively push the product.

Today, Haier’s market share in Eastern Europe reaches 34%, firmly in first place. In Western Europe, its market share is 9%, ranking second. In Spain, it has maintained double-digit market share for six consecutive years, and even district governments in Paris procure Haier air conditioners for its air-con installation schools.

Finally, let’s look at Gree.

According to official disclosures, in the first half of 2026, Gree’s European air-conditioner sales revenue grew more than 40% year over year. End-market sales in France grew 50%, mobile air conditioners sold out, and installations for wall-mounted units were booked out until August 31.

On the surface, the numbers don’t look bad. But based on data from European home-appliance monitoring agency EMI, Gree’s overall market share in Europe’s residential air-conditioner market is only 2%-5%. Combining customs export breakdown statistics, Gree accounts for about 12%-15% of China’s total air-conditioner export volume to the EU, with its scale ranking after Midea and Haier.

Public data shows that in 2025, Midea’s overseas revenue was 195.9 billion yuan, accounting for 42.73% of total revenue. Haier’s overseas income share is more than 50%. Gree’s export revenue is 60k yuan, only 16.06% of total revenue, making it the only one among the four major white-home appliance leaders with a full-year negative growth in overseas business.

2. Why did Gree get forgotten?

In China, Gree is the steady number-one air-conditioner brand with top-tier technical strength. So why can’t it sell better than its peers in Europe?

The answer may surprise many: Gree’s advantages at home became the very restraints that trapped it in the European market.

Gree isn’t missing a single heatwave cycle—it’s missing an entire era of overseas-expansion logic.

First is product strategy path dependence.

From first principles, the core of the surge in demand in Europe isn’t high-quality conventional air conditioners, but rather cooling solutions that can be installed quickly, used compliantly, and priced appropriately.

Europe’s market has unique structural contradictions: there are many old buildings, getting approval to drill exterior walls is difficult, labor costs for installation are extremely high, regulations differ across countries, and there are many rules regarding noise, energy efficiency, and refrigerant charging quantities.

As a result, the main force behind the current surge in sales is mobile air conditioners and split units that don’t require installation.

Midea took three years to refine PortaSplit, a model exclusively for Europe. This isn’t exactly a “black technology”—it’s simply a kind of “foolish hard work” that pushes local needs to the extreme.

By contrast, in Gree’s product lineup, mobile air conditioners exist, but they have always been a supplementary category to traditional split units, not a strategic-level product.

Gree’s technical advantages—its self-developed compressors, energy efficiency ratio, durability—are all built on the evaluation system for traditional residential split air conditioners. But faced with Europe’s different game rules, the product standards Gree is good at instantly stopped working.

Second is the generational difference in channel models—this is the fundamental dividing line.

In Europe, Midea follows a direct-management route. Its local branches connect directly with local supermarkets and e-commerce platforms. Local teams have autonomy over inventory, replenishment, and pricing, so when demand explodes, they can complete restocking decisions within a week.

Meanwhile, Gree has long depended on a multi-layer distributor system overseas. Goods leave the Zhuhai factory, go to a national-level distributor, then to a regional distributor, and finally reach end users. Customer demand feedback is escalated step by step, and one decision cycle can easily take one to two months.

Distributor systems are suitable for opening blank markets—light assets and fast movement. But to penetrate a mature market, without deep direct cultivation, it’s impossible.

Back in 2025, the trend of extreme heat in Europe had already shown early signs, but most Gree agents in different countries adopted conservative inventory strategies. After this heatwave arrived, mobile air conditioners suited for renting homes and old-building scenarios sold out in half a month. Meanwhile, the multi-layer approval process plus the model of shipping from China by sea freight extended the replenishment cycle; local inventory gaps lasted for a long time. Impatient consumers switched directly to competitors.

At the shareholders’ meeting this year, Dong Mingzhu also admitted: “The company hasn’t done well with international exports this year.” She said plainly that the overseas market has huge room, and it would push major reforms to the export model.

Hearing this from Dong Mingzhu, a person with an extremely competitive spirit, the implication behind it is real—she truly recognized the gap.

Third is the difference in supply-chain flexibility.

Midea has 43 manufacturing bases worldwide. Its Hungary plant directly covers the European market, so in peak season it can expand production locally and ship locally. In contrast, Gree has only two scaled overseas complete-unit production bases—Brazil and Pakistan. Europe has no local production capacity at all; all air-conditioner complete units shipped to the EU rely on domestic factories for production, then sea freight and rail freight for export.

That’s why, when both companies experience stock-outs, Midea can urgently coordinate with China-Europe freight trains to speed up replenishment, while Gree’s installation schedule is booked until the end of August—not because it doesn’t want to restock, but because it simply can’t.

Finally, and most critically, Gree’s strategic focus is not on the Western Europe residential market.

Where is Gree’s overseas core base? It’s Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the commercial engineering market.

In Romania and Poland, Gree’s market share can rank first. In the Middle East and Africa, its share is second only to LG. In Gree’s export mix, commercial air conditioners and heat pump unit sets account for a non-trivial proportion; with higher average ticket prices and better profits, it follows a large-B end route.

The Western Europe residential consumption market has long not been a strategic priority for Gree. The market rules are complex, the entry barriers are high, and competition is intense. It’s more reliable to deepen efforts in emerging markets.

There’s nothing inherently right or wrong in this—it's a company’s strategic choice. But when extreme heat suddenly lifted the ceiling of Western Europe residential air-conditioner demand, strategic neglect turned into a tactical misstep.

3. Gree’s pride and predicament

That said, even at this point, we must speak fairly: Gree hasn’t lost—it just chose a harder road.

Even for “Made in China,” the way companies go overseas differs.

Midea follows an all-range penetration strategy: it acquires local brands, builds local factories, does local R&D, and operates direct local channels—wherever there’s an opportunity, it dives in.

Gree follows a brand-anchoring strategy: it insists on independent technology, independent branding, and doesn’t easily do OEM manufacturing. It slowly penetrates through technology and quality.

There is no absolute right or wrong—only different choices.

Many people don’t know that early on, Gree actually started out as an OEM manufacturer. In the 2008 financial crisis, the European century-old brand Electrolux主动找上门, offering a sticker-label deal on the order of a million units. The profit was substantial. At that time, over 60% of Gree’s overseas revenue came from OEM work. That order was basically a life-saving money delivered to its doorstep. But Dong Mingzhu refused.

That decision sparked huge controversy at the time.

Giving up stable OEM cash flow to pursue a difficult and slow-to-see autonomous brand—no matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem like a worthwhile deal. But Dong Mingzhu’s logic was clear: OEM work means forever working for someone else, and forever having no market voice.

After Dong Mingzhu took full control of Gree in 2012, it officially established a long-term overseas development strategy for independent brands. In 2015, Gree massively phased out overseas OEM sticker-label orders; most OEM business stopped accepting orders, and the company’s resources fully tilted toward the OBM path of its own brands.

From this perspective, Gree is one of the most “backbone-filled” home-appliance enterprises in China.

Dong Mingzhu is proud. “Let the world fall in love with Chinese-made” has been her line for a decade. Gree has indeed earnestly built independent branding, without trying to make quick money for the sake of scale or to profit from sticker-label deals. This persistence deserves respect.

But the other side of pride is slowness.

The multi-layer distributor system can’t be changed; it involves the interests of hundreds of agents worldwide. Localization manufacturing capacity can’t be built; the risk of heavy-asset investment is high and doesn’t match Gree’s consistent steady style. It can’t produce breakout-hit single products either—because its R&D system is accustomed to starting from technology, not from user scenarios.

Gree is like a top student from a technical background—always training internal strength, refining quality, believing “good products will speak for themselves.” But the competitive logic of globalized markets has changed long ago. It’s no longer that the best technology sells best; the biggest cake goes to whoever understands local consumers best, responds fastest, and has the deepest channels.

A good air conditioner is made by Gree. That’s true in China—but for the whole world to accept it, it’s not enough to only have a good air conditioner. You also need good channels, good product definition, and good supply-chain responsiveness.

In the second half of the journey for Chinese manufacturing going overseas, Gree’s lesson—should be caught up.