Source: CHEAA-run China Appliance magazine
As Europe endures another summer of extreme heat, demand for air conditioning has surged across the continent. Another heatwave is expected later in July, adding further pressure. Yet despite rising temperatures, household air conditioner penetration in Europe remains only around 20%, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), with rates below 15% in major Western European markets such as Germany and France. Against this backdrop, Chinese air conditioner manufacturers are experiencing a wave of record-breaking orders as European demand outpaces supply.
Leading Brands Find Different Paths to Growth
Data from NIQ-GfK show that air conditioner sales in Europe rose nearly 60% year-on-year during the first five months of 2026, while portable air conditioners surged by more than 200%. Major Chinese brands have all reported strong momentum in the region.
Gree Electric said its retail sales in France jumped 50% in the first half of 2026, while overall European revenue increased by more than 40%. Distributors in France, Spain and Portugal have exhausted their inventories. Portable air conditioners requiring no professional installation are sold out, while installation appointments for wall-mounted split systems have already been booked through the end of August.
Midea Group posted even stronger growth. Air conditioner sales revenue in Western Europe climbed more than 70% in the first half of the year. Its PortaSplit portable split air conditioner, designed specifically for European consumers, sold more than 60,000 units in Germany within six months. Xiong Xueqin, Regional Director of Midea Air Conditioning Europe, said factories have ramped up production while China-Europe freight trains have been deployed to shorten delivery times by around 25 days compared with sea freight.
Haier has taken a differentiated approach. Its premium Expert series features a modular, single-screw installation design that addresses Europe’s costly and complex installation process. Meanwhile, the Pearl Premium series meets the EU’s highest A+++ energy-efficiency standard, making it well suited to markets facing high electricity prices and increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Hisense Home Appliances said it is strengthening localized R&D efforts and developing customized split-system products tailored for Europe.
TCL, meanwhile, has shortened production lead times to just 10 days and shifted logistics from sea freight to truck transport to improve delivery efficiency.
According to China’s General Administration of Customs, exports of household air conditioners to the EU and the UK totaled US$1.479 billion between January and May 2026, up 6.51% year-on-year, while export volume reached 8.8729 million units, an increase of 11.35%. Although June figures have yet to be released, industry observers expect a significant month-on-month jump.
Extreme Heat, Heritage Buildings and Carbon Neutrality: Europe’s Air Conditioning Trilemma
Much of the discussion surrounding Europe’s air conditioner boom has focused on an apparent contradiction: strict EU regulations limiting installation on one hand, and consumers rushing to buy cooling equipment on the other.
Behind the surge in demand lies a deeper structural trilemma. Rising temperatures are driving demand for wider air conditioner adoption. Historic building preservation rules and installation constraints make air conditioners difficult to install. At the same time, ambitious carbon neutrality targets discourage energy-intensive cooling equipment. Satisfying all three objectives simultaneously has proven nearly impossible.
The constraints begin with Europe’s building stock. In cities such as Paris, many residential buildings are more than 200 years old, and regulations prohibit drilling exterior walls to install outdoor compressor units. Even where installation is permitted, certified technicians typically charge between €1,000 and €2,000 per unit—often exceeding the price of the equipment itself. Aging electricity grids across much of Europe further limit large-scale deployment.
Environmental regulations add another layer of complexity. Air conditioning products sold in the EU must comply with CE safety certification, the EU’s Ecodesign requirements, and the F-Gas Regulation. The F-Gas framework continues to tighten annual quotas for high-global-warming-potential (GWP) HFC refrigerants, while additional conformity declaration and verification requirements are set to take effect from November 2025.
The result is a paradox. Split-system air conditioners that fully comply with European regulations often face installation barriers created by historic buildings and housing-related rules. Portable units, which avoid those installation constraints, generally deliver significantly lower energy efficiency than split systems. Widespread adoption of portable units could therefore increase overall electricity consumption and carbon emissions, running counter to the EU’s climate objectives.
Turning European Constraints into Product Innovation
Rather than simply adapting to Europe’s regulatory landscape, Chinese manufacturers are increasingly treating constraints as a source of product innovation.
Midea’s PortaSplit offers perhaps the clearest example. Developed over three years, the product relocates the compressor into the indoor unit while limiting the outdoor unit’s weight to just 10 kilograms. It requires neither drilling nor professional installation. At the same time, key technical specifications—including a refrigerant charge of 1.99 kilograms, nighttime operating noise of 35 decibels, and an energy-efficiency ratio of 6.1—were carefully engineered to meet regulatory requirements across France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the UK. As Zhao Ali, Midea’s Product Manager for Europe, puts it, the company has “turned market constraints created by local regulations and housing conditions into product differentiation.”
The product’s commercial success illustrates a broader shift in competitive strategy: conducting early research into local consumer pain points, regulatory frameworks and building standards, then designing products specifically for those market conditions rather than adapting global models after the fact.
Wang Hongji, Head of Domestic Home Appliance Research at GfK China, believes Europe’s low household air conditioner penetration leaves substantial room for long-term growth. Manufacturers that can deliver products tailored to local installation conditions while combining high energy efficiency with competitive pricing will be well positioned to expand in the European market. Portable air conditioners, he said, have already demonstrated the potential of this localized approach.