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Daniel Ren

Themis Qi

At the close of his presentation at this year’s Auto China show, Li Fenggang, president of Beijing Hyundai Motor, surprised the audience by asking them to lift LED boxes placed on their seats.
“We’ll use this beam of light to kick off Hyundai’s new journey in China,” he said, raising the device stamped with the logo of Ioniq, the new brand the Korean carmaker has just launched in mainland China.
After years of lacklustre performance in the country, Hyundai was preparing to regain lost ground by relying on local technologies to build a new generation of electric vehicles (EVs) tailored to local customers, Li said.
The world’s third-largest carmaker by deliveries took the spotlight on April 24, the first day of the Beijing show that has become the world’s largest car exhibition.

The Korean manufacturer is one of several international marques seeking to counter the rise of home-grown rivals. Together with Chinese partner BAIC Group, Hyundai has committed an additional 8 billion yuan (US$1.17 billion) to their joint venture, Beijing Hyundai.
At the event, which runs through Sunday, Hyundai is showcasing its first production model under the new brand, the Ioniq V electric sedan – one of 20 the carmaker plans to design and build for the Chinese market over the next five years.
“We do not merely chase technological advancements to compete for market share here,” Li said. “Hyundai is determined to build the most practical and reliable new-energy vehicles based on the highest quality standards.”
Industry officials and analysts said 2026 would be a watershed year for international car brands, many of which had seen sales decline over the past decade, with some already exiting the Chinese market and others left on the brink of elimination.


“Some international marques have already taken advantage of the Beijing auto show to start a return trip to the Chinese market,” said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based data provider CnEVPost. “A changing market landscape in China also has far-reaching significance for the global automotive industry.”
With Chinese assemblers and supply-chain vendors at the vanguard of EV technology and production, international names from Volkswagen to Nissan have doubled down on localisation strategies, partnering with or learning from Chinese carmakers and component suppliers to build longer-range smart EVs and regain market share.
Foreign carmakers held a 35 per cent share of the mainland’s car market last year, down from 53 per cent in 2022, reflecting their slow transition to electrification in a market where EVs accounted for more than 50 per cent of new car deliveries.
Two decades ago, established conventional carmakers controlled more than 80 per cent of the Chinese car market, as vehicles assembled locally through joint ventures proved far superior to indigenous models.




Denis Depoux, global managing director at consultancy Roland Berger, said foreign carmakers would be able to churn out intelligent electric cars similar to their Chinese counterparts as early as this year, intensifying competition in an already cutthroat market.
Nissan, whose N7 electric sedan received a warm response in China last year, said its research and development on the mainland would also give it an edge in competing abroad.
“As a hub for innovation and exports, China will play a vital role in delivering highly competitive vehicles to select global destinations,” said Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa. He added that the N7, equipped with a preliminary autonomous driving system, would be exported to Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East after adapting to customer demands.


Since its debut in April last year, the N7 recorded 45,382 deliveries on the mainland through December, a rare achievement for a foreign-brand EV in China.
For brands like Hyundai, the comeback campaign will be complex, given the large number of EV makers crowding the market.
Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz said at the April 24 presentation that the company targeted sales of 500,000 units in China by 2030, more than triple its deliveries of 154,000 cars in 2025. That would still be more than 30 per cent below Hyundai’s annual sales of nearly 800,000 cars on the mainland in 2018. The projected sales would also represent 9 per cent of its estimated deliveries across the globe in 2030.
“To catch up with their Chinese rivals, international carmakers will have to quicken their decision-making process and further localise their supply chains to make their cars intelligent,” said David Zhang, general secretary of the Shanghai-based International Intelligent Vehicle Engineering Association.
“In China, autonomous driving and in-car entertainment systems are highly sophisticated and are redefining the automotive industry.”
In November, Volkswagen announced the formation of its VCTC research centre, which for the first time in the company’s history supported the development and validation of new vehicle platforms without headquarters approval. The German automotive group also set up an Audi innovation centre in Shanghai last week to accelerate development of China-tailored EV models and technologies.
Smart, a premium EV brand jointly set up by Mercedes-Benz and Geely, began accepting orders for its No 6 EHD sedan, priced from 189,900 yuan, on the first day of the auto show. EHD stands for extended hybrid drive. Smart said the model, its largest to date, was designed for Chinese consumers, featuring spacious interiors, a roof-mounted lidar sensor and self-driving software. Its debut marked a significant step in the brand’s transition from classic compact cars to the premium mid-size EV market.
A total of 1,451 models, including 181 making their global debuts, were displayed at the auto show, according to organisers, who added that the exhibition area of 380,000 square metres (4.1 million sq ft) was nearly 50 per cent larger than the previous edition in 2024.

Many visitors to luxury brand booths like BMW and Mercedes said they were no longer impressed by foreign carmakers’ technologies, as Chinese rivals offered eye-catching features including advanced autonomous driver assistance, superfast charging and sophisticated in-car entertainment.
“But they can still convince me of their high quality, which gives me a sense of safety,” said Frank Yang, a visitor interested in a BMW petrol car. “Not all foreign brands will exit this market.”
Foreign marques competing in the Chinese premium segment could prove more resilient than those in the mass segment, according to Paul Gong, head of China auto research at UBS.
Porsche, emphasising its motorsports heritage, showcased a purely electric Cayenne Turbo at its booth. The SUV’s China version included the Porsche Active Ride chassis system, a Burmester premium 3D surround sound system, and an augmented reality head-up display, with added features worth around 200,000 yuan. The selling price, set at 1.15 million yuan, is lower than the 160,000 euros (US$186,660) charged in Germany.
The fading of price premiums comes amid falling sales. Porsche delivered 7,579 new vehicles in China in the first quarter, down 21 per cent from a year earlier, extending a decline that has persisted since 2022.
Western carmakers were no longer dominant in some areas, particularly technology, according to Dan Hearsch, global co-leader of the automotive and industrial practice at US-headquartered consultancy AlixPartners.
“China is actually starting to dictate a higher level of driver assistance requirements, L2++,” he said. “Westerners will be forced to follow because these vehicles already come with this technology built in.”
L2++ handles complex driving in both highway and city environments, including negotiating intersections, roundabouts and heavy traffic, while still requiring the driver to remain fully attentive and responsible.
Hearsch added that the affordability of Chinese cars would also force Western original equipment manufacturers – commonly known as OEMs – to cut costs and drop prices, putting pressure on companies with large engineering organisations and infrastructure.
Failure in the competition could lead to bankruptcy and replacement, but Hearsch said it was a “natural part” of the history of the global automotive industry. “If you were to list all the companies that exist today … I would say probably 30 per cent of them won’t be there in 10 years,” Hearsch said. But, he added, “you’ll have at least 10 new names”.


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International carmakers launch tailored models and accelerate R&D as they scramble to match the speed and sophistication of domestic rivals


International carmakers launch tailored models and accelerate R&D as they scramble to match the speed and sophistication of domestic rivals.


Comeback trail: can foreign marques regain lost ground amid China’s EV revolution?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}International carmakers launch tailored models and accelerate R&D as they scramble to match the speed and sophistication of domestic rivals

International carmakers launch tailored models and accelerate R&D as they scramble to match the speed and sophistication of domestic rivals