It has a long time Some say that visiting China from the West is similar to landing in a parallel universe. Choosing any major city, most aspects of the look and feel are familiar, but the fundamentals are different. You can't call Uber or use Google Maps to bypass, your hotel TV will not have Netflix. On the contrary, there is always a family choice. A newer, bigger, faster, and even better than you ever got home.
Therefore, the latest opportunity for the Chinese auto industry in Europe and the United States to scare off the sunlight of life is at the Shanghai Auto Show. The exhibition is held in the world's second largest exhibition space, with more than 1,400 cars from 26 countries spread across 13 halls. About 93 cars made their debut in front of one million participants. YouTubers will be uploaded later on with longer run times than run times Interstellar.
How many world debuts do you think you have made at the 2024 Geneva International Auto Show? About a dozen. No wonder it was cancelled in 2025.
In the eyes of the West, Shanghai’s automatic photos are similar to the glorious days of requiring Chatgpt to reproduce the past sports shows. Anyone who strolls through the large conference halls in Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva, Detroit, and even Birmingham will recognize the scene. There are lots of shiny metals and carbons that form cars of all possible sizes, shapes and social status. But the badge is unfamiliar and the model name is ridiculous. The price is incredibly low, with performance propositions from another planet.
Admittedly, some cars wear fur like children's toys with rabbit ears and tails, but maybe it's just an AI hallucination. This still largely looks like a car show in Europe, where the United States is hosted every few months in a preschool world.
Names like Jetour, Denza, Icar, Changan, Hongqi and Luxeed don't ring a lot of bells. Keep walking and you will see Audi, Lotus, Buick and Volkswagen very clearly, but the familiar spark they bring is quickly gone by a stark understanding: they are no longer showing them to the fledgling locals in Shanghai, because it is in a successful Western industry, a successful Western industry. They are surrounded by young, fitters and keen competitors, eager to jingle in the universe. And it's about to be fanatic.
Highlights of this year's Shanghai show include the Jetour G900, a range-expanded electric SUV with two rear-mounted turbines as the boat; an electric Porsche 911 competitor from Byd-owned Denza; the award-winning Xpeng M03 Mona; and the Maextro S800, a possible competitive luxury sedan from Huawei.
Yes, that's Huawei. The telecom company oversees Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA), which includes auto brands such as Aito, Stelato and Saic, which is itself another auto group, which includes Roewe, Rising Auto, Wuling and former British sports car maker MG.