Unless you’ve been living under a rock, by the time you know that this is an important industry in China since it has become so much more developed thanks to ‘government-driven automakers investing heavily in electrification and population who wants increasingly sophisticated technology.
It’s my first time at a Chinese motor show, Auto China 2026 in Beijing — the last I got back from it.
The scale was prepared, and I thought I had been ready for the occasion.’ organisers confirmed Auto China this year would be held across two Beijing convention centres with 17 hall in total; it will have 1451 cars and 181 world premieres.
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I packed my comfiest pair of Brooks and, while I didn’t have a smartwatch to count my steps as other reporters did, my phone says that I did 22,916 steps on Saturday after doing just over 20,000 the day before. Usually I don’t count my steps, but that sounds like a lot of stuff in the head.
It had been overwhelming and overstimulating, and somehow two days wasn’t enough – especially not with press conferences to attend, content for taking pictures. Certainly, I’m sure there was plenty of cool tech to be found in the halls with suppliers (especially those who work on batteries and ADAS) but my focus is focused on the automakers for an infinite period of time.
My group’s waiting point was a Nissan NX8 with very comfortable seats, and he said “I think I just got down in maybe some cars.” Then it is the only one that has been my favorite car sitting at this time of the day. A Jetour F700 (with incredibly luxe interior) which had an extremely nice seat for me to sit on the road; but also its own luxury cabin? I could have slept on those rear seats that were massaging…
It was a far cry from the likes of last year’s Seoul and New York City shows I attended, which were size-wise postage stamps in comparison to where I could sit in myriad cars and still have time to kill.
My first time in China was to enjoy carspotting out on the street – oh look, Li Auto! A Baojun! I am an element of this as my Instagram is about cars and pretty much happy when I had to whip out Google Lens for a few times (especially with some particularly inscrutable logos – curse you, Haima and Weltmeister)?
In the halls of the two exhibition centres, I was as kid as a candy store in ‘the one that is around me.’ There were still dozens of brands and had to wrap my head around inside the hallways where they are located.
Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, or HIMA (Hima) is not a brand name. But instead, it’s a partnership (okay, the clue was in the name) with technology giant Huawei and automakers offering bespoke brands that use technology and expertise from tech giant. CHEY has Luxeed, SAIC Motor (using the name!), BAIC Stelato, JAC ritzy Maextro and Seres has AITO.
If Apple worked with, say, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Honda and Mazda to launch a new brand each, this would be like.
The brand Epicland was a brand that had completely deluded me even though I knew about Aistaland, and it also shows how closely connected is symbiotic relationship with the auto industry Huawei. Neither of these Dongfeng brands are yet another pair of Huawei collaboration brands, and they’re actually separate from HIMA.
My biggest tech company known for its smartphones was Xiaomi, which launched the brand of its own eponymous car that Apple did not do and yet has succeeded Xiaomi in doing so. There was plenty of activity on its stand, .
In China, the days of outright copycats are as dead as those of the Landwind and Zotye brands but there is certainly a theme that has been widely shared.
Boxy SUVs are very in vogue right now, and if you squint hard the likes of the GWM Tank 300, Jetour T1, and others have some similarities to Western vehicles like the Land Rover Defender and Ford Bronco. But these are much closer to an homage than plagiarism, although the Rox Adamas sure looks like a Defender from a distance…
A legion of full-size crossover SUVs are also available; less boxy, and almost all have a ‘9’ in their name – the Wey V9X (the wey), Aito M9, Li Auto L9 or Nio ES9 etc. Certainly you can find very similar, in this respect to Chinese and American buyer tastes; there is much electrification here from hybrids through to full EV.
There’s also a clutch of high-performance EVs that bear at least a superficial resemblance to the Porsche Taycan, including the Aistaland GT7 and SAIC Z7.
Almost every brand had at least one car on display with new turquoise lights to indicate whether a Navigation on Autopilot (NOA) Level 2+ autonomous driving system is switched on.
So, Honestly, it was hard to find a Chinese brand that didn’t have something interesting on its stand. I’d say Roewe and Hongqi were looking a bit sleepy if I had to pick up the .
Japanese, Korean and European brand names like American, Japanese – Hyundai, Nissan, Buick or Volkswagen – were keen to showcase new models designed for the Chinese market.
This included the chunky Nissan Terrano PHEV concept, the rakish Hyundai Ioniq V, the gorgeous Toyota bZ7, and a range of new Volkswagen EVs developed with Xpeng.
In the case of Audi and AUDI, which is also an alliance with MG parent SAIC Motor – to distinguish these verbally, the German automaker calls them ‘four-ring’ and ‘4-letter’.
The importance of the Chinese market has also shaped the design of global models. Sit in a new Lexus ES, which dominated the Japanese premium brand’s stand this year, and tell me it doesn’t look awfully Chinese inside with its huge screen and absence of buttons.
But thankfully, some Chinese design trends that have been popular in recent decades (such as irritating electronic door handle-scrapers) will be gone due to new Chinese government rules. But I’m sure I’d a bit of money on Chinese rules and buyer tastes still shaping how cars look in other markets, even from non-Chinese brands.
It’s not the first time that bespoke cars for the Chinese market are being marketed. Until 10 years, you’ll see models like the Volkswagen Phideon and Hyundai Mistra. But a scale of these efforts by foreign brands in 2026, as well as the way many of those vehicles use technology and mechanicals from their Chinese joint venture partners, is important.
It seems like most of the time, for non-Chinese brands are bringing their A (or at least B) game to take on the domestic automakers but they’re fighting an uphill battle as younger Chinese buyers push home brand changes.
After all, when even a low-ly BYD Seagull can provide God’s Eye semi-autonomous driving technology and an Avatr Zeekr or Denza can offer performance and battery technology to match or surpass that of established luxury brands, rooting for the home team is completely rational for Chinese buyers.
If you are a customer in China and buy s car from Mazda, or do you buy vehicle from one of its joint-venture partner Changan’s suite of brands? How much is that familiar foreign badge worth to you?
A few foreign brands did not appear in the list of s. Jeep is one foot out of this market’s door, while fellow Stellantis brand Peugeot is doubling down. This is a rapidly declining place for Chevrolet, and GM wisely keeps its focus on Buick and Cadillac which have more established Chinese reputations. But the show didn’t include And Genesis, as Korean brands have struggled here in recent years largely because of political reasons.
Tesla also didn’t show up, but then again it likes to do things differently, doesn’t it?
A single brand that appeared – but, to be fair and foolishly should’t have – was Infiniti. Three products were on display, including the QX50, which is now about a decade old and shows it. I am a bit of suck on poor Infiniti, as its parent is financially struggling and here’s hoping it can tap Dongfeng for some new product.
And that’s where we’re at now, where it’s becoming increasingly appealing for non-Chinese brands to tap their joint-venture partners for new models. How many of us Aussies are excited for new products like, say, the Nissan Frontier Pro and Mazda 6e?
Why does it seem like that non-Chinese brands are a keen focus on their history as they look to the future with their technology? In fact, Honda had a first-generation Accord on its stand, BMW with ‘2002 and Mercedes-Benz actually had several classic cars in the car.
While it’s unclear exactly how much the Chinese brands care about this, we don’t know if that’re what those non-Chinese brands are backwards in the very competitive market there is.
If you’re in the market for good old-fashioned V8s, manual transmissions and convertibles (and all those things that are catnip to most enthusiasts) then you can get them in short supply at Auto China.
That doesn’t mean you won’t find anything to intrigue even the biggest Luddite among the enthusiast community. Rugged off-roaders with live front and rear axles can be found at the 212 brand’s stand. Denza had the slinky Z Convertible. Fangchengbao and Lynk & Co had gorgeous concepts.
GWM showed off an updated Tank 700, which is set to get a new V8 engine but for now offers the choice of turbo V6 and four-cylinder plug-in hybrid power. And the Chinese automaker is also working on a supercar, though it wasn’t on the stand this year. Maybe next?
Here’s one of two camps I’ve mentioned so many obscure (to an Australian) names that this article may be a bit like gibberish, or you’re so well-informed about the Chinese industry that my observations seem to make them superficial.
If I really want to know the scope of China’s automotive industry in 2026, the market value for foreign brands and technology advancements that are being made every year especially in battery technology. But if I have an article about it much larger than usual, what is the best way to do this? I’d like to write a joke that, “I need an encyclopedia” (do they still print those?)
For those who have a clue in Chinese industry, good for you if you’re curious about the business model. The number of brands from the world’s largest auto market is already here, and how many more are coming in at childcareman.xyz.’ We try to keep you informed about it.
We have a time when, though, we only get the staff and so many hours in the day to cover every Xiaomi product announcement that is coming out. It’s about the brands ( Chinese or otherwise) which are already here at some point. Moreover, that number of brands still continues to grow and so does that .
China automakers aren’t doing what we sell our market – not by long shot. When Chinese market is increasingly competitive, with more new brands and shrinking profit margins, ever more automakers will look to markets like ours for exports.
Dongfeng or Avatr or Rox may sound alien to you, but they could soon be on your street… or in your driveway.
MORE:
All the Chinese auto brands coming to Australia in 2026 and beyond
Thanks for reading Auto China 2026: The worlds biggest motor show is an experience like no other
