The electric car dominates at the Shanghai Auto Show

At the 20th Auto Shanghai Expo, China asserts its position as the new hub of tomorrow’s automotive industry for a week.

Despite the efforts of Peugeot and Renault, the last Geneva Motor Show proved to be highly disappointing, with only the name being truly global. It was more of a Europe vs. China struggle, with many visitors discovering brands such as Aiways, BYD, or Zeekr for the first time.

Organized in odd-numbered years alternating with the Beijing Auto Show, Auto Shanghai has established itself as THE reference automotive show, while Geneva, Frankfurt, and of course Paris are now mere shadows of their once prestigious events. With 1,200 exhibitors and over one million visitors expected this year from April 18 to 27, this fair, founded in 1985, has also become the largest professional auto show in China.

As is often the case in China, this public event aims to send strong messages, the first being that internal combustion automobiles are dead. A total aberration in this country of 1.4 billion inhabitants, under-equipped to support charging for the one-third of the fleet already converted to electricity—hybrid or fully electric. And what about battery production, maintenance, and recycling? We’ll see these details later, because China knows that the overall future of the automotive industry is no longer in internal combustion engines, so it’s better to anticipate the shift. Europe, which is tearing itself apart over a hypothetical end date for the sale of gasoline engines, would do well to reconsider quickly, as the threat is no longer merely a possibility… It is a reality in Shanghai. We will soon see the latest models from Chinese manufacturers on our roads, and it is important to remember that these industry players, as the world’s biggest market, know exactly how to do their job—creating complete cars, sometimes elegant, and always well-equipped and finished.

MG, which has successfully attracted over 100,000 European drivers since its acquisition by the giant Geely, is a perfect example. It is rekindling its glamour with the MG Cyberster: the return of the British roadster is now electric.

From coupe SUVs (Aiways U6: a bold coupe SUV to revive the brand), to mini city cars (BYD Seagull: an electric city car for €10,000!), to hypercars with the Yangwang U9, none of the niches that once benefited BMW, Mercedes, or Renault are spared. The next step is, of course, to divert Chinese consumers from these European models they still favor. Given how rapidly China advances, it shouldn’t take very long.