With 1,451 vehicles on display, including 181 world premieres, the 2026 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition 2026 (also known as Auto China 2026) is set to be the largest auto show in history – and that’s in terms of both exhibition space and the number of vehicles on display.
This fact itself reflects a shift in the center of gravity of the automotive industry, but that’s not all. There is indeed a huge structural change taking place in China today.
Previously, the focus was on low-cost electric vehicle models, but now price is no longer the primary point of competition. At the show, not only were there many high-end EVs and large SUVs from Chinese manufacturers equipped with advanced driver-assistance technologies and AI functions, but these technologies are increasingly spreading to the lower price range.
Cars from Chinese manufacturers offer many technically impressive features. Lidar sensors, which use lasers for advanced driver assistance, are now also being incorporated into EVs costing less than 100,000 yuan (about $14,500). Models with “drive-by-wire” technology, which replaces mechanical steering connections and hydraulic brake lines with electrical signals, are appearing prominently. Even Toyota’s local models are using Huawei’s powertrain and smart cockpit OS.
The simplistic dichotomy of “cheap Chinese cars versus high-end European cars” no longer holds value. While remaining competitive in the low-cost market, Chinese manufacturers are also gaining leadership in areas such as AI, driver-assistance systems, in-car chips, smart cockpits and high-performance EVs.
These 19 particularly noteworthy models from the 2026 Beijing Motor Show best symbolize this evolution.
xpeng gx
Courtesy of Xpeng
There is a fundamental difference between a car designed for autonomous driving and an existing car that has had autonomous driving technology added to it. Xpeng Motors’ GX is the first model in which sensors, computing infrastructure and AI models with Level 4 autonomous driving in mind were first designed, then built into a new SUV for the commercial market.
Equipped with four proprietary AI chips, it boasts a total computing power of 3,000 Tera operations per second – which is almost 12 times more than the 254 TOPS enabled by an Nvidia Orion. The latest AI models in the vehicle can recognize spoken commands as well as images captured by the car’s cameras, and it can sense and adapt to current driving conditions.
Volkswagen has adopted Xpeng’s AI chip and driver-assistance technology into its EVs, meaning Xpeng is no longer just an EV maker. It is becoming a platform provider supplying the brains behind autonomous driving to Europe’s largest automaker. The price is 399,800 yuan (about $58,000).
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