The Maruti Suzuki DZire is #1 in India in 2025.

As is the case every year BSCB had the opportunity to visit the China Auto Show, in Shanghai for 2025. Thanks to the help of industry superstar Felipe Munoz I was able to visit the Show for the press day. This is the biggest Auto Show in the world, hosted in the largest Exhibition Center in the world, as it should be. For the untrained eye, meaning those not following the Chinese automotive industry closely, the Show can be overwhelming with an array of local brands the general Western public wouldn’t know about. But for you BSCB readers, there is nothing to be surprised about as the advances of Chinese carmakers are well documented on this site. To say that foreign carmakers have been struggling recently in China is an understatement. Their market share has collapsed from 65% in 2019 to 35% in 2024. Last year at the Beijing Auto Show they disappointed. Faced with urgency to reclaim market share, joint venture companies seem to have finally woken up.

Audi

Audi is the standout foreign brand at the Show. The SAIC-Audi joint venture unveiled a new, China-exclusive second brand: AUDI spelt in capital letters without the four rings. This new brand is aimed specifically at the Chinese consumers, and was present in two separate stands at the Show: one for Volkswagen, and one in the SAIC hall as SAIC Audi. The E5 is AUDI’s first production model. It is built on the new Advanced Digitised Platform (ADP). It sports a circular LED light both at the front and back, a departure from Audi’s traditional design and a debatable one at that. The E5 features an end-to-end digital dashboard and digital rear view mirrors. Its launched is scheduled for this summer, with two additional BEV AUDI models planned for 2026 and 2027.

Lexus

Lexus presented the new generation ES with the pure electric ES350e and ES500e. The ES could be produced in the brand’s very first wholly-owned Shanghai plant scheduled to start in 2027. The exterior design is an evolution, not a revolution, as Lexus has got us used to, a features a distinctive black-coloured crease on the sides.