China’s market of electric vehicles (EVs) has been white-hot this year as more foreign brands have stepped up their activities in China. The country accounts for 55% of global NEV sales. That has led a growing number of automakers to start laying out plans to address the trend and consolidate their debut at the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition. From Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini to Audi, foreign luxury car makers have brought their latest electric models and plans to the Shanghai auto show as they eye a bigger share of the world’s largest auto market. Britain’s Bentley launched a hybrid car, New Bentayga Hybrid at the show last week. “We definitely have a very high confidence in the China market, Bentley like every other vehicle brand has to follow customer demand. The clear future is electric worldwide and particularly China is leading this development,” Bernd Pichler, Managing Director of Bentley Motors Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, told the Global Times. “The new Bentayga incorporates a lot of feedback we received from Chinese customers. I’m very confident that we will see high numbers in the Chinese market because demand is very high for the vehicles,” he said.

Bentley’s announcement comes amid an accelerating shift by the global auto industry away from gas and diesel to battery power, where China has become a recognized frontrunner. In November 2020, China unveiled a development plan for its new-energy vehicle industry  for 2021-2035 that aims to turn the country into an automotive powerhouse, including raising the proportion of new NEVs in the sales of new vehicles to 20% by 2025. By 2035, most vehicles sold will be electric ones, while those used in public transportation will be exclusively electrified, according to the plan. “New energy is not a choice. I think it is a must,” Leon Li, Director of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Greater China region told the Global Times. All of Rolls-Royce products will be all fully electric in the next 10 years. “From automatic driving, artificial intelligence, to connectivity of cars, I think it is a future trend for each brand,” Li said. 

Lamborghini is set to unveil its electric plan in May and seeks to deepen collaboration with local Chinese tech companies in automotive connectivity, Asia Pacific Head of Lamborghini Francesco Scardaoni, told the Global Times. “I would say China is the most advanced market in terms of connected services and AI technology, meaning that if we want to be a champion in this segment we have to localize our suppliers for connectivity and AI technology,” he said. In the more mainstream luxury market, Audi is teaming up with Chinese carmaker FAW to produce luxury electric vehicles with the establishment of a joint-venture factory in Changchun, Jilin province. Six new electric vehicle models will be introduced by 2025, said Werner Eichhorn, President of Audi China.

The entry of high-end vehicles comes amid a backdrop of increasing competition in China’s electric car market already crowded with a number of local start-ups, like Nio, XPeng, Li Auto and new tech players, including Huawei Technologies and Baidu, all vying for a slice of the domestic market. “The new-energy market has been in the making for several years, but today it is seen by everyone. Today it is just erupting like a volcano. I figure that start-up companies like Nio are very happy to see a competitive market,” Qin Lihong, Director and President of Nio told the Global Times. “We need to see that the intensity of competition will increase, which will push us to work harder. Although the best high-end gasoline-powered auto manufacturers are big in scale, we are at least five years ahead of them in the electric business. These five years is a valuable time window. I expect our advantage to be maintained for at least two or three years,” Qin said.

Huawei has also unveiled the Arcfox Alpha S, a HarmonyOS-powered EV co-developed with BAIC at the show. It also featured the wireless charging technology developed by Chinese wireless EV charging start-up Invispower Co, founded in 2015 with an R&D team from Tsinghua University. Compared with the traditional charging mode that requires manual plug-in of a charging gun, the wireless charging can function at any time and is expected to bring a safer and more convenient user experience. The industry still needs to address problems including chip shortages, insufficient charging facilities and the sudden collapse of smaller companies, independent car analyst Song Jin told the Global Times.