International carmakers are partnering with Chinese internet companies to offer in-car applications already available in the country, as they compete for car buyers. QQ music, a popular app on Chinese smartphones, became available last month in Maserati models sold in China, ranging from the Levante sport utility vehicle (SUV) to the Quattroporte sedan. This is just one example of the features available to Maserati’s Chinese customers after the Italian carmaker introduced a connectivity system developed by Tencent. Mirko Bordiga, Managing Director of Maserati China, said: “What you should do as a brand is to listen to your customers and offer them what they want.” The brand sold more than 60,000 cars in China and its market is growing thanks to the younger generation. Like many premium brands, Maserati’s Chinese customers are the youngest compared with those in other parts of the world. “Of course there are some elements that have to be localized in our cars, like the system for which we cooperated with Tencent,” Bordiga said. “That is clearly just for Chinese customers.”

German carmaker Audi is taking its cooperation with Alibaba to new heights. The two companies said they will work together to improve in-car applications like navigation and digital assistants.“The alliance will enable Audi to better serve Chinese customers. It is further proof of our ‘In China, For China’ commitment,” said Werner Eichhorn, President of China Operations at Audi. Audi’s cooperation with Alibaba’s navigation subsidiary NavInfo started in 2006. NavInfo will not only provide its products to the company, but also give research and development (R&D) support for Audi’s local innovations. NavInfo President Liu Zhenfei said: “Since we are all facing the future of intelligent driving, we will for the first time provide our full capabilities to Audi, including our next-generation navigation technology and high-definition maps.”

Besides navigation, Audi is including Alibaba’s in-car digital assistant service Tmall Genie in its self-developed connectivity platform. Tmall Genie is a service-oriented smart assistant that aims to connect different terminals and platforms in fields like automobiles, real estate,  smart homes and hotels. Ku Wei, President of Tmall Genie, said: “Users can enjoy intelligent services simply with one ID. We will also explore more intelligent lifestyle options in vehicle scenarios with our carmaker partners. We hope to help car owners enjoy high-quality services conveniently.” Tmall Genie has been available in BMW vehicles from 2019. Last year, U.S. carmaker Ford launched its China-specific infotainment system that leveraged Baidu’s artificial intelligence (AI) for improved connectivity. Roy Lu, Director of the Gasgoo Auto Research Institute, said since international carmakers’ connectivity and digitalized functions are developed for global markets, they do not work as well as those from the Chinese companies, who have a better understanding of local customer demand, the China Daily reports.

An industry study by JD Power China also said that automakers must take user-related factors into account when carrying out technological innovation. “Intelligent and connected vehicles is the direction of the strategic transformation for both the global and Chinese automotive industries,” said Eileen Ren, Vice President of JD Power China’s new-energy vehicle and smart vehicle practice. “The degree of intellectualization of vehicles will determine whether the brands may gain competitive advantages in the future.” The study found that 45% of owners said they never used certain technical features because they did not need them – the three cited most often being mobile office services (71%); safe exit assist (53%) and dynamic driving assistance (47%). Among owners who would like to use advanced features, many said the main reasons for not doing so were that they didn’t know how or needed more training. Reversing assistance was the most often used and satisfying of the top three installed features. The top three advanced technology features with the highest installation rate in the China market are intelligent voice assistant (29%); reversing assistant (22%) and active lane change assist (13%).

Among the top 10 features that owners indicate they are most likely to install in their next vehicle, seven are for Active Driving Assistance Systems and automated features, among which the three most often considered are: OEM-installed trip recorder or dash camera (37%); reversing assistant (35%) and rear cross traffic warning (30%), the Shanghai Daily reports.