Foreign marques are racing to showcase new models made with Chinese technology at a high-profile automotive show in the country, after waking up to the reality that they cannot afford to lose relevance in the world’s biggest car market.
After years of falling sales in the nation, a new “in China, for global” mindset is taking hold among legacy automakers operating there. Companies such as Volkswagen and Nissan Motor now aim not only to win back local customers but also to push into overseas markets with vehicles built on cutting-edge Chinese know-how.
Volkswagen has leveraged its partnerships with Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng, in which the German group owns a 5% stake, and self-driving chipmaker Horizon Robotics to add more software-defined cars to its lineup, with systems that control features such as the powertrain and infotainment.
Europe’s largest automaker unveiled four new models at the Beijing Auto Show, which officially kicked off on April 24, including the ID Unyx 09 sedan co-developed with Xpeng and the ID Aura T6 SUV equipped with autonomous driving capabilities from its joint venture with Horizon Robotics.
As part of its product offensive in China, Volkswagen said it is seeking to launch more than 20 EVs in the market this year before expanding that figure to 50 by 2030, including models sold under its Audi and Jetta sub-brands.
Despite the ambitious comeback plan, Volkswagen’s ongoing sales slump in China has been a reality check for executives.
The group’s mainland China sales dropped 14.9% year-on-year to 548,000 units in the first quarter. Ralf Brandstaetter, head of Volkswagen’s Chinese business, said the carmaker now expects to sell up to 3.2 million vehicles annually in China by 2030, down 20% from a previous goal of four million units.
“The era of super-returns is over,” Brandstaetter told German newspaper Handelsblatt in a recent interview, adding that Volkswagen is targeting an operating margin of 4–6% in China by 2030, compared with the double-digit margins it once enjoyed.
However, the company has identified some side benefits from its continued investment in China, including a briefer product development cycle and lower manufacturing costs that could boost its global competitiveness.
Volkswagen said it has shortened the development cycle for new EVs produced in China by 30% and reduced the cost for some China-made models to half the 2023 production costs for electric cars in Germany.
“The experience of high innovation speed [in China] … we can carry over to other processes around the world,” Volkswagen’s CEO, Oliver Blume, told local Chinese media.
After adopting an “in China, for China” approach in 2023, Volkswagen now appears to be pushing the boundaries further.
“Our platforms being developed here, [and] software solutions … open other market opportunities,” Blume said, referring to the automaker’s plan to export China-produced cars to the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and South America.
Another foreign player, Nissan, has adopted an “in China, for China, to global” strategy aimed at absorbing Chinese companies’ technology and repositioning China as a regional export hub.
“We are… accelerating our export business because we see a lot of potential,” Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa told reporters on the sidelines of the Beijing car show on April 24. “The technology, the speed and the cost that we have achieved in the China ecosystem can play a very important role for us.”
Its N6 and N7 sedans, which use an EV architecture co-developed with state-owned joint venture partner Dongfeng Motor and feature self-driving functions from Momenta, helped Nissan’s China operations achieve 24.5% sales growth in the first quarter. Last year, Nissan’s China sales more than halved from their 2018 peak.
Dongfeng-Nissan has set high expectations for the new NX8 SUV, its first range-extended model, which was released ahead of the Beijing auto show.
It also upgraded its flagship gasoline-powered Teana sedan with Huawei’s artificial intelligence voice assistant and smartphone-connected operating system.
Nissan had torn apart vehicles produced by Dongfeng’s EV sub-brand Voyah to study their engineering design, said Voyah’s chair, Lu Fang.
The Japanese carmaker is developing a total of 10 electric and hybrid models in China, all of which will be available for export. Earlier this month, it shipped the first batch of the hybrid Frontier Pro pickup truck, designed by local engineers, from its China factory. Nissan plans to export the truck to Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Nissan has promised to invest RMB 10 billion (USD 1.5 billion) in China by the end of the year and increase combined China sales and exports to one million units by 2030. The company sold 653,024 vehicles in China last year.
Honda Motor and Hyundai Motor have also seen silver linings in their China struggles.
This month, Honda introduced to Japanese consumers its China-made Insight electric car, the first of its kind, developed from the e:NS2 model under the Japanese automaker’s joint venture with Dongfeng.
South Korea’s Hyundai is aiming to double China’s share of its global sales to 9% by 2030, chief executive Jose Munoz said at a media event on Friday. To realize the goal, Hyundai plans to launch 20 new models, including the China-specific Ioniq Venus and Earth cars displayed at the show. Hyundai is working with Baidu, ByteDance, and Momenta on self-driving technology.
After a three-year retreat from China’s major car shows, French companies Peugeot and Citroen have returned to Beijing this year with four concept cars, signaling they may not easily relinquish their foothold in the country, with support from partner Dongfeng.
“30 years ago, Western automakers entered China as teachers, bringing with them deep expertise in product development and supply chains,” said Stephen Dyer, who leads consultancy AlixPartners’ automotive research in Shanghai. “Today, that dynamic has fundamentally shifted.”
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.83 = USD 1 based on estimates as of April 28, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.