Beneath the chandeliers of the Shanghai AutoShow the bodies of new models gleam. You could imagine yourself in Paris, Geneva or, perhaps, Frankfurt of the great era, except that these three are either in the oxygen tent or dying. A Western disenchantment propelled by the unfathomable stupidity of the straitjacket that the Old Continent has imposed on itself to appear at the forefront. Meanwhile, the Chinese are knitting fairs for themselves, beautiful showcases for their expansionist aims, while their European partners no longer even serve as an alibis for them.
Advancing in masks with a diabolical plan to cut the carburetor under the right foot of the so-called “advanced” countries, the Chinese have built a Trojan horse called electricity. Quite inappropriate in a territory of 1.4 billion inhabitants where, obviously, the terminals will not be able to draw their lines everywhere, it finds its raison d’être in the Chinese megalopolises. And it doesn’t matter how electricity and batteries are produced.
Follower of the smokescreen, China, which has become the world’s largest market since 2009, confuses in the same category of NEV (new energy vehicles) all-electric and rechargeable hybrids. A pack of fronts because it now represents around a third of new car sales (25.7% in 2022), and this despite the extinction of purchase aids. Over the years, China with its dozens of brands appears, at least for the first in the class, credible on the domestic market.
There remains export, where great efforts will be made, Europe being the bastion to be taken to seduce the rest of the globe. After the Covid crisis, which broke a momentum, China set off again, but with a modified method. While partnerships in joint ventures tend to be reduced in order to leave the Chinese alone in charge, certain foreign manufacturers, intoxicated by the size and growth of the domestic market, have put themselves in a delicate situation with a risky dependency. Tesla in the lead (54.6% of sales), but also General Motors (39%), Volkswagen (38%), BMW (33%) are not immune to a turnaround.
The drop in demand for thermal engines first affects German manufacturers, still among the favorites of Chinese buyers, and the Japanese. Stellantis, with its historic brand in China, Citroën, is no better off and has to make substantial discounts on the plummeting sales of the C6 (-40% according to the Wall Street Journal), a local model. Discounts are the order of the day, even the flamboyant Tesla has chained two, successive, for its top-of-the-range Model Y, but also for the Model 3. BMW, Volkswagen, Ford, sales are everywhere and never do not bode well for a very healthy market. It is the revenge of the recovery and of a world market which is regaining its production capacities after the semiconductor and Covid crises. This newfound ability to deliver quickly led to lower prices.
MG, the iconic English brand taken over by the Chinese from SAIC in 2006, knows something about it. It has thus patiently charted its course with a first Shanghai show in 2013, already adorning its stand without any false shame in the colors of the Union Jack. Ten years later, MG is pulling prices, offering very well positioned marketing cars and attracting no less than 114,000 buyers on the Old Continent. Unrelated to the MGs of yesteryear, its range is electrified but also completes a resurgent story with its roadster worthy of the MGBs of yesteryear. Except that it is based on a 100% electric platform, the alluring Cyberster with its doors opening in elystra is the first car of its kind running on batteries.
We will come back to this in more detail, such as the BYD Yangwang U9 supercar, which demonstrates that the Chinese no longer have any complexes and could soon compete with the absolute references. They are right because Mercedes-Maybach, BMW, Porsche or Lexus have chosen Shanghai to unveil the EQS, the I7 M 70, the new Cayenne and the LM minivan respectively, all top or very top of the range, as if c This was the last prerogative of Westerners and Japanese. A rung below, Volkswagen unveils its electric Passat, the ID.7, Smart the
