The 20th Shanghai International Automobile and Manufacturing Technology Expo (2023 Auto Shanghai) kicked off on April 18 at the Shanghai National Convention and Exhibition Center. More than a thousand companies are participating in 2023 Auto Shanghai, the world's largest auto show and this year's first A-level auto show.
“China is where the future lies,” BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said at the fair. Oliver Zipse has announced that since 2013, BMW has delivered more than 500 pure electric vehicles worldwide, with sales of BMW's pure electric models nearly doubled in the Chinese market last year.
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius arrived in China early. On April 12, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong met with Ola Källenius and had in-depth contact on Mercedes-Benz Group's business development in China and advanced technologies such as L3 autonomous driving.
Ola Källenius stated that China is the biggest market for Mercedes-Benz and one of the most important markets for Mercedes-Maybach brand at the fair.
Audi CEO Markus Duesmann also attended the fair and noted that they are carrying out the business transformation in China. Markus Duesmann stated that they will continue to strengthen local R&D strength and production capacity through the Audi China R&D Center in Beijing and the first pure electric vehicle production base in Changchun.
The German Volkswagen Group announced yesterday its investment plan of approximately 1 billion Euros to establish a R&D, innovation and parts supply center for pure electric smart networked vehicles in Hefei, Anhui province.
According to the news in Reuters, the market is shifting to electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles last year. While Toyota and Volkswagen are losing market share in China, Chinese brands led by BYD are developing rapidly.
In 2022, retail sales of new-energy passenger cars in China reached 5,67 million, accounting for two-thirds of the world's total retail sales. According to the news in the New York Times, 80 percent of these came from domestic automobile manufacturers.