2024 Guangzhou Auto Show - What trends does it reveal for China's automobile industry in 2025?

It’s the end of the year, and China’s auto industry has been in the spotlight again! The Guangzhou Auto Show is the last large-scale A-class auto show in China every year. So this year, what direction will the 2024 Guangzhou Auto Show reveal for China’s auto industry in 2025?

1. Overall - Oil and electricity are in a melee, and new species emerge

According to official data released by the Guangzhou Auto Show, 1,171 new cars were exhibited at the Guangzhou International Auto Show, of which new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles accounted for half each. In the past few years, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has repeatedly risen. According to the latest data from the China Passenger Car Association, the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China has reached 52.9% in October 2024.

Based on the new cars at this auto show, we can actually speculate that for a long period of time, gasoline vehicles and electric vehicles will coexist, and new energy vehicles that can run on both gasoline and electricity will be popular with both policies and users.

This Guangzhou Auto Show is similar to the recent Beijing Auto Show. Domestic brands continue to aggressively pursue electrification and intelligence . Traditional interior and exterior decoration have been completely applianced, and the traditional mechanical chassis has been pushed towards an intelligent chassis.

Foreign brands do not have as many intelligent gimmicks as domestic brands, so there are not many highlights to attract exhibitors, but one trend is that joint venture brands are reverse joint ventures and starting to adopt domestic electrification, intelligent supply chains and technologies.

Generally speaking, the body exterior, chassis drive, and electronic and electrical parts of the automotive industry have all been swept away, and the only way for the automotive industry to break out is to evolve into a Transformer.

This is not just flying cars, humanoid robots, etc. New species have already begun to be involved.

During the Guangzhou Auto Show:

Changan Automobile officially announced its future plan, which is: "Changan will not only build robots, but also flying cars, and will deploy three-dimensional transportation solutions for sea, land and air." It also stated that it will invest more than 50 billion yuan in five years, launch Changan flying car products before 2026, and release humanoid robot products before 2027.

Xpeng Motors has launched its "land aircraft carrier" - a split flying car, which is scheduled to be mass-produced and delivered in 2026 and will start pre-sale in December 2024.

So far, BYD , Toyota , Changan Automobile, BAIC Group, SAIC Group, Xiaopeng Motors and many other automakers have extended their business tentacles into the field of humanoid robots through investment or self-development. Humanoid robots have entered the factories of various automakers for "practical training".

2. Joint venture car companies - Chinese technology is fed back to create joint venture brands

No one can erase the contribution that joint venture brands have made to China's automobile industry. In the past 40 years, foreign auto brands have laid a solid foundation for the manufacturing and talent system of China's automobile industry, and localization has fostered China's automobile manufacturing and supply chain capabilities. These have laid the foundation for the electrification and intelligence of China's automobiles. Of course, foreign capital has also made a lot of money in the Chinese market and has no motivation to change.

When China's automobile industry undergoes rapid transformation, foreign investors begin to feel the pain. Of course, the current situation in the automobile industry in Europe, the United States, and Japan also highlights this.

Therefore, more joint venture brands using Chinese technology and supply chain can be seen at this auto show:

SAIC Audi, AUDI, adopts SAIC's local Advanced Digitized Platform intelligent digital platform.

Nissan, N7 adopts Dongfeng Nissan's locally developed central integration + regional control SOA vehicle intelligent electronic and electrical architecture to achieve platform compatible evolution and provide multiple power paths.

Honda, the Ye P7 comes from its pure electric "W" architecture (Architecture W), and this platform is developed locally by a Chinese team. Electronic and electrical series suppliers come from local companies such as Huawei , CATL , Hangsheng Technology, iFlytek, etc.

The above are the joint venture brands that adopted local architecture at the Guangzhou Auto Show. Of course, they should integrate the physical architecture with the electronic and electrical architecture. The physical architecture has now simply become the integrated management of manufacturing and supply chain. The electronic and electrical architecture is what the joint venture lacks. It is the last stubbornness of the foreign party in terms of products and technology, but when sales are falling rapidly, no one is stubborn anymore.

Therefore, we can see that Volkswagen is about to adopt Xiaopeng's electronic and electrical architecture, and Buick's models other than GL8 will also adopt the local CLEA architecture; in addition, in terms of hybrid, joint ventures have already localized hybrid technology in China rather than from foreign parent companies, such as Ford and GM's hybrid in China.

In 2025, more joint venture brands will enter the market using domestic technology.

3. Branded products - domestically produced high-end luxury products, foreign investment is beginning to be absent

Chinese mass-market brands, led by BYD, are making great strides in the mass-market market. As we shared in our previous article "How BYD defines luxury cars from the Denza Z9GT", Chinese brands are now conquering the fortress of luxury high-end models with the help of intelligence, so you can see many Chinese million-dollar luxury cars at this Guangzhou Auto Show:

BYD's Yangwang brand brought U7 and U9 to the Guangzhou Auto Show. The Yangwang U7 is positioned as a million-level luxury D-class car, and the Yangwang U9 is also a high-performance model that should not be underestimated.

The Zunjie brand, jointly created by Huawei Hongmeng Intelligent Driving and JAC Motors, is named "Zun" and is also the most high-end Huawei smart car at present. It is expected to be priced at more than 1 million yuan, directly targeting super luxury brand models such as Maybach and Rolls-Royce.

In addition, Jiyue Automobile is also expected to bring its first high-end supercar model, the Hongqi million-dollar Golden Sunflower, Xiaomi SU7 ULTRA, etc.

In addition, many brands are also setting the tone for next year: no matter how fierce the current auto market is, the determination to "upgrade the brand" will remain unswerving, which has also become an important direction for the development of China's automobile industry. After all, the market is too competitive now and it is not profitable. Only by upgrading the brand can there be added value.

Judging from market trends, the domestic passenger car market has a clear trend of consumption upgrading. Domestic brands are taking advantage of the opportunities of electrification and intelligence to gradually break the monopoly of foreign brands and quickly seize high-end market share.

Data shows that the market space in the price range above 200,000 yuan is continuing to expand. For example, the Zeekr brand and domestic brands are also increasing their share in the 400,000-600,000 yuan and million-yuan luxury car markets.

Among the traditional foreign luxury car series, Jaguar Land Rover missed the Guangzhou Auto Show for the first time in recent years. Genesis, Polestar and Rolls-Royce were also absent. Perhaps they felt the chill and were adjusting or thinking.

4. Intelligent driving - high-level intelligent driving is accelerating its popularization in the 150,000-unit range

The Pearl River Delta, where the Guangzhou Auto Show is held, is considered a pioneer in popularizing high-end intelligent driving, with one company, Xiaopeng, one GAC, and one BYD.

The Xiaopeng P7+ unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show is a milestone product of Xiaopeng Motors for the "equal rights" of intelligent driving. This year, Xiaopeng Motors took the lead in launching the battle for "equal rights" in intelligence among new car companies, and reduced the dimension of intelligent driving into the red ocean market in the range of 100,000 to 150,000 yuan.

GAC Toyota will also fully display the latest achievements of its intelligent electric transformation, and release the new smart pure electric SUV of the Toyota brand, Toyota Toyota 3X. The car will be priced at around 150,000 yuan, and it is also known as the most cost-effective high-end intelligent driving car at 150,000 yuan. It is the first joint venture brand to be equipped with L2++ end-to-end high-end intelligent driving.

GAC Aion has released the new A0-class pure electric hatchback Aion UT. The biggest highlight of this car is that although it is a low-priced entry-level car, it will be equipped with the brand's latest high-end intelligent driving .

BYD, the leader in new energy vehicles that will release a number of new cars at the auto show, also followed suit with practical actions. It is reported that after the cooperation between Fangchengbao and Huawei, Horizon Journey 6 has been designated as a platform by BYD, and mid-to-high-end intelligent driving functions will be implemented on many BYD models in 2025.

Therefore, this Guangzhou Auto Show has confirmed the low-cost popularization of smart driving.