Chinese automakers redefine the car as a living space
Beijing: How about turning a car's front bucket seats 180 degrees so they face the rear seats and extending out a table so the occupants can play cards or eat a meal? Or a 43-inch screen for the passengers in the back seat?
The seemingly never-ending efforts of China's electric-car makers to redefine the automobile went on display Thursday at the opening of the nation's largest annual
The seemingly never-ending efforts of China's electric-car makers to redefine the automobile went on display Thursday at the opening of the nation's largest annual
auto show. They are forcing established makers such as Nissan to change the way they develop cars to remain players in what is the world's largest auto market.
Nissan joined Toyota in announcing a tie-up at the Beijing Auto Show with a major Chinese technology company as the Japanese makers strive to meet customer demand in China for AI-enabled online connectivity in cars.
The car with a large flat screen was launched last week at a price of 789,000 yuan ($109,000) by ZEEKR, a young company that is part of the Geely group, a major Chinese automaker that also owns Volvo. It also presented the vehicle with the swiveling front seats, the ZEEKR Mix, as an intelligent living room on wheels. It will be the company's fifth model when it goes on sale later this year.
Nissan joined Toyota in announcing a tie-up at the Beijing Auto Show with a major Chinese technology company as the Japanese makers strive to meet customer demand in China for AI-enabled online connectivity in cars.
The car with a large flat screen was launched last week at a price of 789,000 yuan ($109,000) by ZEEKR, a young company that is part of the Geely group, a major Chinese automaker that also owns Volvo. It also presented the vehicle with the swiveling front seats, the ZEEKR Mix, as an intelligent living room on wheels. It will be the company's fifth model when it goes on sale later this year.
"What was the mass market is now being replaced by new energy," ZEEKR vice president Jason Lin told AP at his company's space at Beijing's sprawling exhibition centre. "This is particularly obvious at the auto show this year. The cars you see on the new energy stand are very creative. ... But when we go back to the market for fuel cars, it seems that they are all cars from three years ago, five years ago."
A government green-energy push to encourage the development of the electric vehicle industry has transformed the auto market in China. A proliferation of EV makers, encouraged by tax breaks as well as green-energy subsidies, has prompted a fierce price war that is expected to lead to a shakeout and consolidation of the industry in the coming years. Geely's ZEEKR division, which delivered its first car less than three years ago, has yet to turn a profit, but Lin said the goal is to break even this year.
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