From the largest exhibition event in the world, the bitter surprise for Europe: it is officially left alone to defend the idea of a 100% electric future and the block on the sale of combustion cars
We often give to the China of the car meanings it doesn’t havea responsibility she never took. It is not the country of electricity as a religion, which cannot be questioned. It is by no means an unstoppable industry. The real China can be described perfectly by summarizing the endless event of 2026 Beijing auto show, looking at questions that concern us. Which models are really interesting for Italy? Will the upcoming innovations affect our habits? Can the Chinese car really upset Europe?
The Colossus and the collapse
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There has never been an event like the Beijing 2026 exhibition, which takes place from 24 April to 3 May, bringing together the spaces of two gigantic exhibition areas, the China International Exhibition Center and the Capital International Exhibition Centre. The surface area occupied indoors reaches the astronomical figure of 380,000 square metersthat is, the equivalent of 53 football pitches. The comparison with European demonstrations is merciless. The Frankfurt motor show, historically the largest, closed permanently in 2021, measured 225,000 square meters at its height. In Beijing today they are on display 1,450 vehicles of which 181 are previews and 71 are concept cars. There is one unimaginable variety of every type of car possible, but also the fear that this may not be enough. In the 2025 they were produced in China 34.5 million vehicles (+10.4%) and 34.4 million were sold (+9.4%). It seemed like an unstoppable ride, but then the rhythm broke. In the month of March alone the sales of cars recorded a drop of 15%, stopping at 1.65 million units, but the exports achieved a record increase of 74%, reaching 695,000 units. What is happening is all too clear. China remains by far the largest market in the world but, to keep its companies “lit”, the latter must compete with each other with price cuts in all European and South American countries, the only ones they can actually access. Otherwise, even this colossal mechanism may risk collapse.
New air
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For the difficulties it goes through today, and for the genuine freedom it has always had in developing dedicated technologies to sellbut not to impose ideological choicesChina today does not feel at all the responsibility to carry on the crusade in favor of electric cars at any cost. The latter was the shortcut to quickly enter the large world market without having the experience in the development of combustion engines, which however has been acquired in the meantime. It is no coincidence that China has excluded electric vehicles from the list of strategic industries in its five-year development plan for the period 2026-2030. THE competitiveness factors on which Beijing is aiming, understood as the government and as the 2026 Auto Show, are now very different. Here they are:
