In Pics: Electric vehicles designed for China rule Beijing Auto Show

From ultra-luxury to sleek and speedy, it was all there. A plethora of electric SUVs, some startlingly striking grills and a particularly interesting paint-job are among the exhibits. The race to an all-electric future is more evident than ever, as startups take on their multinational rivals in a bid to attract eyeballs.

China’s policies are boosting a rapid move toward electric vehicles in the world’s biggest car market as new technologies emerge, Aston Martin Holdings. Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer said. 

“This whole show is revolving around what they call new energy vehicles, but Chinese policy is very much driving the move towards electric cars and certainly Aston has to go with that flow,” Palmer said in a Bloomberg TV interview. "We’re probably in the biggest change in the automotive industry since we moved from horse to car.”

China FAW Group Corp., the carmaker that developed the Hongqi, or Red Flag, limousine for Chairman Mao Zedong six decades ago, unveiled the E-Jing GT electric sports car concept at the Beijing auto show Wednesday.  The sleek, two-door model was presented in a turquoise-green hue the carmaker calls Kanas Green —a name apparently inspired by the Kanas Lake area in China’s northwestern Xinjiang province. Months after calling off a planned partnership with Tata Motors, Volkswagen AG signalled it hasn’t shut the door on a tie-up with the Indian automaker as it works on a strategy to bring budget cars to millions of cost-conscious buyers in the South Asian country. 

Vrooming into chinese market

The Beijing International Automotive Exhibition is a barometer of the state of the world’s biggest passenger vehicle market. New cars are launched, startups vie for attention against their multinational rivals. This year’s show is significant for some key reasons: China is beginning to open up its automobile market after two decades of restrictions on how much foreigners can own in local car ventures; secondly, the electric vehicle juggernaut is beginning to gather steam; and then there’s a looming trade war.

NIO ES8

The NIO ES8 is a 7-seater high-performance electric SUV exclusively for the China market. 

It is a mobile living space on wheels with performance in its DNA. It will be available for order this year with deliveries set to begin in the first half of 2019.

WEY X concept car 

The car comes with a fancy holographic assistant, who is about 25-years old. The car has a face recognition for opening and starting it. Face recognition is the new trend at the moment in China. The sensor inside the car is mounted on the rear-view mirror.

GAC Enverge electric concept car

The Chinese automaker, GAC, made it big at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January with its eye-catching, futuristic electric car concept.

Toyota Levin plug-in hybrid vehicle

The move is in line with new regulations in China that require automakers to manufacture and sell ‘new-energy vehicles,’ that is, electric cars and plug-in hybrids, starting next year. The cars will be the automaker's first plug-in hybrid Corolla, Levin models.