First, it was Germany’s Volkswagen announcing a series of groundbreaking tie-ups with Chinese tech groups. Now, the renowned national brands of South Korea and Japan have decided that the only way to survive in the country’s cut-throat car market is to buy Chinese-made technology.
Toyota last week chose the Beijing auto show, the premier industry event of the year in China, to unveil a new partnership with the owner of the WeChat superapp, Tencent. The world’s biggest carmaker by sales will work with China’s most valuable listed company on developing services for domestic customers, including deploying Tencent’s artificial intelligence and cloud-based software in its cars. Nissan announced a similar partnership with search giant Baidu to use the Beijing group’s generative AI in its vehicles.
Hyundai, which has suffered plummeting sales in China in recent years, announced at the show that it would develop batteries with China’s CATL. It was a snub to its main supplier, South Korean compatriot SK On, with the Chinese battery king unveiling a new product touted as giving electric vehicles a range of 600km off a 10-minute charge.