Global and local automakers will reveal a line of new electric SUVs, sedans and muscle cars at the Shanghai Auto Show, scheduled for April 18 through 27 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China.
Swedish EV startup manufacturer, Polestar, will also attend the event. It will reveal its latest model, the Polestar 4, as well as present the Polestar 3 that entered the Chinese market last month.
This upcoming event is its first full-scale iteration in years, with executives from various countries, such as the United States, Sweden and Japan, flying into China after being represented by their Chinese operations since the pandemic emerged in 2019.
Automakers worldwide are currently in competition to launch electric vehicles that are faster, packed with more features and more luxurious, as EVs are on the way to becoming the most popular market choice. Aside from Polestar, Volvo, Lynk & Co, Koenigsegg and Scania are some of the Swedish brands vying for the top position in the market.
Last year, the EV market saw the sale of 5.4 million pure-electric vehicles, two-thirds of the global total of 8 million. In addition, 1.5 million gasoline-electric hybrids were also sold. This year, the number is expected to grow by another 30 percent.
In Sweden alone, the total sales for EVs in 2022 reached 146,600 units, over 10,000 more than in 2021. Last December, the total share of plugin electric vehicles grew to 74.6 percent, up from 60.7 percent year on year. Full electrics alone broke the record of claiming a 51.3 percent share of the auto market. According to Statista, the number of vehicle sales in the country would grow to 177,600 units in 2023, with $11,73 billion in revenue.
Meanwhile, in China, the number of sales for pure-electric and hybrid vehicles skyrocketed by 60 percent to 1.3 million, which is half the global total. This massive market was driven by Chinese brands, with the ruling Communist Party investing billions of dollars in subsidies to boost the industry.
“Consumers lost interest in gasoline cars,” said an industry analyst John Zeng of LMC Automotive. “That is the biggest challenge for foreign brands to compete in China.”