19 Most Exciting Cars at the Beijing Auto Show 2026

Even this big shows in Europe and the United States are forced to reduce or change their appearance, which is China keep expanding.

With 1,451 cars on display, including 181 worldwide, and 2026 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition 2026 (also known as Auto China 2026) has become the largest auto show in history—and that’s in terms of exhibition space and the number of vehicles on display.

This fact shows a changing the center of gravity of the automotive industry, but not only. An even bigger change is taking place in China today.

In the past, the focus was on low-cost electric cars, but now price is no longer the primary competitive factor. At the show, not only were there many high-end EVs and large SUVs from Chinese manufacturers with advanced driver assistance and AI functions, but these technologies are also rapidly spreading to affordable prices.

Chinese car manufacturers offer many interesting technical features. Lidar sensors, which use lasers to assist advanced drivers, are now included in EVs costing less than 100,000 yuan (about $14,500). Models with “drive-by-wire” technology, which integrates the steering and hydraulic brake lines with electronic signals, look good. Even local Toyota models are using Huawei’s powertrains and smart cockpit OS.

The simple distinction of “cheap Chinese cars versus luxury European cars” no longer holds weight. While remaining competitive in the low-cost market, Chinese manufacturers are also gaining leadership in areas such as AI, driver assistance systems, automotive chips, intelligent cockpits, and high-performance EVs.

19 popular models of the 2026 Beijing Motor Show have this evolution.

XPENG GX

Courtesy of Xpeng

There is a big difference between a car designed to drive itself and an existing car with added self-driving capabilities. XPeng Motors’ GX is a classic, a model in which sensors, computer systems, and AI models with Level 4 autonomous driving were first developed, then developed into a new SUV for the commercial market.

Equipped with tiny AI chips, it has a total computing power of 3,000 terabytes per second – about 12 times the 254 TOPS that a single Nvidia Orin can handle. The latest version of in-car AI can recognize spoken commands and images captured by car cameras, and can understand and adapt to current traffic conditions.

Volkswagen has adopted XPeng’s AI chip and driver-aidance technology in its EVs, meaning that XPeng is no longer an EV manufacturer. It is becoming a platform provider providing the brains behind autonomous vehicles for Europe’s largest car manufacturers. Its price is 399,800 yuan (about $58,000).