More than 1,000 vehicle models are on display at the 28th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Auto Show, which opened Saturday to showcase the latest from Chinese and global automakers.
Vehicles from 100 brands are on display, stretching out across 200,000 square meters of space at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center for the nine-day event.
Many Chinese car makers return year after year to the time-tested event.
"This is the fifth consecutive year that we've participated in this auto show, and we've brought several of our models to show the charm of domestic new energy and intelligent vehicles," said Li Cong, senior marketing manager of Chinese car-maker GAC Aion.
"We brought several new cars, the RF8 Harmony Edition, De-Fine concept car, and a pickup truck with a right-side steering wheel, which is listed overseas," said Sheng Xiaojie, a digital marketing specialist for Chinese car-maker JAC Group.
The first edition of the expo, then called the "Shenzhen Auto Show", dates back to 1991. At the time, the dominant transport option was the bicycle.
Official data showed in 2023, over 30 million cars were produced and sold in China, with output value reaching 11 trillion yuan (around 1.55 trillion U.S. dollars), accounting for nearly 10 percent of the country's GDP.
"Nowadays, young people like to travel, and this kind of SUV suits me very well," said a potential buyer.
Expanding outdoors for the first time, the event this year brings an exciting show by Stadium SUPER Truck driver Robby Gordon.
Attendees are even offered a glimpse into the near future, with air taxis on display that are already being mass-produced in China, alongside discussions of power batteries, intelligent driving, and more of the hottest trends.
Making headway into this trend, Chinese tech firm Xiaomi announced in March its first self-developed new energy vehicle model, the SU7.
"We have guaranteed the delivery of 100,000 SU7 EVs this year, an aim to achieve a target of 120,000. It is a record goal for the industry to deliver 120,000 cars in nine months," said Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi.
Last year's event has achieved a total of 9.5 billion yuan (around 13.37 billion U.S. dollars) potential sales. With strong promotional activities, industry insiders are expecting to see a new record this year.
Longstanding auto show in south China drives latest carmaking trends
The Chinese mainland is always the best destination for investment and business startups by investors and firms from the Taiwan region, a spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday, lashing out at the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities in Taiwan for fabricating lies about cross-Strait trade and business operation.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Zhu Fenglian, the spokeswoman, said that the DPP authorities, out of their separatist nature, habitually spread rumors in an effort to disrupt cross-Strait cooperation and exchange, but their lies cannot withstand even the slightest scrutiny of facts.
"Against the backdrop of an external environment fraught with changes and turmoil, the mainland's advantages are becoming more outstanding, as it has a huge market, broad market prospects, stable policy expectations, and a good security situation. The mainland is always the best destination for investment and business startups by all Taiwan investors and Taiwan enterprises. In the first quarter of this year, the cross-Strait trade value reached 70.56 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 15.2 percent," Zhu said.
"The investment from the Taiwan region in actual use by the mainland reached 1.26 billion U.S. dollars, growing by 127.1 percent year on year. In the three-month period, there were 1,592 more enterprises newly established in the mainland with investment from Taiwan. More and more compatriots in Taiwan and investors from the region are taking concrete actions to prove that the mainland is always the best destination for investment and business startups by all Taiwan investors," she said.
Zhu added that despite increasing external uncertainty, the mainland is confident in maintaining economic development and will continue to improve its business environment for investors from Taiwan.
"Facing U.S. abuse of tariffs, the mainland immediately took resolute and strong countermeasures, demonstrating our unwavering determination to safeguard national development interests, international fairness, justice, orders, and rules, and also reflecting our confidence in maintaining economic development. We will study and address the issues and difficulties faced by the investors and enterprises from Taiwan, treat them as equals, strengthen supports for them, boost cross-Strait industrial chain and supply chain integration, support enterprises funded by investment from Taiwan in participating in the implementation of major national strategies, help enterprises from Taiwan to transform and upgrade, expand domestic market share, integrate into the new development pattern, and achieve high-quality development," said the spokeswoman.
"We also hope that the investors and the enterprises from Taiwan will strengthen confidence, adopt a long-term perspective, actively participate in cross-Strait communication and cooperation, work together with us to fend off external risks and challenges, and jointly promote the economy of the Chinese nation," she said.
Mainland remains best destination for investment, business startups by Taiwan investors: spokeswoman
