+++ What Car? has named the BMW iX3 its Car of the Year for 2026. The electric SUV won plaudits from this consumer-focused magazine for its 800 km range, 400 kW charging capability and for being one of the best big cars to drive. What Car? editor Steve Huntingford said the iX3 represents “a stepchange in capability” for electric cars. It is the fourth time a BMW has won the award, following 2016’s 5 Series, 2005’s 3 Series and 1987’s 7 Series; and it is the fifth time an electric car has won outright. +++
++ Automakers from CHINA have been making inroads around the world with growing sales of their high-tech, stylish and affordable electric vehicles. That has had competitors concerned even before Canada this week agreed to cut its tariffs on Chinese EVs in exchange for concessions on Canadian farm products. Experts now say an easier path into Canada could be a big boost for Chinese carmakers looking to dominate the global market, particularly as their domestic market weakens. That poses a threat to other auto manufacturers, particularly American companies. U.S. officials acknowledged that in remarks at an assembly plant for Jeep-maker Stellantis in Toledo, Ohio on Friday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Chinese Communist Party invests in its auto industry to “control this industry”. “Why? They want to take over the auto industry. They want to take away these jobs”, Duffy said. As far as the Canadian trade deal, he added: “They will live to regret the day they partner with China and bring in their vehicles”. Others say the shift is inevitable. “This is telling us that Chinese automakers continue to be really popular, and are doing better and better, and not just something that’s sold in global markets that are more marginal or less important to U.S. automakers”, said Ilaria Mazzocco, deputy director and senior fellow with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Chinese-made vehicles are high-quality and inexpensive, experts say. “It’s clear that the vehicles made by Chinese brands come at a very competitive cost, but are also technologically quite desirable”, Mazzocco said. “They tend to be connected vehicles, so they have a lot of additional software capabilities that consumers seem to like. But the price point and the competitiveness are really big selling points”. These vehicles can cost as little as $10,000 to $20,000; in the U.S., new vehicles are running close to $50,000 on average, and EVs even more so. Chinese companies also have unique advantages as far as auto manufacturing and production, efficiency and making vehicles lighter, which helps extend an electrified vehicle’s driving range. “They’ve found a way to make mid-sized cars, cars that people want, at a reasonable price”, said Sam Fiorani, vice president at AutoForecast Solutions. “These are the segments where GM and Ford and almost everybody else have abandoned”. Many automakers have discontinued smaller vehicles in favour of higher-margin, large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks that are far more profitable. Much of the global auto market is electrifying, an ideal opportunity for advanced Chinese automakers to capitalize on. China saw 17% growth in plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles in 2025, according to data released by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence this week, and Europe saw a 33% increase. Meanwhile, U.S. sales of electrified cars grew just 1% last year. As the rest of the world advances, U.S. automakers have weakened their once-ambitious, multibillion dollar electrification plans, instead opting for more efficient hybrid electric and gasoline vehicles amid the Trump administration’s shift away from EV-friendly policy. That shift threatens U.S. automakers’ competitive edge in the coming years. As is, Tesla lost its crown as the world’s bestselling electric vehicle maker last year, delivering only 1.64 million vehicles in 2025 to Chinese rival BYD’s 2.26 million. Trump administration policy slashing emissions rules at a time when Chinese companies are advancing quickly has experts worried for the future of American car manufacturers. Chinese automakers will have to meet standards required for the Canadian auto market for the latest trade arrangement to be successful, standards that are similar to those in the U.S., which is likely to incentivize Chinese auto manufacturing investment in Canada. They’ll also have to establish which segment of the market they are targeting there: Higher-end vehicles, or less-expensive ones that sell at higher volumes. Regardless, “It brings it home to what is needed to compete globally”, said Mark Wakefield, global automotive market lead at AlixPartners. The firm predicts Chinese brands will account for 30% of the global market by 2030. “They’ve already started in Europe. They started in South America. Now Mexico and Canada”, Wakefield said. American carmakers “don’t want to end up as a Brazil with your ethanol-based cars that aren’t sellable anywhere else in the world and like Britain or Australia that used to matter in the auto world, and no longer really do”. Countries have attempted to regulate Chinese EVs from entering their markets for several reasons. “China has become this overwhelming machine making inexpensive vehicles. And the fear is that if you give them an inch, they’re going to take a mile”, Fiorani said. “The other issue is technology. These vehicles are data centers… and the idea that a state-owned company in China could have access to where a high portion of drivers are going gives them leverage for all kinds of outlets”. The European Union hiked tariffs on Chinese EVs last year, though the two have been resolving that at the start of this year. In 2024, former President Joe Biden set a 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars. Canada matched that import tax on the vehicles until this week. And even with an annual import cap, Canada cutting its tariffs this week means those companies are another step closer to U.S. soil. The Mexican auto market has welcomed Chinese EVs, with massive growth last year. “The advance of Chinese manufacturers is inevitable. It will happen eventually. Everybody is negotiating to put up the roadblocks to figure out: What data is being processed, how much market share you’re going to allow Chinese manufacturers to have?” Fiorani added. “There are a lot of guardrails that have to be put up, but eventually they’re going to make their way into all Western markets”. +++
+++ JLR’s Chinese partner Chery confirmed the new car brand FREELANDER will first enter the Middle East in 2026, marking a sudden strategy shift. Its first car is a large 5.1-meter SUV with BEV and EREV powertrain variants available. Previously, the Freelander brand was said to focus on China. Chery and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) established a joint venture in China back in 2012. In 2014, they completed the construction of the CJLR plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. However, this facility will cease the production of all its models by the end of 2026, including the Range Rover Evoque, the Land Rover Discovery Sport, the Jaguar XFL, the Jaguar XEL, and the Jaguar E-Pace. Chery and JLR aim to reset their partnership by launching a new EV brand called Freelander. This project was officially announced in June 2024 with a long-term goal of enhancing the joint venture’s position in the highly competitive Chinese market. Last year, the first Freelander-branded model was spotted in China during road tests. This month, Chery confirmed that this model will go global. On January 12, Chery Holding Group invited public tenders to create the Freelander brand visual identity manual. It includes core visual assets, personalized brand visual language, icon system design, infographic design, and illustration design. In this announcement, the company officially confirmed that the Freelander brand will be first launched in the Middle East in 2026. It is a sudden development as the CJLR’s new brand was originally aimed primarily at the Chinese domestic market. It appears that the 2 sides have agreed on a major strategic shift, with a focus on overseas regions. In another tender invitation, Chery Holding Group announced a marketing procurement project. The company pointed out that the successful pre-launch marketing is crucial for ensuring a high-end brand image. Therefore, Chery aims to build strong market anticipation ahead of the sales start. As the Freelander brand will launch in the Middle East in 2026, Autointernationaal.nl expects that a large-scale marketing campaign will begin soon. Chery Holding Group can arrange the debut of this brand at the Beijing Auto Show scheduled for April 2026 in China. It is one of the biggest annual events in the auto industry. The first car under the Freelander brand is a large off-road SUV with boxy styling and a length of around 5.1 meters. It stands on the Chery-developed E0X modular architecture. The same platform underpins the Exeed Exlantix ET, the Exeed Exlantix ES, the Luxeed S7 and the Luxeed R7. Back to the Freelander, it will have 3 rows of seats with a 2+2+2 layout. The Freelander’s first model could be equipped with BEV and EREV powertrain variants. It provides a peak power of up to 553 hp, air suspension and Level 2 ADAS. +++
+++ HONDA unveiled its new power unit, including a new engine, for the Formula One championship, the pinnacle of auto racing, on Tuesday, ahead of its return to the sport. The power unit, developed to meet new carbon dioxide emission regulations, will be provided to the Aston Martin team. It marks Honda’s fifth time participating in Formula One. The company intends to apply technology honed in racing to its automotive development. Under the new regulations, electric motors account for a greater proportion of a racing car’s drivetrain output, making the ratio of motor output and engine output about 50% each. They will also mandate the use of synthetic fuels with low CO2 emissions. On Tuesday, Honda also revealed a new vehicle fitted with the new drivetrain. “Formula One is a motor sport that challenges both manufacturing technology and decarbonization. We’ll connect them with our four-wheel vehicle business”, Honda president Toshihiro Mibe said emphatically at a press conference. Honda first took part in Formula One racing in 1964. After repeated withdrawals and re-entries, it announced its fifth return to the sport in 2023. Among Japanese manufacturers, Toyota has a technical partnership with the U.S. Haas F1 team for vehicle development and other areas. Formula One’s popularity is booming worldwide thanks to films and sharing videos online. Spectator numbers in 2025 were 6.7 million, about 1.6 times higher than in 2019. The Japanese Grand Prix in 2025 also attracted the largest attendance since 2009. +++
+++ KIA is considering a production version of the Vision Meta Turismo concept as part of plans to expand its range with new bodystyles. The Meta Turismo is a 4-door low-slung GT concept with an unusual interior designed to offer different experiences to driver and passenger. While few details have been revealed, it could potentially fit into Kia’s line-up as a sleek saloon carrying the EV7 or EV8 title. Oliver Samson, Kia’s Europe design chief, said the new EV2 small crossover essentially completed the brand’s current line-up and that put the firm in a “unique situation” as it worked on the next generation of models, likely starting with second-generation versions of the EV6 and EV9. Asked whether those next-generation models would change substantially in terms of design, Samson told: “We’re always looking for something new, so every time we start a project we don’t say ‘okay, the car should look like something we’ve done before. If we find a new design that we think would fit really well to Kia, is super-progressive and looks different to what we already have, we would consider adding that into the family”. Samson said that as the firm worked on the next wave of models, it was “thinking about different ways of design” and he added: “We want to try some new ways of treating the surfaces, maybe even introducing different silhouettes”. According to Samson, the Meta Turismo serves as “an attempt, or a vision” looking at “how could we lay out a saloon in a different way, not just exterior-wise, but also in terms of interior design, with the driver and co-driver. Why do they have to be exactly the same? If the driver is doing something totally different than the co-driver, why does everyone have to be sitting in the same position, like you were in school? We are quite open, and we’re constantly looking for new opportunities. There’s still room for improvement”. Asked if the Meta Turismo hinted at a future production car, Samson said: “We’re really looking into having a dialogue with our consumers, to make sure that we are not designing something completely off. We’re looking for their reaction: is that in line with what you expect from Kia?” +++
+++ The TOYOTA BZ7 all-electric D-segment sedan will officially launch in March with a price point in the 200.000 yuan range. The new car is among the first models in the industry to integrate with the Xiaomi smart ecosystem, and equipped with Huawei’s HarmonyOS 5.0, Momenta R6 Flywheel AI model for advanced driving assistance system (ADAS), and Huawei’s DriveOne electric motor system. The BZ7 adopts a fastback design, featuring Toyota’s C-shaped daytime running lights and a through-type light strip at the center in the front. A roof lidar is present. At the rear, the full-width taillight mirrors the front. 27 sensors are onboard the vehicle for the Momenta R6 Flywheel ADAS. In addition to the roof lidar, the BZ7 is also equipped with 5 millimeter-wave radars, 11 cameras, and 10 ultrasonic radars for the ADAS, and ulitilizes Nvidia autonomous driving chip. The Momenta R6 Flywheel model can realize urban and high-speed NOA, remote parking assist and automated parking assist. Positioned as a mid-to-large sedan, the Toyota measures 5130/1965/1506 mm (l/w/h), with a wheelbase of 3020 mm. Buyers can choose from seven exterior paints: red, white silver, gray, black, green, and gold. Powered by Huawei’s DriveOne system, the Toyota BZ7 has dual electric motors with a maximum power of 278 hp and uses CATL’s lithium iron phosphate batteries in capacities of 88.13 kWh and 71.35 kWh. Its top speed is 180 km/h. The 88.13 kWh pack offers ranges of 500 km, 520 km and 530 km. The 71.35 kWh pack offers 460 km. Inside, the cockpit has a 15.6-inch floating central control screen, a LCD instrument panel and a HUD, powered by Huawei’s HarmonyOS 5.0, which is standard across the entire series. Other configurations include 50W wireless charging pads for mobile phones, an onboard refrigerator, vehicle remote control via mobile phone and 23 speakers. +++
+++ VOLVO is preparing to roll out “one of the biggest over-the-air updates in the history of the world” later this year when it remotely installs a new infotainment interface in 2.5 million cars worldwide. Every Volvo equipped with the company’s Android Automotive operating system, which was launched in 2020 on the XC40 Recharge (now badged EX40), will receive the new Volvo Car UX (user experience) that features in the EX30, EX90 and new EX60. It means that a 2020 Volvo will effectively have the same displays and functionality as the latest models and, importantly, it will swap the previous-generation Google in-car assistant for the new AI-powered Google Gemini system that’s in the new cars. The update had been planned for last year before being pushed back for further development, but now Volvo chief technology officer Anders Bell has told reporters that “it’s in the final stages of testing validation” and will be launched in the coming months. Hailing it as “one of the biggest over-the-air updates in the history of the world”, he said the aim is to essentially bring those older models up to date, which is widely touted as the main benefit of modern cars being ‘connected’: with the ability to update remotely, they can stay ‘in-date’ for far longer than before. Bell acknowledged that Tesla regularly performs huge fleet-wide updates of its cars but said Volvo operates in more countries, making this one of the most significant yet. He also said all updated models will have essentially the same infotainment as the EX90, allowing for some slight differences because of the older silicon processing chips and smaller screens. “We’re going to deploy that back to those cars to give them a necessary, very nice upgrade of the owner’s interaction experience with the car”, he said, adding that once the system has been updated, “it’s a pretty easy update to replace the current Google Assistant with Gemini”. Gaining the new Google Gemini system means that owners of post-2020 Volvos can have the same ‘conversational’ interactions with their cars as is said to be possible in the latest models. Volvo said: “Gemini can better understand what you want while driving through natural conversations. You can talk naturally to craft messages, translate them into another language before sending, ask questions from the car’s user manual or learn specific details about your destination. This kind of natural conversation can help reduce your cognitive load so that you can stay focused on driving, reducing distractions for everyone on board”. +++
+++ XIAOMI has received nearly 100.000 pre-orders for its updated SU7 within 15 days of opening small deposits on January 7, 2026. The new-generation SU7 is set to launch officially in April 2026, with marketing having started 3 months earlier. Sales staff at multiple Xiaomi stores in Beijing reported order volumes ranging from around 200 to over 400 per store. In Shanghai and Wuhan, individual dealerships have also surpassed 100 orders. With 477 stores nationwide, Xiaomi estimates pre-orders are nearing 100.000 units. With the new-generation SU7 now in pre-sales as of January 2026, the previous-year SU7 is transitioning to an inventory-clearing phase. Dealerships are currently selling these prior models as ready stock and are no longer accepting custom configuration orders. Xiaomi has reprioritized production to support more SU7 units while allocating capacity for the new-generation SU7, aiming for a smooth transition between model years and stable supply chain operations. Previously, Xiaomi faced delivery delays, particularly with the Xiaomi YU7, which at one point took over a year to be delivered. To mitigate similar issues, the company implemented an early small-deposit system for the SU7. Sales personnel indicated that pre-orders are being used to analize demand and manage supply chain inventories, including critical components, to avoid extended waiting times for customers. The new-generation SU7 includes upgrades in driving assistance and battery range. The model features a silicon carbide high-voltage platform with explicitly marked 752V and 897V values, laser radar standard across all variants, 700 TOPS of computing power for intelligent driving, and a CLTC-rated range of 902 kilometers. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun conducted three live-streamed sessions in January 2026 to promote the pre-order period. In 2025, Xiaomi delivered 411.800 vehicles, exceeding its annual target by 17%. Looking ahead to 2026, the company aims for 550.000 deliveries and plans to release two new models: the pre-ordered SU7 and an unannounced YU7 GT. Reports of a potential range-extender variant remain unconfirmed. Since its initial launch in April 2024, the Xiaomi SU7 has sold nearly 400.000 units, continuing to play a central role in the company’s delivery strategies as it transitions into 2026. +++
+++ ZEEKR has released more images of its upcoming 8X plug-in hybrid MPV that will be offered in 5-seater and 6-seater versions, and stands on the all-new SEA-S modular architecture. Its official launch is expected to be in the first half of this year.
In the front, the Zeekr 8X features a waterfall-style chrome grille design, paired with C-shaped headlights that composed of 25,368 diamond-shaped facets and a roof lidar. The bumper is further decorated with a chrome trim. The Zeekr 8X runs on 255/55 R20, 255/50 R21 and 275/40 R22 tires, combined with red brake caliber.
In the rear, the full-width taillight is composed of 54.894 diamond-shaped facets and utilizes 630 nm ultra-red light technology. The side profile comes with conventional door handles and with a chrome-plated window frame. Additionally, electric side steps and an electrically retractable rear towing device are present. Its maximum towing capacity is 2.000 kg. Chrome trim can also be seen around the window frame. Dimensionally, the Zeekr 8X measures 5100/1998/1780 mm (l/w/h), with a wheelbase of 3069 mm. Power comes from a 2.0T plug-in hybrid system, with the same engine model as the Zeekr 9X, delivering a maximum power of 275 hp. The ternary lithium battery pack capacities are 55.1 kWh and 70 kWh from the CATL-Geely joint venture, providing pure electric ranges of 256 km, 257 km and 328 km (assuming under WLTP conditions). Its curb weights are 2.660 – 2.820 kg. Although the parameters of the electric motor have not yet been announced at this time, according to previous reports, the Zeekr 8X is expected to feature a 3-motor megawatt electric drive system delivering 1.381 hp and 6C fast charging battery. +++