Beijing Auto Show 2026: latest news and all the important cars
The Chinese capital’s biennial show is one of the most eagerly awaited and significant in the world. Here’s what to expect this year
One of the world’s most popular and important automotive events is now underway – the Beijing Auto Show.
Otherwise known as Auto China, the biennial show was postponed in 2020 and 2022 due to the Covid pandemic, but came back with a bang in 2024 with this year’s event set to be bigger than ever before.
1,451 cars are scheduled to be in attendance and while many will have a focus on the Chinese market, there will be plenty of models destined for these shores, too. That’s new metal as well, with loads of brand-new global reveals from relatively unknown brands to established marques such as BMW and Land Rover.
Join us as we run through some of the key new cars from Beijing....
Beijing Auto Show headlines
- BYD Atto 3 unveiled a mere month after the latest one went on sale
- Denza Z 1,000bhp+ supercar is coming to the UK!
- Dramatic Hyundai Ioniq V revealed with eye-catching arrow-shaped looks
- New Lepas L4 EV aims high, with BMW iX1 in its sights
- New Omoda 4 on its way to take on the Nissan Juke
- New Peugeot Concept 6 and Concept 8 hint at stylish future 508 and flagship SUV
- New Smart #2 city car heavily hinted at by this outlandish concept
AUDI
Not to be confused with Audi, ‘AUDI’ is the German brand’s Chinese offering and over there the company is expanding in the premium EV segment with the E5 Sportback (which we’ve already driven) and the new E7X – the production version of which will be on show in Beijing.
Sitting on the same ‘Advanced Digitised Platform’ as the E5 Sportback, the E7X will be powered by a larger 109kWh battery, giving it more than 466 miles of range, according to China’s CLTC testing scheme. There’s a dual-motor set-up with a total of 670bhp resulting in a 0-62mph time of 3.9 seconds. It’ll also look just like its concept, so it’s sure to turn plenty of heads at the show.
BMW
We’ve already seen BMW’s array of models for Beijing, but making its public debut will be the facelifted 7 Series, which gets a rather extensive update. Not only does BMW’s flagship limousine get a Neue Klasse-inspired exterior look, the interior has been revamped too with the same Panoramic Vision system already used on the new iX3. The all-electric version, the i7, also goes further on a charge than ever before too, with a 452-mile range.
BMW will also bring some Chinese-focused models to the show with the long-wheelbase versions of the iX3 and i3. True to their names, both get a three-metre long wheelbase, but also some interesting additions such as recessed mechanical door handles in response to China’s ban on flush-fitting electric door handles and, in the i3 LWB, heated rear seats.
BYD
It wouldn’t be a Beijing show without the country’s (and indeed the world’s) most popular EV manufacturer. Over in China, BYD sells a five-metre long, seven-seat electric SUV called the Tang and soon it’ll add the Great Tang, which as you might expect, is an even larger version. The Great Tang is set to come with BYD’s ‘second-generation’ blade battery, with a capacity of 130kWh allowing for a CLTC-rated range of 590 miles – not bad for something weighing three tonnes.
Continuing BYD’s strategy for oceanic car names, the Sealion 8 will be in attendance. This is a seven-seat, plug-in hybrid SUV designed to sit above the Sealion 5, which we’ve just received in the UK. Then there’s the Seal 8, BYD’s flagship saloon that’s destined to bring a megawatt (1,000kW) charging speed along with a neat 1,000km (621 miles) of range.
IM
While here in the UK, the IM brand sits at the top of the MG line-up, in China, it is very much a distinct sub-brand within the wider SAIC group. A new model will be on show in Beijing called the LS8 which is a huge SUV with five or six seats, four-wheel steer-by-wire technology and an 800v architecture mixed with a range-extending hybrid engine.
Jaguar Land Rover
Ahead of the Beijing show we saw the long-awaited return of the Freelander name, although not in the way some may have expected. Instead of being used on a new model, Freelander will actually be a standalone marque from a Chery-JLR joint venture, distinct from the maker’s ‘House of Brands’, which currently includes Range Rover, Defender and Discovery.
Despite this new approach, the concept itself is pretty recognisable as a Land Rover with its off-road styling and boxy proportions – even if there are no Land Rover badges anywhere on the car.
Lepas
This is a name we had better get used to in the UK, because Lepas is another one of the Chery Group’s sub-brands, sitting alongside Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo.
Like cars from those other brands, Lepas is going to bring us a plug-in hybrid SUV, which will be shown off in China as the Lepas L4. It’ll sit alongside the larger L6 and L8 offerings as a sister model to the Jaecoo 5, and if that car’s popularity is anything to go by, we’ll be seeing plenty of L4s on the road here in no time.
Luxeed
Luxeed is owned by Chinese smartphone giant, Huawei and as you might expect, the premium-oriented car company has looked to technology to help its first MPV stand out. Called the V9, it gets an incredible new bit of safety kit which essentially cocoons occupants in airbags in the event of a crash to avoid whiplash and neck injuries.
MG
MG is almost ready to unveil a brand-new model, the MG 07. Crucially, and slightly confusingly, the 07 isn’t expected to be a replacement for the existing petrol and hybrid MG7 saloon sold in the Chinese market. The MG 07 will use a cutting-edge ‘Nebula’ Modular Scalable Platform, developed by parent company SAIC, which will allow for both plug-in hybrid and full electric vehicle powertrains.
Nissan
The new Nissan NX8 will be in Beijing and should be a big draw for fans of comfort and relaxation, as we experienced ourselves recently during a short test drive in Japan. A big electric SUV, the NX8 gets sophisticated electronic dampers and a NASA-style ‘zero gravity’ driver’s seat for a cosseting, laid-back driving experience. There’s also 335bhp going to the rear wheels for a 0-62mph time of around 6.5 seconds – not that we’d imagine many NX8 drivers will be tempted into trying.
Smart
Smart gave us our first proper look at the successor to the pocket-sized Smart ForTwo city car recently with the new Concept #2. Unlike the Smart #6 unveiled a few months ago for the Chinese market, the little Concept #2 previews a car that will go on sale globally and one we can expect in the UK by next year.
The styling and dinky proportions are reminiscent of the old Smart ForTwo and just like that car towards the end of its life, the Concept #2 will be all electric – although the production car will arrive on all-new and aptly named Electric Compact Architecture.
Zeekr
Even for China, the new Zeekr 8X promises some pretty outlandish statistics. A plug-in hybrid, it comes with a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with 270bhp which doesn’t sound particularly special. But on top of that there’s a 900v architecture with a tri-motor set-up, producing a combined 1,362bhp for 0-62mph time of under three seconds, while maintaining an electric range of more than 200 miles thanks to a massive 70kWh battery pack.
We’ve already experienced this powertrain in the more luxury-oriented 9X and found it to be pretty impressive. We’re certainly looking forward to trying out more Zeekrs when the brand finally arrives in the UK later this year.
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