Series production of the electric BMW i3 has begun at the Munich plant, the second Neue Klasse model after the iX3. BMW spent about 650 million euros (roughly $760 million) converting the site, which stops building combustion cars in 2027. The launch version is the i3 50 xDrive: 463 hp, 108.7 kWh, and up to 906 km WLTP.

Brand CEO Gernot Döllner says the next Q8 had not been signed off when he took the job and the decision was reversed. The five-seat coupe format stays, with V6 and V8 petrol engines expected, including the 4.0 twin-turbo V8 from the new SQ9. No prototypes have been seen and the debut is expected around 2028.

General Motors and SAIC have run their joint venture out to 2047 and given it a new job: at least 30 new-energy models by 2030, built in China and shipped to the Middle East, Africa, South America, Mexico and Asia-Pacific. The Buick Electra E7 goes first, in October. Chevrolet, meanwhile, stops selling in China.

The Volkswagens sold in China are built by two companies, and one of them is Chinese. That arrangement started in 1983 as a condition of entry, and it has since produced badges that exist nowhere else: Jetta, Wuling, and AUDI in block capitals with no rings. Who holds which half, which brands the ventures invented for themselves, and which of the old partnerships have quietly ended.

Aion is GAC, Jaecoo and Omoda are Chery, Deepal is Changan, Nammi is Dongfeng. Ten Chinese brands whose names do not carry the parent company, grouped by how each one relates to its owner: brands sold only outside China, recent badges on long-established state groups, brands two levels below the group, and one that Huawei supplies but does not own.

Twelve European badges whose nationality does not match their ownership: Cupra, Vauxhall, DS, Opel, Lancia, Alpine, Abarth, MG, Ebro, DR Automobiles, smart and Leapmotor. Some are Spanish or British names owned in Germany or the Netherlands, some are revived badges on Chinese hardware, and several are assembled in a third country again.

New-energy vehicles took a record 64.4% of China's retail car sales in July 2026, even as NEV retail itself fell 2% year on year - the seventh straight monthly decline. The record came from combustion collapsing faster than EVs are growing.

Skoda registered 457,663 cars across the EU27+4 in H1 2026, up 10.8% year on year, holding second place among all brands for a second straight quarter and pulling 14,966 cars clear of Toyota. Skoda's own EV deliveries rose a record 48%.

Battery-electric cars reached 20.7% of new EU car sales in H1 2026, up from 15.6% a year earlier, while combined petrol and diesel share fell below 30% for the first time. France, Germany and Denmark led BEV growth; hybrids remain the single largest powertrain at 37.3%.