PICS: Beijing auto show wows with the world’s newest cars

Industry behemoths Volkswagen, Daimler, Toyota, Nissan, Ford and others are displaying more than 1,000 models and dozens of concept cars at the Beijing auto show.

Thousands of Chinese auto enthusiasts are wandering the halls of the mega exhibition centre this week, with electric cars attracting much of the spotlight.

China’s market has hit a transition period — the explosive growth in car sales seen over the last decade slowed last year and data from early this year point to a continued slump for many vehicle types.

Chinese consumers are following their American peers toward sport-utility vehicles while policymakers in Beijing push an all-electric future.

At the auto show, the domestic upstarts have a separate exhibition hall mostly to themselves — 124 of the 174 electric car models on display are homegrown.

Government subsidies help consumers purchase the green cars, while policymakers are planning a quota system to force producers to build electric vehicles, with plans to one day phase out gas vehicles altogether.

Volkswagen announced Tuesday investments of 15 billion euros ($18 billion) in electric and autonomous vehicles in China by 2022.

“China is our second home,” recently installed chief executive Herbert Diess said at a Beijing press conference, with its market set to be “the biggest” worldwide for electric cars.

Take a look at some of the cars below. All pictures by Ntsako Mthethwa.