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Plus, stay tuned because later in the show I’ll tell you why rivals will be closely watching China’s first pure BEV pick-up truck.
Welcome to EV News China — the podcast dedicated to the world’s largest electric vehicle market. Each day, I bring you the latest headlines, insights, and analysis from the heart of China’s booming EV industry — and decode how fast-moving developments in the east are shaping the global EV landscape.
XIAOMI SU7 OVERTAKES TESLA MODEL 3 IN CHINA
Xiaomi’s SU7 has pushed Tesla’s Model 3 off the top spot in China. In 2025 the firm delivered 258,164 units of its first saloon, against 200,361 Model 3s, according to the China Passenger Car Association, ending Tesla’s five-year run as premium electric saloon leader.
The shift shows how fast China’s electric-vehicle market now moves, and how quickly a local brand can use price, range and software to unsettle a global incumbent. It also shows that China’s electronics giants can turn their consumer-tech empires into car businesses.
Xiaomi, best known for smartphones and gadgets, only began delivering the SU7 in March 2024. The firm has leaned on its vast user base and tightly integrated digital ecosystem to sell the car as another node in its hardware-and-software network.
Price does the early heavy lifting. The base SU7 undercuts the entry-level Model 3 by about 9% and still offers a longer driving range, a mix that suits budget-conscious buyers who do not want to skimp on performance. Xiaomi is not standing still either. A refreshed SU7, announced for 2026, claims a driving range of more than 900 kilometres (560 miles) on a single charge.
Despite a 6.5% price rise, pre-sales for the updated model started at RMB 229,900 (about US$33,000) and drew nearly 100,000 pre-orders within two weeks. Xiaomi delivered 411,800 vehicles in 2025 and now targets 550,000 in 2026 as it widens its line-up.
China remains the main arena for this contest. Yet Canada’s recent removal of tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles could ease Xiaomi’s path abroad. For Canadian buyers looking beyond Tesla, an SU7 at RMB 229,900, with long range, keen pricing and polished software, may soon sit alongside the Model 3 in local showrooms.
BYD AIMS SEAL 08 AND SEA LION 08 AT GERMAN PREMIUMS
BYD will launch two new flagships, the Seal 08 sedan and Sea Lion 08 SUV, in the first quarter of 2026. The pair will anchor the firm’s Ocean Network in the high-end passenger-vehicle segment in China, where foreign premium brands still set the price ceiling.
The move pushes BYD deeper into a large premium EV market long defined by Mercedes-Benz and BMW. The Seal 08, a large sedan with a long body, is expected to be over 5.1 metres long with a wheelbase exceeding 3.0 metres. The Sea Lion 08, its SUV counterpart, uses a more upright structure with streamlined design cues. In size and presence, both invite comparison with the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW X5 rather than mass-market fare.
BYD also wants to shift the terms of competition from range to charging time. Both models carry roof-mounted LiDAR sensors for advanced driver-assistance systems, flagging a push into more capable intelligent-driving features. Recent spy photos suggest testing of Megawatt Flash Charging, a high-power fast-charging technology. In parallel, BYD is beefing up its Megawatt Flash Charging station network in key urban and highway locations.
TESLA DANGLES CHINA MODEL 3 INSURANCE SUBSIDY
Tesla has cut the cost of getting into a Model 3 in China, but only for quick buyers. From January 24th 2026 it offers a CNY 8,000 (about $1,100) insurance subsidy on select Model 3 variants for orders placed by February 28th.
The sweetener covers the rear-wheel drive, long-range rear-wheel drive and long-range all-wheel drive versions. It excludes the performance trim, which stays at CNY 339,500 ($48,800) with no subsidy. List prices for the eligible cars stand at CNY 235,500 ($33,900) for the rear-wheel drive.
Financing has been loosened as well. Tesla now offers five-year zero-interest loans and seven-year low-interest plans. Under the seven-year scheme, buyers can put down as little as CNY 79,900 (around $11,500) and pay from CNY 1,759 (about $300) a month. The Model Y range, too, qualifies for the CNY 8,000 subsidy, with monthly payments from CNY 2,188 (around $315) on various versions.
These moves follow an earlier round of incentives on January 6th, when Tesla rolled out seven-year low-interest financing across both Model 3 and Model Y. The escalation underlines the pressure. In 2025 Tesla delivered about 1.636 million vehicles worldwide, down 8.6% year-on-year. For the first time it fell behind BYD in annual global electric-vehicle sales: the Chinese firm sold roughly 4.6024 million vehicles, including more than 2.2567 million battery-electric cars.
NIO TESTS NEW EUROPE PLAN WITH HUNGARY LAUNCH
Nio handed over its first car in Hungary, an EL8, on January 22nd 2026 as it opened its first distributor-run outlet in the country, the AutoWallis Showroom in Budapest.
The sale looks small, but the shift does not. After a bruising start in Europe, where it entered in 2021 with a direct-sales model, Nio is switching to an asset-light approach built on national distributors. Hungary is one of the first tests of this reset.
The Budapest showroom will handle both sales and service for Nio and Firefly vehicles, giving the brand broader coverage than its earlier, more centralised set-up. Nio currently offers four models in Hungary: the ET5, ET5 Touring, EL6 and EL8. The EL6 and EL8 mirror the ES6 and ES8 sold in China, keeping the European range close to the home line-up while using different badges.
Nio already has industrial roots in Hungary. It runs a battery-swap station assembly plant there; the first station from that factory was finished in September 2022. The new showroom extends that presence from infrastructure into retail and after-sales, without the capital burden of a wholly owned network.
NIO SWAP STATIONS START TO LOOK LIKE MINI POWER PLANTS
Six Nio battery-swap stations have just done what many Chinese coal plants still resist: they sent power back to the grid. In a trial, the six sites delivered a peak output of 1,540 kW and made up 15% of total discharge.
The share is small in absolute terms but large in signal. Chinese policy makers want electric vehicles and their infrastructure to help smooth a grid that must juggle surging solar, rising wind and still-dominant thermal power. A swap station, with stacks of charged batteries on hand, looks more like a compact power plant than a simple charging forecourt.
Nio has long argued that its swap network is not only a customer perk but also a grid asset. This test hints at how that claim might play out. With 1,540 kW coming from six stations, the implied average output per site sits north of 250 kW during the peak. At scale, a broader fleet of such hubs could provide a flexible cushion for provincial grids that face sharp daily swings in load.
For now, the figures come from a controlled trial, not a national roll-out. The 15% discharge share reflects the slice in that test rather than across China’s vast power system. Commercial terms, grid-code rules and battery-degradation concerns all still need work.
CHINA LAYS DOWN HARD RULES FOR STEER-BY-WIRE
China has given steer-by-wire (SbW) its own rulebook. From July 1st the State Administration for Market Regulation will enforce a mandatory national standard for automotive steering systems, with detailed technical requirements and test methods for SbW alongside safety rules for mechanical steering and auxiliary devices.
The timing matters. SbW, which uses electronic control in place of mechanical or hydraulic linkages, sits at the core of smart and autonomous vehicles. It promises tighter control, better manoeuvrability and more design freedom. The market for SbW systems is forecast to grow from $4.61 billion in 2025 to $7.21 billion by 2031. A binding standard in the world’s largest car market will shape that growth and may set a benchmark for other regulators.
Regulators focus on four fronts. First, they seek stronger safety assurance, spelling out provisions for failures and safety strategies for different fault cases to keep cars controllable when things go wrong. Second, they tighten alarm mechanisms by defining how systems must flag ageing and performance degradation, to cut long-term risks and keep vehicles safe in use rather than just in type tests.
Third, they set clearer rules for reliable operation. The standard lays down functional safety requirements for electronic control systems to curb hazards from abnormal behaviour, a central concern when a cable replaces a steering column. Fourth, they push for tougher enforcement. The text sets out how to verify functional safety through tests and offers a technical basis for compliance checks.
CHINA TAGS EVERY EV BATTERY FROM CRADLE TO SCRAP
Every new battery in a Chinese electric car will soon carry a digital tag. The government will give each new-energy vehicle pack a unique identity code, tracking it from the factory floor to its second life in recycling plants.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the move on Friday, as officials brace for a wave of ageing cells. Retired battery volumes could surpass 1 million metric tons a year by 2030. Six ministries have jointly issued interim measures that spell out who must do what along the chain, from carmakers to recyclers, and threaten fines for firms that ignore coding rules, dodge recycling duties or fail to file required data.
The digital identifier will follow each pack through installation, replacement, vehicle retirement, recycling and reuse. Officials call it a “significant institutional innovation”. The aim is simple: turn a waste and safety problem into an orderly market for materials. Power batteries contain nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium, as well as toxic fluoride compounds that can foul groundwater and soil if mishandled.
NEVS DRIVE CHINA’S CAR MARKET MORE THAN GROWTH
China added 26.19 million newly registered cars in 2025. Almost half of them—12.93 million, or 49.38%—were new energy vehicles.
Total motor vehicle ownership climbed to 469 million units, including 366 million automobiles, but the pace of expansion is slowing. By the end of 2025, NEV ownership reached 43.97 million units, only 12.01% of the total automobile fleet. Yet NEV registrations grew by 1.68 million over the year, a rise of 14.93%, making electrification the main source of change in a maturing market.
Chinese roads are already crowded. Licensed drivers number 559 million, of whom 525 million hold automobile licences. Household automobile ownership reached 52.9 vehicles per 100 households, up 1.7 vehicles in a year. At the same time, the market’s churn is rising faster than its size.
New motor vehicle registrations stayed above 30 million for the eleventh year in a row, totalling 35.35 million in 2025. But transfers tell the real story. Authorities processed 41.11 million motor vehicle transfer registrations, including 38.41 million automobiles, which made up 93.44% of the total. Used car transfer registrations have outpaced new car registrations every year since 2020.
CHINA’S RELY DRIVES EV TECH INTO PICKUPS
Rely has launched the R08 EV, a pure-electric pickup starting at RMB 127,800 ($18,370). It is the marque’s first battery-powered truck.
The move pushes electric power into one of the last strongholds of the combustion engine: workhorse pickups. China’s carmakers already turn out cheap electric saloons, crossovers and microcars. Battery trucks have stayed niche, held back by price, weight and patchy charging for commercial users.
By pitching the R08 EV at RMB 127,800, Rely shows that Chinese brands now see a mass market in light-duty electric pickups, not just in high-end lifestyle models. The price undercuts many Western electric pickups even before tariffs and shipping. It also points to how Chinese firms may export such models to emerging markets where small businesses count every yuan.
The R08 EV also matters at home. Provinces push for lower urban emissions and quieter delivery fleets. Electric pickups that can enter more city centres, avoid some licence limits and cut running costs will appeal to tradespeople and fleet managers. If Rely proves that a pure-electric pickup copes with daily payloads and charging downtime, rivals will follow.
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