Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, one of China’s largest car shows, will be held later this month following a shift in Beijing’s zero-Covid strategy to living with the virus.
The event, also known as Auto Guangzhou, will take place from December 30 to January 8. It was to be held earlier from November 18 to 27, but was put on hold because of a flare-up in coronavirus cases in the capital of southern China’s Guangdong province.
The organisers said in a statement on Tuesday that the event was aimed at supporting the economy, reviving confidence in the industry and restoring production at car plants.
The decision to revive the show is expected to inject new life into the mainland’s automotive sector, particularly electric vehicle makers, as they will have the opportunity to display the latest models and technologies, analysts said.
Xpeng’s co-founder He Xiaopeng unveils the G3 electric sport utility vehicle at the Guangzhou car show in November 2018. Photo: Bloomberg
“Most carmakers in China use the auto shows to unveil new models as the events attract a lot of attention,” said Chen Xiao, chief executive of Shanghai Yacheng Culture, a provider of marketing and branding services. “The Guangzhou auto show will set the tone for the EV market next year as consumer confidence is likely to recover in the post-Covid era.”
Last Wednesday, China’s cabinet published a 10-point guideline pledging to relax pandemic curbs, such as dropping mass testing, health codes and centralised quarantine requirements for most cases.
The easing of the virus-prevention measures paves the way for the world’s second-biggest economy to exit its three-year zero-Covid strategy, under which mass lockdowns and harsh standstill orders severely disrupted manufacturing and commercial activities.
Auto Guangzhou ranks among the top five car shows in China, along with events in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing.
Guangzhou is the base of several carmakers. Japan’s Toyota Motor and Honda Motors both assemble vehicles there, while the upstart Xpeng makes EVs in nearby Zhaoqing, one of the 11 cities that make up the Greater Bay Area.
BYD, the biggest seller in China’s EV market, is based in Shenzhen, not far from Guangzhou.
About 800 exhibitors, including carmakers, car component manufacturers and technology companies will take part in the 10-day event, which covers a total of 200,000 square metres at the China Import and Export Fair Complex.
The organisers said that contingency plans had been made to guard against the Omicron variant. On November 4, the organisers announced that a resurgence in Covid-19 cases had forced them to delay the event, but did not provide a new date then.
In late August, Chengdu Motor Show closed five days ahead of time because of a Covid-19 outbreak.
The event had attracted 128 brands that exhibited 1,600 models.
The EV sector, a bright spot in China’s economy, has shown some signs of a slowdown over the past two months as a consumption downgrade – consumers’ reluctance to splurge – has affected sales of battery-powered cars.
Meanwhile, Tesla, the runaway leader in China’s premium EV segment, will suspend production of Model Y cars at its Shanghai Gigafactory between December 25 and January 1, as part of a planned 30 per cent cut in production for its bestselling model, according to a Reuters report.
Last week, Tesla started offering Chinese customers a discount of 6,000 yuan (US$859) to bolster sales of its Shanghai-made vehicles, six weeks after it cut prices by up to 9.4 per cent.
Keyword: Leading Chinese car show in Guangzhou to revive confidence in the industry, boost economy, organisers say