All The Highlights From The 2024 Beijing Motor Show

Despite what this year’s Geneva Show would have you believe, the traditional motor show is alive and well in some places. The 2024 Auto China show in Beijing is one of the busiest motor shows we’ve seen in a while, with both domestic Chinese brands and European manufacturers revealing a plethora of cars.

Some are just for the Chinese market, while others will be coming to the UK, Europe and North America, but either way, it’s a display of just how large the Chinese market has become, and how rapidly its car industry is growing. We’d be here all day if we went through every little thing that’s been revealed, so we’ve rounded up our highlights, manufacturer-by-manufacturer, below. You’ll also find links to more in-depth coverage of some cars.

Audi

Audi’s had a reasonably quiet Beijing show, its centrepiece being the Q6L e-tron, a China-exclusive long-wheelbase version of its latest electric crossover.

Bentley

Bentley, which has one of its youngest global customer bases in China, didn’t bring any new models to the show, but chose to showcase the work of its Mulliner Bespoke division with a selection of one-off commissions designed for the local market.

BMW

Like Audi, BMW hasn’t debuted anything massive, but did unveil some very light facelifts for the i4 and 4-series Gran Coupe. Read about the minor tweaks here.

Buick

General Motors brand Buick is a big deal in China, and already sells various market-specific cars there. Its Beijing highlights are a pair of electric concepts, the Electra-L saloon and Electra-LT estate. Both look likely for production.

Denza

Denza, a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and BYD, unveiled the Z9 GT, a swoopy all-electric estate (it’s got five doors, don’t call it a shooting brake). With a three-motor setup, it makes a peak of 939bhp, and is being touted as Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo rival. It’s said to be coming to Europe next year, although it’s not clear if that’ll include the UK.

Dongfeng

Dongfeng, one of China’s largest and oldest car companies, showed off the M-Hunter, a wild, doorless and windscreen-less off-roader. It’s said to have a triple-motor EV drivetrain, and will be China-exclusive.

Fangchengbao

Fangchengbao is another of BYD’s many sub-brands. It brought a couple of new cars to Beijing, but what really caught our eye was the Super 9. It’s an all-electric two-seater speedster with no roof or windscreen, with styling by Wolfgang Egger, the man who penned the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. It’s just a concept for now, but a production version could arrive in China next year.

Genesis

Hyundai’s luxury offshoot, Genesis, displayed both a China-exclusive long-wheelbase version of its electric G80 executive saloon, and the G80 EV Magma concept, yet another concept with its nascent Magma performance branding. But this one’s blue! And electric!

Honda

Honda revealed a pair of new production electric crossovers as part of its new Ye series of Chinese-market EVs. However, alongside them was a swoopy four-door concept called the Ye GT that looks pretty much production ready. Should it make production, it’ll likely stay China-exclusive, but hints at what we could expect from Honda’s upcoming 0 Series EVs for Europe and North America.

Lamborghini

Perhaps the biggest launch of the show for the European market is the new plug-in hybrid Lamborghini Urus SE, boasting refreshed styling and a total of 791bhp from its electrified powertrain. Read more about it here.

Mazda

Mazda showed off an EV crossover concept called the Arata, but what really caught our eye was the gorgeous EZ-6, a swoopy liftback saloon with rear-wheel drive and either PHEV or full EV powertrains. It’ll only be sold in the Chinese market (sad face), but if you want to see what we’re missing, read more here.

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes had easily the busiest Beijing show of the German premium brands, with two big reveals: the 805bhp GT 63 Hybrid, its fastest-accelerating car ever, and the catchily-named G580 with EQ Technology, the long-awaited all-electric G-Class. Read about the GT 63 here and the G580 here.

MG

MG’s big reveal was the EXE181, a single-seat all-electric hypercar concept that’s supposedly capable of hitting 62mph in less than 2 seconds. Rumours point to it appearing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, although it's not clear if it's planned for production. Read all about it here.

Mini

Mini debuted the Aceman, a small crossover that sits between the Cooper and Countryman in terms of size and is the brand’s first EV-only model. Also, it comes with a virtual dog assistant. Obviously. We’ve got more details here.

Nissan

Nissan showed off a quartet of concept cars. There’s two PHEVs, the Era and Evo (which sadly doesn’t have a 4G63), and two EVs, the Epic and Epoch. Excellent. None are thought to preview any specific production cars, but likely give us a glimpse at Nissan’s future global design direction.

Rolls-Royce

Like Bentley, Rolls-Royce didn’t debut any new models, but placed a heavy focus on its bespoke commissioning service, which now has a dedicated office in Shanghai. It showed off its work with bespoke versions of the Ghost, Phantom and Spectre, and an unexpected return of white wall tyres. Find out more here.

Smart

Smart – now a 50/50 joint venture between Mercedes and Chinese giant Geely – revealed the clunkily named Concept #5, which previews its biggest model yet. The production version will land later this year. Read about it here.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen, which operates joint ventures with several Chinese manufacturers, displayed the ID. Code, an EV crossover concept intended to preview models specifically for the region. It also teased the ID. Unyx, another China-specific model that shares much with the upcoming Cupra Tavascan.

Zeekr

Geely sub-brand Zeekr unveiled the Mix, a big electric people carrier with twin sliding doors that’s being touted as a VW ID. Buzz rival. Zeekr is already selling cars in parts of mainland Europe, and is mulling a UK entry, so we could see the Mix here at some point.