DETROIT – Ford Motor is delaying production of a new all-electric large SUV and pickup truck, as it shifts to offer hybrid options across its entire North American lineup by 2030.

The Detroit automaker on Thursday said it will continue to invest in EVs, but it is postponing production of the three-row SUV at a plant in Canada from 2025 to 2027 to allow for the market to mature more. The pickup is being pushed back from late 2025 to 2026.

The shift in EV plans is the latest for Ford and the entire automotive industry as adoption has been slower than many expected and production costs remain high.

Ford last year said it would delay or cancel $12 billion in planned spending on new electric vehicles due to the shifting market conditions as well as challenges to profitably building and selling the vehicles. It was not immediately clear whether the new delays were part of those plans.

“As the No. 2 EV brand in the U.S. for the past two years, we are committed to scaling a profitable EV business, using capital wisely and bringing to market the right gas, hybrid and fully electric vehicles at the right time,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said Thursday in a statement.

The three-row SUV was part of a roughly $1.3 billion investment to transition Ford’s Oakville Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada, into a new electric vehicle hub. It was supposed to be Ford’s first time completely retooling a North American facility producing gas-powered vehicles into one that manufactures EVs.

“The additional time will allow for the consumer market for three-row EVs to further develop and enable Ford to take advantage of emerging battery technology, with the goal to provide customers increased durability and better value,” the company said in a release.

Ford said it will continue to focus its EV efforts on new plants such as its “BlueOval City” campus in Tennessee rather than transitioning current facilities producing engine-powered vehicles to all-electric models.

“Our breakthrough, next-generation EVs will be new from the ground up and fully software enabled, with ever-improving digital experiences and a multitude of potential services,” Farley said.

The automaker said the massive Tennessee facility, which was part of an $11.4 billion investment announced in 2021, will begin production of Ford’s next-generation all-electric truck, codenamed “T3,” in 2026, rather than 2025.

Ford said it is continuing construction of battery plants in Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky.

In the first quarter of 2024, Ford’s electric vehicle sales increased by 86% from subdued levels a year earlier. Hybrid sales for the automaker rose 42% year over year, while sales of Ford’s traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines were up 2.6%.

Ford’s “Model e” electric vehicle business lost $4.7 billion in 2023, including $1.57 billion during the fourth quarter. In February, the automaker said it expected the unit to lose between $5 billion and $5.5 billion in 2024.

Elon Musk on Wednesday visited the Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin, which was forced to halt production last week after losing power during a suspected arson attack.

Pictures show Musk waving to workers as he arrived at the factory in German state Brandenburg and addressing them on stage in a tent where employees gathered to meet him.

Local media also reported that Musk told the crowd “I love you” in German, but that his further comments were drowned out by a factory vehicle parking in front of journalists and blasting music.

Musk is expected to meet regional politicians during his visit to Germany, local media said, citing state government sources. CNBC could not independently verify the reports.

Last week, the Gigafactory was left without power and had to temporarily stop production after a suspected arson on an electric substation close by. Tesla said that the incident was aimed at the company, in a statement on social media platform X.

Left-wing extremist group ‘Vulkangruppe’ claimed responsibility for the attack in a letter posted online, criticizing Tesla’s environmental competencies. Regional authorities are still investigating the case.

The Brandenburg factory is slated for expansion, but the project has met significant resistance from locals and environmental groups, as it would mean the destruction of forests in the area. Activists have set up camp near the factory in protest.

The plant was able to rejoin the power grid earlier this week. Production resumed at the Gigafactory on Wednesday, Michaela Schmitz, chair of the works council at the plant, told local radio channel rbb24, according to a CNBC translation.

Employees received their full salaries during the production outage, she added.

DETROIT — General Motors beat Wall Street’s top- and bottom-line expectations for the fourth quarter, while forecasting another strong year despite potential economic and sales head winds.

The Detroit automaker’s 2024 guidance calls for net income attributable to stockholders of $9.8 billion to $11.2 billion, or $8.50 to $9.50 earnings per share; adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $12 billion to $14 billion, or $8.50 to $9.50 adjusted EPS; and adjusted automotive free cash flow between $8 billion and $10 billion.

The earnings guidance is largely better than GM’s 2023 results and in line or higher than many Wall Street analysts’ expectations of flat results compared with 2023.

Here’s how the company performed in the fourth quarter, compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Adjusted earnings per share: $1.24 versus $1.16, estimatedRevenue: $42.98 billion versus $38.67 billion, estimated

For the fourth quarter, GM reported net income for stockholders of $2.1 billion, or $1.59 per share, compared with $2 billion, or $1.39 per share a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items, GM earned $1.24 per share, topping Wall Street expectations.

Revenue was largely flat year over year, at $42.98 billion compared with $43.11 billion for the final three months of 2022.

GM’s full-year 2023 revenue was about up 10% compared with the prior year, at $171.84 billion, with net income attributable to stockholders of $10.13 billion and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $12.36 billion. That compares with 2022 revenue of $156.74 billion, net income attributable to stockholders of $9.93 billion and adjusted EBIT of $14.47 billion.

“As we begin 2024, I believe GM is well positioned for another year of strong financial performance,” GM CFO Paul Jacobson told media during a call to discuss the results.

GM’s 2023 earnings included several special charges, including $1.1 billion in North American strike costs and $792 million charge for new commercial agreements between GM and LG Electronics and LG Energy Solution.

Shares of GM are down less than 2% this year after rising about 7% last year, lifted by an accelerated $10 billion share repurchase program that was announced in late November.

GM’s North American adjusted earnings were off 45% during the fourth quarter from a year earlier to $2.01 billion. Its international operations declined by 1.1% to $269 million.

China – GM’s second-largest market – continued to struggle, with a 34% decline in equity income for the year to $446 million, including a 54% drop during the fourth quarter.

Jacobson said GM expects its China operations this year to be roughly flat from last, including an anticipated loss in the first quarter.

“The team is doing a good job of managing through a challenging situation but we’re going to have a tough first quarter,” he said.

For the year, GM’s North American operations were off 5.3% to $12.31 billion, while international operations were up 5.9% to $1.21 billion.

GM expects to spend roughly $1 billion less this year on its majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise. In 2023 it spent $2.7 billion on the embattled business unit, excluding special items such as severance packages for layoffs.

Cruise remains under several state and federal investigations following an Oct. 2 accident involving a pedestrian in San Francisco.

GM CEO Mary Barra, who chairs Cruise’s board, said officials have “already begun to implement significant changes” at Cruise following the findings of internal, third-party probes into the incident and operations.

Cruise and GM last week released findings of internal investigations that outlined cultural issues, regulatory ineptitude and poor leadership at the company, but found that officials did not intentionally deceive or mislead regulators.

The companies also disclosed Cruise remains under investigation by several entities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“At Cruise, we are committed to earning back the trust of regulators and the public through our commitments and our actions,” Barra said in a letter to shareholders Tuesday.

Both Barra and Jacobson acknowledged that the adoption of electric vehicles in the U.S. has been slower than originally expected but said the company remains committed to expanding its EV lineup and sales in 2024.

“Consensus is growing that the U.S. economy, the job market and auto sales will continue to be resilient, and at GM, we expect healthy industry sales of about 16 million units with the mix of EVs continuing to grow,” Barra said.

The automaker last year pulled its near-term sales guidance for EVs but maintained plans to add 1 million units worth of EV production capacity in North America and achieve a mid-single-digit EBIT EV margin, both by 2025.

GM’s EV sales totaled 75,883 units, or 2.9% of the company’s overall sales, last year. A vast majority of those were sales of its now discontinued Chevrolet Bolt models.

The company has experienced problems in ramping up production of its newer “Ultium” EVs, including a major issue with battery module assembly.

GM has said it plans to keep its North American plants “flexible” to produce EVs and traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines, based on consumer demand.

This is breaking news. Please check back for additional updates.

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

Elon Musk said Chinese electric automakers will find “significant” success outside of China, even as his firm Tesla faces intense competition from these same companies.

“The Chinese car companies are the most competitive car companies in the world. So, I think they will have significant success outside of China depending on what kind of tariffs or trade barriers are established,” Musk said on Tesla’s earnings call on Wednesday.

“Frankly, I think, if there are not trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other companies in the world.”

It’s not the first time Musk has heaped praise on Chinese EV makers. Last year, the billionaire called Chinese EV firms “the most competitive in the world” and said they are likely to be among the world’s top auto companies.

“If I were to guess … probably some company out of China is the most likely to be second to Tesla,” Musk said.

Tesla’s own shares slid in pre-market trade on Thursday, after the company posted earnings that missed expectations and warned of a slowdown in 2024.

BEIJING — Chinese consumer electronics company Xiaomi on Thursday detailed plans to enter China’s oversaturated electric vehicle market and compete with automaker giants Tesla and Porsche with a car model it says it spent more than 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to develop.

The company’s car model, known as Xiaomi SU7, “is in trial production and it will hit the domestic market in a few months,” CEO Lei Jun said in a Tuesday post on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. “The price has not been finalized yet.”

Pronounced “Sue Qi” in Mandarin, the Xiaomi SU7 beats Porsche’s Taycan and Tesla’s Model S on acceleration and other metrics, Lei said during a three-hour presentation on Thursday.

He laid out bold ambitions to become an industry leader, including in autonomous driving and noted that the SU7 design team previously worked at BMW and Mercedes Benz.

Sales are due to begin in 2024, after more than three years of development— during which electric vehicles have taken off in China’s highly competitive market, and domestic automakers have begun to differentiate their products through ambitious offerings of car-compatible tech.

This is an area of potential advantage for Xiaomi, which is best known for its smartphones and home appliances and previously said it wants to create a “‘Human x Car x Home’ smart ecosystem.”

The SU7 is integrated with Xiaomi’s smartphones and internet-connected home appliances, Lei announced Thursday. He emphasized the company’s efforts to ensure data privacy among the devices and create a car that surpasses U.S. safety standards for rear-end collisions.

Lei said the vehicle will also be compatible with Apple’s iPhone, iPad, CarPlay and AirPlay. The U.S. giant has yet to release a car despite widespread speculation of such plans.

Two Xiaomi SU7 models appeared on a list of tax-exempt new energy vehicles published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Tuesday.

The document described the cars as purely battery powered, with driving range of 628 kilometers (390 miles) to 800 kilometers. The ministry listed a subsidiary of state-owned BAIC Group as the manufacturer for the Xiaomi SU7.

While the car isn’t yet available, Xiaomi has started selling its flagship smartphone and smart watch in the “aqua blue” and “olive oil green” colors of the SU7 sedan.

A price for the SU7 has yet to be revealed, but Lei hinted the purchase would not be cheap and dismissed rumors of a 99,000 yuan or 140,000 yuan price tag.

The Xiaomi car tech event comes as several domestic EV players have recently revealed new electric vehicles.

Nio on Saturday debuted its 800,000 yuan ($113,090) ET9, set to begin deliveries in the first quarter of 2025.Huawei’s Aito brand on Tuesday unveiled its M9 SUV — starting at 469,800 yuan and due to begin mass deliveries in late February 2024.Zeekr, backed by Geely, on Wednesday announced its 007 sedan would start at 209,000 yuan with deliveries beginning on Jan. 1.

Xpeng, which Xiaomi backed in 2019, is set to launch its X9 vehicle on Jan. 1, 2024. Ahead of the Thursday event, Lei shared pictures on popular Chinese social media platform Weibo which showed buildings lit up with messages of Xiaomi saying it salutes BYD, Nio, Xpeng, Li Auto and Huawei.

Xiaomi shares closed 0.25% lower in Hong Kong trading on Thursday. The company’s Hong Kong-traded shares are up by more than 40% so far this year. The business claimed record sales of more than $3 billion across various e-commerce platforms during this year’s Singles Day shopping festival.

Xiaomi has said it expects to spend 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) on research on development this year, up by 25% from 2022 and more than double the amount spent in 2020.

BEIJING — Livestream shopping is taking off in China, driving development of new tech products such as virtual human streamers and mobile data packages.

It’s an attempt to monetize — and innovate — in one of the few bright spots for an economy that’s largely slowing in growth.

Livestreaming e-commerce saw sales surge by 19% during the latest Singles Day shopping festival in November, while sales via traditional e-commerce dropped by 1%, according to McKinsey analysis.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, retailers in China have rushed to hire or develop in-house livestream hosts to sell products. Individuals, such as online influencer Austin Li, have become celebrities and overnight millionaires through using livestream commerce.

“Livestreaming, particularly livestreaming commerce, is something no country in the world has anything at the scale China has,” said Daniel Zipser, senior partner and leader of McKinsey’s Asia consumer and retail practice.

Now companies are testing out livestreaming hosts that are digitally created humans — either avatars that represent an actual human host, or a virtual human being created from scratch.

That use of virtual livestreaming hosts was a trend that stood out during this year’s Singles Day, said Xiaofeng Wang, principal analyst at Forrester.

“The quality has improved a lot this year, the virtual hosts look more real, at least the ones I’ve seen from Tencent, JD,” she said.

Wang added that using virtual livestreamers is a way for retailers to differentiate themselves from others, as well as reduce the cost of hiring a famous influencer, who might also carry the risk of being involved with celebrity scandals.

Tencent has launched a product that only needs a three-minute video of a user along with 100 spoken sentences to build a virtual avatar.

The company also has a “Zen Video” platform that lets people create simple promotional videos with a virtual human spokesperson.

Some companies are also combining ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence with livestreaming.

Online retail giant JD.com said its Yanxi virtual anchor product — based on the company’s AI model — was used in livestreaming sessions for more than 4,000 brands during Singles Day this year. One virtual streamer broadcast for 28 hours straight, according to JD’s technology arm. 

Baidu, best known for its search engine and Ernie AI chatbot, got into online shopping this Singles Day with the first at-scale use of its virtual human livestreaming product “Huiboxing” on its “Youxuan” e-commerce platform. The company claims virtual humans ran 17,000 streams from Oct. 20 to Nov. 11.

During that time, electronics giant Suning saw virtual human livestreaming contribute more than 3 million yuan ($420,000) in gross merchandise value on a single day, according to Baidu. GMV measures sales over time.

The digital human livestreamers are currently free for merchants to use on Baidu’s e-commerce platform and are based on the large language model behind Ernie bot, said Wu Chenxia, head of Huiboxing, adding the product uses big data to create multiple livestreaming scripts in an instant.

Regulators have their eye on the sector.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT isn’t officially accessible in China. Baidu’s Ernie bot wasn’t available for widespread use until late August when Beijing gave the green light.

Livestreaming success is also dependent on consistent video connection.

Potential buyers are almost always watching on their mobile phones, while sellers may try to livestream from the field where they are growing the produce.

Mobile service operators China Unicom and China Mobile have started to sell data packages geared toward livestreamers in parts of the country.

These packages splice the network so that livestreamers get priority service, similar to how an express lane on a highway may only allow buses to use it to avoid traffic, said Joe Wang of Huawei’s ICT department.

All that is based on having widespread 5G connectivity, which allows livestreamers to broadcast outdoors or simultaneously on multiple platforms, he said.

Looking ahead, 5.5G will theoretically increase download speeds by 10 times compared to 5G, and upload speeds by two to three times, Wang said. He expects 5.5G will reach consumers as early as 2025, while AI’s development is letting businesses quickly turn 2D images into 3D ones.

That means, Wang said, that 3D livestreaming may be a reality in about two years.

In the meantime, even companies such as Quantasing that sell adult education courses have jumped on the bandwagon by hosting livestreaming e-commerce – generating GMV of 13.3 million yuan in August.

CEO Matt Li said Quantasing holds more than 10 livestreaming sessions at once, and uses technology to decide what types of products and resources to dedicate to each one in order to generate the most revenue.

As fast as it’s grown, livestreaming is subject to China’s stringent regulation on content.

Analysts have also pointed out that livestreaming sales are often impulse buys, leading to many product returns.

From Jo Malone London to Chinese education company New Oriental, companies have turned to livestreaming sales as a way to stay connected with consumers in China and get them to spend money.

Importantly, businesses are shifting from using influencers, known as KOLs in China, to in-house livestreamers, McKinsey’s Zipser said.

“It is a clear indication [livestreaming] is not a hype, but it is something that companies are embracing and putting resources behind and the result of that is something that is here to stay,” he said.

Tesla faces a growing revolt in Scandinavia after Danish dockworkers joined a sympathy strike with Swedish mechanics, heaping pressure on the electric vehicle giant to grant collective bargaining rights to employees.

Members of Swedish trade union IF Metall have been at loggerheads with Tesla for six weeks, and have garnered support via secondary strike action from fellow workers across a range of industries in Sweden, including postal workers, painters, dockworkers and electricians.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk bemoaned the blockage of license plate deliveries by postal workers as “insane” and late last month filed lawsuits against both the Swedish Transport Agency and the postal service.

After Swedish dockworkers blocked the reception of Tesla cars into the country, there had been speculation that Tesla would seek to deliver cars to Danish ports and transport them by truck across to Sweden.

However, IF Metall requested support from Denmark’s largest trade union, which on Tuesday announced a sympathy strike.

Jan Villadsen, the the chair of Denmark’s 3F Transport union, said Tuesday that IF Metall and Swedish workers are “fighting an incredibly important battle” and therefore have his union’s full support.

“Just like companies, the trade union movement is global in the fight to protect workers. With the sympathy strike, we are now stepping in to put further pressure on Tesla,” Villadsen said in a statement.

“Of course, we hope that they come to the negotiating table as soon as possible and sign a collective agreement.”

In what appeared to be a direct attack on Musk, Villadsen added that “even if you are one of the richest in the world, you can’t just make your own rules.”

“We have some labor market agreements in the Nordic region, and you have to comply with them if you want to run a business here,” he said.

“Solidarity is the cornerstone of the trade union movement and extends across national borders. Therefore, we are now taking the tools we have and using them to ensure collective agreements and fair working conditions.”

All members of 3F Transport are covered by the sympathy conflict, meaning that dockworkers and drivers will not receive and transport Tesla cars to Sweden.

Swedish labor relations, shaped by a series of accords reached throughout the 20th century, mean that almost all pay is subject to collective agreements between companies and labor unions, without any government intervention.

Tesla has so far refused to sign up to one of these collective bargaining agreements, leading around 120 mechanics in Sweden to launch strike action in late October.

The striking workers are not asking for more pay, but simply for Tesla to honor the principle of collective bargaining. The dispute highlights the potential for an ongoing ideological stalemate not just between Tesla and 120 mechanics, but between U.S. corporate power and the deeply entrenched principles underpinning the Scandinavian economic model.

The extension of solidarity strikes to Denmark could signal further problems for Musk amid the risk of similar solidarity action in Norway and Germany, where collective agreements are also a key tenet of labor relations.

IF Metall told CNBC Tuesday that it has no ongoing talks with Tesla but hopes that the U.S. giant will “return to the negotiations table as soon as possible.”

“We are confident that they eventually will realize that collective agreement is beneficial for them as well. We are prepared for a prolonged conflict, but we are hoping for a swift solution,” the union said.

Stellantis said Saturday that its most recent proposal to the United Auto Workers includes raises of nearly 21% over the course of the contract, including an immediate 10% pay increase, and the end of wage tiers for some workers, the latest development in a historic showdown between the big three Detroit automakers and the union.

The Jeep maker’s proposal, which is in line with proposals from Ford and General Motors, would also continue to offer profit sharing to workers, according to new details on the offer released by the company Saturday.

“The teams have been very, very careful to listen, very careful for us to come up with best offers that we can do that also protect … the company,” COO Mark Stewart said on a Saturday call with reporters.

The standoff between the UAW and major automakers Stellantis, Ford and General Motors reached a fever pitch Friday, with the union starting work stoppages after an agreement wasn’t met by a Thursday night deadline. The so-called stand-up strike started with walkouts at three key plants — one for each automaker — with the possibility that the UAW can call on more of its members to join the strike if needed.

The union has been seeking 40% hourly pay increases, a reduced 32-hour workweek, a move back to traditional pensions, the elimination of compensation tiers and a restoration of cost-of-living adjustments, among other items. The UAW didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the proposal.

Meanwhile, Ford and GM resumed negotiations Saturday after no talks occurred between the union any of the automakers the previous day. Stellantis said it planned to pick up talks again Monday.

UAW President Shawn Fain said earlier this week that Stellantis had previously offered a 17.5% increase.

Under the new proposal, starting pay for supplemental employees would increase by $4.22, or nearly 27%, to $20 an hour.

The company also said it would cut the timeline for ascending the hourly wage scale in half to four years, meaning all full-time hourly employees would reach the top before the contract expires. Under the offer, the wage-tier system would be eliminated entirely for its Mopar division, which is known for service, parts and customer interfacing.

Stellantis also offered an inflation protection measure within compensation. The company said it has committed more than $1 billion for improvements in the pension and retirement savings plans for current employees and retirees.

Stellantis leadership also pushed back against the union’s descriptions of the automaker’s plans to close or sell 18 facilities. The company has said it aims to run parts distribution centers more efficiently and continue shifting resources toward electric vehicles. Jobs in these plants would be persevered, the company said.

The automaker also stressed its commitment to bargaining and reaching an agreement that is financially feasible, echoing concerns raised by Ford and GM leadership. Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a CNBC interview Friday that the UAW demands would force the company to “choose bankruptcy over supporting our workers.” Stellantis’ leadership noted that the company needs to stay competitive with automakers that don’t have unionized employees.

“It’s not about warfare, it’s about win-win,” Stewart said. “It’s about us finding something that is great for our folks today, able to keep a future for tomorrow … for our company to be able to continue the investment path we have for electrification, and for our U.S. operations to be strong so we can compete against the transplants and we can compete against the new entrants.”

President Joe Biden said Friday that the companies should improve their current offers to ensure a strong contract is agreed on amid a period of record profits.

— CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report.

MUNICH — You’d be forgiven for thinking that the IAA, one of the world’s biggest motor shows, is actually a technology conference, after tech giants like Amazon, Qualcomm and Samsung all showed up for this year’s event.

Their presence underscores demand for traditional automakers to boost the technology in their vehicles, from software to hardware, as they look to catch up with Tesla in the electric car future. Ramping up technology features is also essential to meet buyer expectations in China.

“Tesla and the Chinese start-ups. This is the two-way force they [traditional automakers] are experiencing, driving them to have more user experience in the car,” Mohit Sharma, automotive research analyst at CCS Insight, told CNBC.

They can’t do it alone. Carmakers are looking at tech firms for help, while also trying to work on items like software in house.

Part of Tesla’s global success has come down to its technology in a number of areas, from batteries to Autopilot — its advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), which uses semi-autonomous driving features. The screen within Tesla cars is also akin to that of a smartphone.

Those features are what rival automakers are trying to build and get ahead on.

There are two major operating systems in the smartphone sphere — Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. That’s not the case in the car world, when it comes to the ever popular infotainment systems and screens.

Auto firms are now focusing on developing their own operating systems, so that using car screens more closely resembles working with the apps of a smartphone.

To that end, Mercedes-Benz revealed further details at the IAA about its self-developed operating system called MB.OS, which will help power various features from the giant screen across the dashboard to the voice assistant in its upcoming EVs.

Swedish EV player Polestar this year created a joint venture with Xingji Meizu — a smartphone maker owned by Chinese auto giant Geely — and plans to launch its own smartphone in December, when the Polestar 4 car begins delivery to customers. Meizu is making an operating system for Polestar cars based on its own product, called FlyMe. The idea is that users would be able to have a seamless experience between the smartphone and Polestar’s operating system in the company’s cars.

U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm was also in attendance at IAA. The company is making a big push into the automotive space, where its chips can be used to help power artificial intelligence applications within vehicles. One example it showed was a car assistant that could find a recipe for chicken enchiladas and add the ingredients to a shopping list. 

It’s not just about the screen — automakers are also looking into using all parts of the car to display information. BMW said the Neue Klasse EV models it unveiled on Saturday will have what it calls Panoramic Vision, a heads-up display which projects information on the windscreen at the driver’s eyeline.

To make the drive as comfortable as possible, U.S. EV maker Lucid showed off the massage feature of the seats in its Air Midnight Dream Edition car.

A big part of the focus of Tesla technology has surrounded its Autopilot ADAS. No car can operate autonomously — at least from a legal perspective — but automakers are ramping up the driverless features and capabilities.

Tesla is perhaps one of the furthest ahead with its ADAS features, followed by young Chinese players like Xpeng and Nio.

Many automakers aspire to become major players in the world’s biggest and highly competitive electric vehicle market, China. In a bid to differentiate themselves from rivals, Chinese firms have talked up the tech features of their vehicles, from software to ADAS capabilities — and Chinese customers expect the latest tech perks.

“It’s not just good enough to bring a great European design to China, you have to be very, very special about what you offer to the market when it comes to software,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath, told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.

Heeding that sentiment, foreign companies from BMW to Mercedes are looking to invest heavily in tech development, as they aim to boost EV sales in China.

Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume on Wednesday said that the company is ramping up its number of software engineers in China.

“We want to operate with China speed in China,” Blume said at the IAA conference.

German automaker BMW on Saturday launched a hotly anticipated electric concept car, saying the so-called “Vision Neue Klasse” represents the dawn of a new era for the company.

BMW’s latest design showcases a platform that will underpin the brand’s next generation of electric vehicles. The first electric vehicles based on the Neue Klasse — or new class — architecture are set to enter production in 2025.

The new line-up of electric vehicles includes BMW’s sixth generation of battery cells, which the company says will improve both the charging speed and range of the Neue Klasse platform by up to 30%. As a result of these measures, BMW said the overall vehicle efficiency would increase by up to 25%.

“With the BMW Vision Neue Klasse, we put every innovative force that BMW has on the electric side, on the digital side and, of course, that car will also be prepared for the industry of circularity,” BMW CEO Oliver Zipse told CNBC’s Arabile Gumede.

“In only two years’ time, these cars will hit the road, and with that, overall, we lead BMW to a new era of innovation and sustainability. That’s the purpose of our show at the IAA,” Zipse said.

The Vision Neue Klasse is set to make its public debut in the coming days at the IAA motor show in Munich, which also serves as the headquarters of BMW. The IAA show is one of the world’s largest mobility trade fairs.

“We believe that electromobility will be the largest growth segment in the world for the automotive industry and we want to be a leading force here,” Zipse said.

The BMW chief executive projected that battery electric vehicles will represent 15% of the carmaker’s worldwide sales by the end of 2023 and that “we will increase that further next year and the year after next.”

Frank Weber, member of the Board of Management of BMW responsible for development, said the Neue Klasse range represents a “major technological leap” for the carmaker.

In early August, BMW said that it expected ongoing challenges from supply chain issues and stubbornly high inflation to persist over the coming months. It nevertheless lifted the annual outlook for its margin on earnings before interest and taxes in the automotive segment.

Shares of BMW are up around 13% year-to-date.

Asked about the presence of Chinese electric vehicle giants at the Munich motor show and whether he was worried about Chinese exports into Europe impacting BMW’s business, Zipse replied, “No, we are not afraid at all.”

“That is a sign of attractiveness when global players like the Chinese, which is the largest car market in the world, come here to Munich and showcase what they want. It is far more than auto, this is a tech show, this is an innovation show,” Zipse said.

“And I think to have everyone here, the Americans, the Europeans and now also the Chinese, is super exciting. You hear it in my words already, I’m more excited, and I’m not afraid at all, and it is good that we have a show which attracts a lot of competition. That’s super.”