New zones planned for auto event in Shanghai

The 22nd Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition will be held 23 to May 2 next year to demonstrate the latest progress in intelligent technologies, evolving industrial ecosystems and deeper international cooperation amid a changing global landscape, said officials and industry experts during a news conference on Tuesday.

The biennial exhibition, better known as Auto Shanghai, is estimated to cover 400,000 square meters for the 2027 edition. The version held in late April 2025 set a record for its 360,000-sq-m exhibition area, accommodating nearly 1,000 automotive companies abroad.

To better display the cutting-edge technologies, Auto Shanghai next year will launch for the first time an embodied intelligent exhibition area as well as a physical artificial intelligence and high-end auto chips testing ground, Gu Chunting, deputy director for the Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai, said during the news conference.

The year 2027 marks a watershed moment for China's autonomous driving industry, as it will be the first year of implementation for the country's first mandatory national safety standard governing Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving systems, according to Fu Bingfeng, deputy head and secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Therefore, demonstrations of autonomous driving technologies are expected to be one major highlight for next year's Auto Shanghai. Breakthroughs in power battery technologies and the deeper integration between AI and automobiles will be two major other areas of interest to audiences, said Fu on Tuesday.

"Given the accelerated evolution in sectors such as vehicle-road-cloud integration and intelligent cockpits, the competitiveness of the automotive industry cannot be solely dependent on companies' efforts, but rather on an improving ecosystem covering batteries, chips, AI models, algorithms, functional safety systems and data services. Auto Shanghai should thus extend its role that helps cultivate an innovative ecosystem," he said.

Global collaboration has also changed under such circumstances. Chinese automotive companies and their international peers have entered a new paradigm featuring local research and development, technology co-creation, shared results, deep integration and differentiated competition on a common platform, said Fu.

Li Dong, director of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai, said Auto Shanghai should serve as a venue where companies can seek opportunities for diversified development and more possibilities in other parts of the world. Therefore, the entire automotive industry can shift its focus integration of smart manufacturing and services.

Aligning with the Labor Day holiday, the Shanghai municipal government hopes to better leverage the exhibition to further boost tourism and consumption, said Gu of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai.

Data Engineering Research Institute indicate that Shanghai sold 259,500 vehicles in the first half of this year, moderately down 0.98 percent year-on-year, which is the slightest contraction among all the top 20 monitored Chinese cities.

According to the China Passenger Car Association, China sold more than 1.62 million passenger cars in August, down 19 percent on a yearly basis. However, signs of recovery can be seen as the data is 11 percent up July.