Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Not long ago, the message from global carmakers was clear: the internal combustion engine was a relic of the past. A long list of legacy carmakers had declared their intention to go fully electric by 2030. But today, they are quietly changing course, extending the life of petrol-powered models well into the next decade.
That reflects the fact that globally the timing of an all-electric future looks uncertain. Electric vehicle sales growth is slowing, infrastructure gaps remain and, in countries such as the US, changing political dynamics hint at a regulatory rollback.
Yet China stands apart. The shift to EVs is not just a passing trend; it is turning into a structural transformation. Meanwhile, customer preferences are shifting from Japanese and European brands to those that are locally produced.
For the country’s legacy automakers, which relied on…
