New Delhi, May 4 -- Any doubts that China has become the heartland of the global car industry are quickly dispelled by a visit to the country's main motor show. Beijing's noisy and crowded event this year was twice as large as in 2024 (it moves to Shanghai on alternate years) with around 180 new cars on display. The show, which concluded on May 3rd, demonstrated once again that foreign carmakers are lagging behind their Chinese rivals in the race to the industry's future.

Yet the show also illustrated the extent to which foreign carmakers are looking to remake themselves in the image of their ascendant Chinese competitors. At events to launch new models Western executives from Volkswagen (VW) and Mercedes switched effortlessly between En...