In India's car labs, Chinese models new benchmark

Walk into the vehicle development centre of any major Indian carmaker and you'll find dozens of rival cars stripped to their bones, engineers poring over every exposed circuit, nut and wire. Such 'benchmark-ing' helps companies understand why some models work while others don't, track technology trends, and plan their own vehicle roadmaps.

- Nehal Chaliawala & Ayaan Kartik

Increasingly, the cars being subject to the microscope are Chinese, not European, Japanese or American. Once distant curiosities, models like the Xiaomi SU7, BYD Seal, Nio ET and Zeekr 7X dominate these teardown bays, as the industry rapidly shifts towards electric vehicles, in which the Chinese are world leaders.

The top boss at an Indian car company said on the condition of anonymity that it matches European rivals in technology, and that too at lower prices. But the company now benchmarks models and efforts against Chinese cars.

Sven Patuschka, chief technology officer (CTO) at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd, said, “Automotive technology is unfolding rapidly in China with a strong focus on consumer-centric design and user experience.”

BYD's 1,287-horsepower electric supercar, the Yangwang U9, also had gone viral on social media.

(BLOOMBERG)