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STORY: The Shanghai auto show got under way on Tuesday (April 18), and this year it’s all about national champions.

Where western brands once dominated the Chinese market, local firms now lead in key segments.

They’ve been helped by the switch to electric vehicles, where Chinese firms now dominate.

The biggest winner is BYD, which has seen its domestic sales surge almost 69% this year.

But other firms are enjoying a boom too, and don’t plan to stop at the Chinese border.

Spiros Fotinos is the Europe boss for Chinese brand Zeekr:

“We are starting in Europe this year. We'll be delivering cars in the Netherlands and in Sweden by the end of this year, already. And then, we'll be expanding into other markets throughout 2025. And our intention is to cover most of Western Europe by 2026.”

Chinese car sales actually fell 13% in the first quarter.

But sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids jumped by more than a fifth.

Now the final challenge is to make affordable EVs, given how expensive batteries are.

At Chinese brand Xpeng president Brian Gu says efficiency is key to the whole electric sector:

“You need to be very good at cost cutting. Right, you know, like I said, our architecture allows to reduce the costs from both R&D and manufacturing as well as future component cost.”

The rise of the Chinese brands is a big blow to established brands like Volkswagen, General Motors and Nissan, which had long dominated in China.

They’ve seen their market share tumble in the country, but are vowing to fight back.

As a first step, Nissan said Tuesday that it would launch an EV aimed specifically at the Chinese market.

But western firms know that any comeback won’t be easy.