CHINA: BYD Kei Car For Japan, China Battery Installs Fall and Hongqi Tests Off-Road EV | 18 Feb 2026

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I'll tell you why Chinese EV makers now pitch AI as their next edge.

Welcome back to EV News China, the podcast dedicated to the world's biggest EV market.

Every day I bring you the latest headlines, insights and analysis from the heart of China's booming EV industry

and decode how fast moving developments in the East shaped the global landscape.

The Tokyo Motor Show introduced BYD's 2026 RACCO, a purpose-built K-class electric hatchback

designed expressly for the Japanese market.

RACCO translates from Japanese to Sea Otter, a nod to the vehicle's compact, aquatic-inspired silhouette.

Earlier sightings of the prototype in China hinted at its development,

but the Tokyo debut marked the first public presentation of a BYD model engineered from the ground up for Japan.

The RACCO conforms to Japan's stringent K-car regulations,

length below 3.4m, width below 1.48m and height below 1.8m.

A super tall and sliding door package adds a high roofline and rear sliding doors,

delivering the boxy proportions typical of the segment and preserving interior headroom.

Two battery packs will be offered, 20kWh, about 200km or 124 miles of range, and 30kWh.

Targeting 300km or 186 miles of range.

That is big range. Remember this is a very small boxy vehicle.

Tiny little wheels and plenty of headroom, but conforming to those tiny dimensions.

Both configurations, AC and DC charge, early reports had DC charging could be up to 100kW, but that's unconfirmed.

Japan presents a formidable barrier for foreign manufacturers.

Conventional K-cars are limited to a combustion engine of 600cc,

a restriction that historically protected the domestic manufacturers.

BYD positions the RACCO as the opening move in a sustained push into Japan,

signalling a long-term commitment rather than a one-off experiment.

Inside, as you can imagine, pretty small, no room for an armrest between the two front seats.

You are shoulder to shoulder, but that's the point of this class of vehicle,

otherwise looking very high-tech, big screen in the middle, a big driver's display as well, and very well appointed.

Ok, let's move on.

In January last month, China installed 42GWh of power battery capacity.

That was down 57% from December, but 8.4% up year on year.

Lithium-ion phosphate and the ternary chemistry has recorded modest annual gains.

LFP led the market with 32.7GWh installed.

That's about 78% of the market in China, by the way.

The ternary chemistry was about 9.4GW, about 22% of the mix.

Battery electric vehicles accounted for 77% of batteries in China.

That was up 5%. Plug-in hybrids, just 22%.

Obviously fewer vehicles are sold and the batteries are much smaller as well.

Fuel cell vehicles. I found some data on that because I always presume there aren't any.

Well, there are. It's 0.003% of the market.

Yeah, I think I'll stick to saying there aren't any hybrid hydrogen vehicles.

Fuel cell vehicles worth talking about in China.

The supplier base contracted to 33 manufacturers of batteries, three fewer than a year ago.

The top two delivered 67% of the market. The top five was 83%.

And the top 10 battery makers was 96% of the market.

Total output of power and energy storage was 168GWh last month, up 56% year on year.

Well, yeah, you spotted it. That would be energy storage sales, surging 164%.

It's a really interesting market for the battery suppliers with extra capacity

who may have noticed a softening in some parts of the EV market around the world.

Despite the month-on-month drop from December, the sector is firmly on an upward trajectory.

LFP dominates, yet ternary chemistries are gaining ground.

There's diversification of chemistry strategies.

We haven't even seen really sodium ion batteries make their move yet.

Supplier concentration intensified with the leading two firms supplying more than two-thirds of all batteries,

underlining the importance of scale in the world of making cells.

Let's move on. Spy photographs of a camouflaged Hong Chi off-road vehicle

taken during winter testing marked the brand's entry into hardcore off-roading.

This was a boxy prototype featuring a waterfall-style front grille,

round headlights, traditional door handles, roof racks make it look rugged,

a rear-mounted spare tyre, and a roof-mounted lidar pod as well.

A decisive move away from Hong Chi's conventional sedans.

It's over five metres long and sits on a 2.95-metre wheelbase.

The SUV runs four electric motors and a drivetrain equipped with front, centre, and rear locking diffs.

Hong Chi says four seconds 0-62. Detailed powertrain specs are unconfirmed, though.

The vehicle debuted at the Shanghai Auto Show last year, while Hong Chi ran a naming contest.

And if you chose the winning name, you got licence plate 001.

Ten names were shortlisted.

Things like Lyon, Kunlun, Mountains and Rivers, Jiangang Mountain, Qiyushu, Aiyoshi.

The Mountains and Rivers name got the most votes.

In January last month, the Tank 300 led the hardcore off-roading segment,

which is pretty small even in China.

4,000 units sold. The Beijing BJ-40 followed.

The BJ-40 E-rev was after that.

Entering a smaller niche, but Hong Chi's first SUV looking extremely rugged.

All the dimensions and the styling that you would want to see on, you know, a Land Rover,

a Toyota Land Cruiser-style vehicle.

Okay, let's move on.

A Chinese Tesla Model Y ran out of road and its driver says,

out of honesty, on a Zhejiang Highway on the 7th of February.

The driver, Ms. Chen, was travelling between Shanghai and Taizhou in her 2022 Model Y,

when the car lost power, roughly 2km, about 1.2 miles, from a service area.

The display showed 72km of range remaining, that's 45 miles.

The screen went dark, steering failed, and so did the hazard lights.

Ms. Chen coasted to the emergency lane and pulled over.

State-affiliatedChina.com then picked up the story,

and the debate it sparked about whether Tesla's displayed range figures are even trustworthy,

whether its safety buffers are adequate, arrived at a delicate time for Tesla in China.

Tesla's China sales plummeted 45% year-on-year, January to January, with 18,500 vehicles.

That's a three-year low.

Full-year retail sales for last year fell 5% to 625,000 units.

A Tesla share of the EV market in China slipped from 10% to 8%.

Rivals are circling overhead.

Xiaomi's Su7 sold over 258,000 units last year, 30% more than the Model Y.

The Xiaomi Y-U7 and the X-Pong G7 together have accumulated more than 300,000 pre-orders aimed at the Model Y.

And the political backdrop adds complexity.

Tesla was China's first wholly-owned Gigafactory, although built with Chinese money,

and has cultivated senior ties to the Premier Li Chiang.

Yet in January last month, state media were very quick to contradict Elon Musk's claims

that full self-driving approval was imminent in China.

A pointed rebuke from an outlet not known for recklessness,

the cozy relationship now seems more strained than ever between Tesla and China.

And Chinese media no longer guarantee a positive portrayal.

Security and scrutiny of Tesla's legal record is no less awkward.

An Associated Press investigation found Tesla won 90% of its vehicle failure civil cases in China.

Meanwhile, Chinese journalists have previously reportedly been advised against publishing negative stories against the company.

Tesla's vehicles are banned from certain government compounds over concerns about their cameras.

Ms Chen's car has since been recovered and no longer sits in the emergency lane,

which is where Tesla's China operation increasingly finds itself.

Still running, plenty left in the battery, but rather harder to steer than it used to be.

Let's move on and talk about X-Pung.

And spy shots from Auto Home yesterday on February the 7th showed X-Pung's G02 in heavy camouflage on Chinese roads.

A smaller companion to the GX, full-size crossover, the debut earlier this month.

X-Pung has confirmed Bev, an e-ray of options for the GX. The G02 is expected to follow.

The G02 inherits the GX's Range Rover-influenced design.

Yeah, it's covered in camouflage, so it's hard to tell and it's properly covered in camouflage as well.

But I say it's less of an obvious inspiration from Range Rover design.

But we'll see when the camo comes off. A closed front end, active air intakes,

and the lower part of the front, which is good for aero but also lets in cooling when it needs to.

Low sets, bumper headlamps, a raked roofline, roof spoiler, flush door handles, and door-mounted mirrors.

X-Pung has no LiDAR on this vehicle that I can see, all camera-based visions.

At roughly five meters long, it's a five-seater, so the G02 sits well below the GX as the Range Rover Sport

sits below the Range Rover, I guess.

Pricing would start at $300,000 RMB or $43,000 US equivalent.

The Bev uses the rear motor built by Luxe, 270 kilowatts, they'll be an all-wheel drive version as well,

as it's kind of an off-roady looking vehicle.

The all-wheel drive E-rev would have dual motors and a 63.3 kilowatt hour LFP pack from CALB.

That's a huge battery pack, 63 kilowatt hours.

You'd rarely need to visit the petrol station, wouldn't you?

Let's take a break or come back. I had lots to talk about on the podcast today.

But as Zika news and also Polestar stick around.

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All right, welcome back to the podcast.

The Zika 7 GT arrived in Stockholm this week

with its 480 kilowatts of peak charging speed

and an open question.

Whether a Chinese grand tourer finds buyers in Scandinavia?

Zika showed the car to Swedish media this week,

with its partners and guests at their Zika centre in Stockholm.

It remains on display until the 26th of February,

if you'd like to go and have a look.

The 7 GT is Zika's fourth European model,

the 001 shooting break and the Zika X crossover arrived two years ago.

The 7X midsize SUV followed in December 24.

Zika first showed the 7 GT to European audiences

at the Brussels Motor Show earlier this year

and plans markets including Germany,

Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden,

all left hand drive.

Zika's European operations,

say the 7 GT embodies European design principles

and next-gen technology.

The numbers demand attention.

The 7 GT is 800 volt architecture.

Two battery sizes, 75 or 100 kilowatt hours,

an MC chemistry.

Maximum WLTP range, 407 miles or 655 kilometres.

And this thing is quick at charging.

I mean, really quick.

Peak DC charging, 480 kilowatts on the 75 kilowatt hour pack.

That's a 13 minute stop, 10 to 80.

On the big pack, only 16 minutes, 10 to 80.

It'll AC charge at 22,

which is good for three-phase over here in Europe.

And the all-wheel drive vary in 3.3 seconds,

0 to 62 miles an hour.

Zika offers three trims in Europe.

The core, which is rear-wheel drive.

The long-range, rear-wheel drive.

And the all-wheel drive privilege trim.

Prices start in Sweden at 46,000 euros.

That's 54,000 US equivalent.

The 7 GT went on sale in China last April,

almost a year ago.

There, it's known as the 007,

with deliveries beginning on the 20th of April last year.

Chinese buyers choose from four variants,

two single motor and two dual motor versions.

And it doesn't start at 45,000 euros.

It starts at, or even 54,000 US dollars.

It starts at 30,000 US dollars because of price differences.

In Sweden, Zika did sell some cars last month,

62 of them.

And that was actually up from January, the previous year.

The chief executive of Zika over here

calls the 7 GT launch the opening move

of a very exciting year of expansion for the brand

with more details to follow.

That vehicle does look and it's all very subjective, obviously.

Very spectacular.

Let's move on.

Polestar is pinning its hopes on a Polestar 4

estate and the new 5.

But will they sell in China?

Polestar's share price has fallen over 93%.

And the company lost 1.558 billion dollars

in the first nine months of last year.

Yet global sales are up with new vehicles on the market.

The 3 and the 4 are now on sale.

Global sales rose 34% across 28 markets last year.

And it's, of course, built on China's

Geely SEA architecture, the Polestar 4 at least.

The Volvo offshoots closed their last Chinese store

last October.

Polestar's expanding the lineup with four new models

and a wider retail network.

The Polestar 4 becomes an estate option

in Q4 this year.

We've seen it on Chinese roads testing a flat roofline,

spacious boot, roof spoiler, flush door handles,

running light strip and a big air intake.

Polestar says it will broaden the model's

customer base and support low double digit

retail volume growth this year.

The Polestar 4 estate does look,

I've just been talking about the Zika 7 GT

in terms of shooting brake style cars

and those high performance wagons

that are very popular in some parts of Europe.

This looks like it could be.

A fantastic option.

What about the sporty GT car?

The Polestar 5 four-door GT launches this summer

112 kilowatt hour battery pack,

dual motor all-wheel drive, almost 900 horsepower

and 3.2 seconds, 0-62.

Again, will it sell in China?

I think Polestar's more likely to look overseas

even as a Chinese company.

I say that, of course, they're listed in London

and headquartered in Gothenburg,

so really a global company, I guess.

But the China story for Polestar has not been a happy one.

And finally, China's EV makers

are betting on artificial intelligence

to drive them forward this year.

Using AI as their competitive edge

as the price cuts squeeze margins.

Li Auto and X-Pong want vehicles

to function as autonomous agents.

Software that anticipates your need

other than waiting to be told what to do.

Li Auto's CEO, Li Xiang,

describes AI moving beyond chatbots

to systems that act independently.

While X-Pong's CEO, He Xiaoping,

envisions in-car interaction

and autonomous driving merging into a super agent.

Both firms are restructuring.

Li Auto aligns its autonomous driving division with AI.

X-Pong consolidates its cockpit and driving units.

User-facing AI and safety-critical driving systems

actually share similar building blocks

and automotive chip advances

make reuse practical.

Tesla already roots navigation requests

through its autonomous systems

and engineers caution that today's systems

react to commands rather than anticipating.

Future systems can use things like behavioral patterns

to improve.

Driving systems require high reliability,

low latency, and zero disruption tolerance.

The idea of a beta test

and things occasionally crashing

don't go very well in the world of cars.

Software cycles for cockpit and autonomous systems

also move at different speeds,

complicating the updates, but experts expect

a gradual infrastructure level convergence

with AI deployed in more low-risk scenarios.

First of all, and that's your podcast for today.

Thanks for listening. See you on the next one.

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CHINA: BYD Kei Car For Japan, China Battery Installs Fall and Hongqi Tests Off-Road EV | 18 Feb 2026

About this episode

Chinese EV makers

AC and DC charge

K-cars

plug-in hybrids

fuel cell vehicles

battery manufacturers

supplier concentration

scale in battery cell manufacturing

roof racks

rear-mounted spare tyre

roof-mounted lidar pod

Shanghai Auto Show

Toyota Land

Tesla Model

safety buffers

EV market share

Xiaomi SU7

Gigafactory

full self-driving

vehicle failure civil cases

Land Rover Range Rover

kilowatt hour

WLTP range

DC charging

AC charging

three-phase charging

Polestar 4

Geely SEA architecture

Volvo

autonomous driving

safety-critical driving systems

low latency

zero disruption tolerance

Request an Explanation

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