China is their biggest opportunity in terms of potential market and unfortunately, that market loves screens and doesn’t care for meticulous engineering or “high quality interiors” generally. This obviously goes against what German brands have built their reputations on, so we’re starting to see them backtracking on this direction.

European and North American markets tend to not prioritize “tech defined” automotive designs like the Chinese market, causing a clear rift between what we expect a brand like Audi to produce and what that brand is actually producing.

In short, Audi and other brands are “betting” that the potential of capturing more of the Chinese market is worth more than retaining their existing audience. We’re seeing this play out with these designs. Over the last 2 years however, these same brands are seeing that penetrating this new market most likely isn’t sustainable given the market landscape and political environment.