Automotive
Driving Change – Part 2: Media Perception
By Paige Lingwood, Insights Consultant, CARMA
The global automotive industry is undergoing a major transformation, sparked by geopolitical pressures, the rise of new Chinese competitors, supply chain vulnerabilities, and changing consumer preferences. This report analyzes online media responses to Chinese automotive brands and their impact on established global competitors throughout 2024.
Key Objectives
This analysis examines the tonality towards Chinese brands versus established brands, identifies positive and negative attributes, explores leading trends driving coverage peaks, and assesses confidence levels and skepticism in the industry’s transition.
Methodology
The study analyzed a representative sample of 12,000 articles from January 2024 to January 2025 across 15 markets including Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, UAE, UK, and USA. Media outlets were selected based on automotive industry relevance, including specialist outlets, news sources, lifestyle media, and technology publications.
Industry Landscape
Chinese brands now dominate the global electric vehicle market, accounting for seven of the top 10 positions in global EV seller rankings. BYD stands out as the leading performer, with plug-in deliveries increasing 58.2% year-on-year, representing 26.1% of all EV sales in 2024. Despite this rise, established brands maintain command over global passenger car sales, with Tesla’s Model Y (1.09 million sales) and Toyota Corolla (1.08 million sales) leading 2024 sales.

Top Industry Trends for 2025
1. Tariffs Dominating Discussion
Tariffs emerged as a major issue in 2024, with the EU enforcing new import tariffs up to 45% on Chinese EVs in October. US tariffs on Chinese imports and President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs affecting over 180 countries continue driving media coverage. The “Detroit 3” (General Motors, Ford, Stellantis) face the most significant impact due to their North American operations.
2. Deeper Tech Collaboration
With Chinese brands driving rapid innovation, traditional automakers can no longer thrive independently. Notable collaborations include Toyota-Tencent, Renault-Cerence, Nissan-Baidu, Stellantis-Mistral, and Volkswagen-Horizon Robotics. These partnerships are evolving into deeper relationships, acquisitions, or mergers.
3. Autonomous Driving and Software-Defined Vehicles
By 2025, 60% of newly sold cars will feature autonomous driving capabilities like adaptive cruise control and lane-assist. Software-defined vehicles (SDVs) represent a seismic shift, with over-the-air updates and enhanced safety becoming major selling points.
4. New Audience Engagement
Brands adapt through influencer marketing and YouTube strategies, with 80% of car buyers influenced by YouTube content during their purchase process. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has emerged as a key automotive showcase, eclipsing traditional auto events.
5. TikTok’s Emerging Role
While TikTok accounts for just 4% of potential car buyers, brands focus on the platform for Gen Z influence. TikTok released new automotive advertising formats in February, positioning itself as a full-funnel platform for the industry.
Key Findings
Media Perception Alignment
Chinese brands receive characteristically low criticism and high positive coverage on crucial factors like pricing, technology, and reliability. This aligns with consumer research showing price, reliability, and technology as key purchase decision factors.
BYD’s Dominance

BYD leads share of voice with double the coverage volume compared to brands like Geely, Volkswagen, and BMW. The brand generates 41% of all positive Chinese brand coverage, with 37% of BYD’s coverage being positive versus 30% for Chinese brands overall and 24% for established brands.
Innovation Leadership
Close to 60% of media coverage reported Chinese brands utilizing innovative technology compared to 50% for established brands. UAE-based media contributed significantly to this positive technology focus, elevating Chinese brand perception in the Middle East.
High Confidence Levels
Media express high confidence and low skepticism toward Chinese brands overall. Brands like Haval, Wuling, Zeekr, and Chery showed the highest confidence proportions, while Chrysler, Volkswagen, SAIC, and Tesla received the most skeptical coverage.
Coverage Trends Throughout 2024
The period between April and May marked a turning point as Chinese brands gained higher share of voice for the first time. This trend reversed from September when established brands captured attention with financial results and forecast cuts.
Tariff discussion peaked mid-year as the US quadrupled charges for Chinese imports, with 25% of tariff coverage occurring in July alone. Battery Electric Vehicles dominated both media coverage and global EV sales, driven by debates on tariffs and pricing wars between Tesla and BYD.
Consumer Decision Factors
Price, reliability, and technology received positive Chinese brand coverage across multiple markets. Onboard technology emerged as a clear advantage, facing minimal criticism. The US Information Technology & Innovation Foundation reported Chinese EV brands are 30% faster at developing and launching new models compared to established brands.
BYD secured nearly double the innovation coverage volume compared to Tesla, while BMW achieved 41% innovation-focused coverage. Globally, 58% of Chinese brand coverage highlighted innovative technology versus 49% for established brands.

Media Confidence Analysis
Journalists globally express confidence toward Chinese brands’ future, with limited outright skepticism. BYD alone contributes 36% of overall Chinese brand confidence, while Tesla leads established brands with 11% confidence contribution.
The Philippines displayed highest confidence in Chinese brands, particularly GAC, while UK and Saudi Arabia contributed nearly 30% of global skepticism, primarily focused on tariff expansion impacts.
Conclusion
Chinese automotive brands, led by BYD, are successfully redefining industry dynamics through positive media positioning aligned with consumer preferences. The synergy between earned media coverage and consumer decision factors indicates a winning formula in the competitive landscape. As the industry continues evolving through technological advancement, regulatory changes, and shifting consumer behavior, the ability to adapt, collaborate, and connect with audiences will determine success.
The rise of Chinese brands represents more than market disruption—it signals a fundamental transformation in how automotive companies approach innovation, technology integration, and consumer engagement in an increasingly digital and environmentally conscious marketplace.
Automotive
How Machine Learning Makes Super Cruise Smarter Every Day
When technology works effortlessly, it’s easy to forget the incredible engineering behind it. That was the goal with GM’s Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance technology. Super Cruise is designed to execute precise lane centering, perform smooth lane changes, interact with a driver’s requests and handle steering maneuvers. These advanced capabilities are managed by a single, modular software stack called the Unified Lateral Controller, or ULC. Looking inside, GM engineers built a self-learning system made up of machine learning algorithms to update the vehicle’s dynamics and controls. The algorithm makes quick decisions to ensure efficiency.
Imagine you’re driving with Super Cruise engaged, and you initiate a left lane change with the turn signal. Super Cruise then starts to shift the vehicle into the left lane. But let’s say you then decide to stay in the current lane, so you signal to the right. Super Cruise will respond by bringing you back to the center of the original lane – a seemingly effortless transition, but one that requires complex and rapid calculations.
Super Cruise needs to maneuver as naturally as possible for drivers to remain comfortable and confident as they drive hands free. Diving deeper, the ULC must consider many data inputs: The curvature of the road from the LiDAR map data, lane geometry from the cameras, trajectory of the vehicle based on current speeds, vehicle load, current weather conditions, and the behavior of surrounding vehicles–all in a matter of seconds.
One of the unique features of Super Cruise is its ability to maintain precise hands-free lane centering while towing a trailer – a capability unmatched in the industry. One of Super Cruise’s standout features is its ability to maintain precise, hands-free lane centering even while towing a trailer—a capability unmatched in the industry and currently available on select GM vehicles. With a trailer attached, ULC automatically accounts in real time for the additional mass and its effects on vehicle dynamics, optimizing steering commands to control both the vehicle and the trailer.
The self-learning system analyzes real-time sensor data, enabling Super Cruise to make more accurate decisions and perform proactive adjustments, improving driver comfort and confidence over time. That allows Super Cruise to adapt for each vehicle and each driver in different environmental conditions.
Let’s go back to our trailering example: Tight lateral control is important for keeping both the vehicle and the trailer centered in the lane. The model learns how the presence of the trailer changes the vehicle’s steering response and works with the ULC to optimize its responses and keep the vehicle and trailer centered in the lane. This model also scales Super Cruise enabled by OnStar , and is now available across 13 vehicle models on select trims, and counting . No matter the shape, size, or weight of the vehicle, the ULC and our self-learning algorithms can adapt, reducing complexity. We’re bringing Super Cruise to consumers on more models, offering consistent, predictable, safe hands-free driving.
Automotive
Goodyear and Peugeot Drive the Future of Intelligent Mobility with the Polygon Concept Car
Goodyear and Peugeot have partnered to shape the future of intelligent mobility with the unveiling of the Peugeot Polygon concept car. This next-generation vehicle features Goodyear SightLine—an advanced suite of intelligent tire technologies—integrated directly into the cockpit for the first time alongside three bespoke Goodyear tires tailored to the car’s versatile configurations.
The Peugeot Polygon is designed to adapt to a range of driving styles through three distinct configurations, Urban, Player and Explorer, and Goodyear’s tires and solutions are uniquely designed to support the vehicle’s purpose.
The collaboration marks a milestone moment and a bold move toward seamless connectivity between vehicle and tire, delivering enhanced safety, performance, and driver confidence.
Goodyear SightLine Technology: Intelligence at Every Turn
Goodyear SightLine is a proprietary suite of smart tire technologies that provides real-time insights for safety and performance improvements in vehicles, from tire properties estimation, tire health information to road conditions. These insights can be displayed directly on the driver’s heads-up display, ensuring clarity and control throughout every journey, or it can be integrated into other advanced systems of a vehicle, allowing it to mitigate situations that are driver dependent today.
Across all Polygon configurations, SightLine features are accessible from the cockpit, offering:
• Tire Maintenance: Integrated tire wear monitoring enables vehicles to automatically adjust performance settings as tires age—helps ensuring optimal handling and safety throughout their lifecycle.
• Safe Driving: SightLine predicts and detects aquaplaning risks, allowing vehicle control systems to respond instantly and maintain stability, even in challenging conditions.
Goodyear delivers insightful journeys to Polygon drivers thanks to its integration with Peugeot Drive-by-Wire technology.
Ben Glesener, senior technology director, Product Development, Consumer EMEA, commented:
“SightLine represents more than technology—it’s a vision for connected mobility. By partnering with Peugeot, we are envisioning an ecosystem where tires become active contributors to vehicle intelligence, shaping a smarter future.”
Already available in several global markets, Goodyear SightLine is not just a concept—it’s a proven smart tire service ready for real-world applications.
Goodyear Tires: Built for Today’s Roads and Tomorrow’s Possibilities
As part of this visionary collaboration, Goodyear engineered three unique tires—each custom-designed to match the aesthetic and performance needs of the Polygon’s configurations:
- The Urban and Player tires feature the legendary Eagle F1 tread pattern, celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2025—a symbol of high-performance heritage.
- The Explorer tire pays tribute to the iconic Goodyear Wrangler, incorporating its rugged tread design to deliver traction to unleash unforgettable off-road experiences.
Beyond performance, the sidewall designs were crafted to visually express a new era of automotive innovation using coloring and laser technologies —where tire aesthetics and functionality converge to push the boundaries of design.
This collaboration showcases Goodyear’s long-standing expertise in combining craftmanship with premium manufacturing technologies to deliver the highest levels of customization from product performance to aesthetics.
Together, Goodyear and Peugeot are setting new trends and driving a new era—where every journey is smarter and more expressive.
Automotive
Stage Set for World’s Largest Autonomous Race as A2RL Reaches Full Fan Capacity at Yas Marina Circuit
The world’s largest autonomous car race will take place in Abu Dhabi on the 15th of November, as 11 teams from across the globe compete at the frontier of robotics, autonomy and AI for a US$2.25 million prize pool. A2RL Season 2 has been 18 months in the making, with the six fastest teams making it through the tough qualification process to the Grand Final. Ticket allocation for the Yas Marina Circuit event has once again reached full capacity of the main grandstand, as motorsport and technology enthusiasts excitedly prepare to witness an AI competition unlike any other.
Grand Final: Front row seat to AI history
The A2RL Grand Final will mark the first time that six fully autonomous racecars will compete wheel-to-wheel on track. The six teams – TUM, Unimore, Kinetiz, TII Racing, PoliMOVE and Constructor – were determined by a rigorous qualification process in October. Representing Germany, Italy, and the UAE, they will compete in a 20-lap, multi-car race to crown the A2RL Season 2 Champion. Reigning Champions, TUM, have qualified in pole position after a fierce ‘Multi-Car Qualification’ sprint race against rival Unimore, setting the stage for a historic showdown.
For the remaining five teams, A2RL will host a Silver Race, offering them the opportunity to push their algorithms to the limit and cement their overall position in the standings. The Silver Race teams are RAPSON, Code 19, Fly Eagle, FR4IAV and TGM Grand Prix.

Human vs AI: Performance gap closing
Pre-season build-up for the race has seen record-setting performance as the gap between human and AI performance narrows. During qualification, Italian team Unimore was the first to beat a benchmark lap time set by a human racing driver while testing.
This demonstration of machine precision versus human instinct, and the rapid evolution of AI performance, will be showcased on race day. Reigning champion TUM will have the privilege of racing against former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat in A2RL’s second Human vs AI showcase. A close battle is expected in this exhibition, following record-breaking pace from teams during qualifying.
Supercars, Fan Zone, and more
Kicking off the evening’s main events, Group 63 will take to the track for a spectacular Supercar Parade Laps display, setting the stage for the autonomous race. This will be followed by awards for the A2RL STEM Competition, which involved 140 students from across all seven Emirates racing AWS DeepRacer 1/18th-scale autonomous cars, a mirror of the A2RL competition.
This year’s world-class Fan Zone will offer an immersive experience for all ages. It will feature humanoid robot showcases, interactive games, hands-on tech activations, live entertainment, and family-friendly attractions that will bring the excitement of autonomous innovation beyond the track.

The race will be broadcast globally this Sunday, 16th November at 3pm GST, on the Abu Dhabi Media Network, StarzPlay, Motorsport TV and the official A2RL YouTube Channel. Once again, fans can step right into the action with A2RL’s live VR platform, experiencing the track, live car data, and high-speed action unfolding all around them, in real time.
A2RL is supported by SteerAI, alongside leading partner du; official partners AWS and Abu Dhabi Mobility; official supporters Wio and Castore; technical partners PACETEQ, Live in Five, Meccanica 42, and Vislink; as well as event partners Abu Dhabi Gaming, Miral and the UAE Cybersecurity Council.
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