Less spec, more speed
Understanding Shenzhen speed
How are Chinese car companies developing so fast? And what does it mean for the automotive aftermarket?
F or decades, China was a dormant giant. It had a history
of technological innovation and building at scale. But the Chinese automotive industry ' s rapid development this decade appears to have come from nowhere. What is powering it?
During the 1980s, American, Asian, and European automotive OEMs were uninterested in China. Only VW boldly ventured into what would become the world ' s most important automotive market by 2020. From VW ' s earliest ventures into China during the late 1980s to the late 2010s, Chinese automakers were advancing, but could not rival legacy car companies for technology.
Since 2020, there has been a dramatic change. Chinese newmodel development cycles are less than half those of American or German automakers. The Chinese battery powertrain and incar UX ecosystems are now unrivalled, giving Chinese OEMs a true technology moat over legacy car companies. But how did all this happen, in only a few years, since 2020?
Less spec, more speed
Before the Chinese auto industry became the powerhouse it is now, there was China ' s city-building phase after 2000. Creating new infrastructure and buildings at an unprecedented rate, which coined the phrase ' Shenzhen ' speed.
The skylines of Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai were dominated by enormous civil engineering and construction projects throughout the 2000s. It was a precursor to what would follow in the automotive industry, proving that China ' s emerging technocrats, engineers, and upskilled labour force were capable.
Chinese automotive OEMs are now delivering complex technologies in affordably priced vehicles at a product cadence that American, European, Korean, and Japanese OEMs seem incapable of. A primary reason is that Chinese OEMs simplify product and technology specifications. Chinese automakers trust suppliers to resolve development issues and thereby prevent unnecessary delays in new vehicle development.
Legacy automakers want total control over new tech and component specifications. That means suppliers are beholden to exhaustive requirement documents, which often include 15,000 to 20,000 specifications. The comparison with Chinese OEMs is stark.
In the Chinese automotive ecosystem, a supplier receives a technical requirement document from an OEM containing 500 specification points, rather than 20,000. Chinese automakers brief with great clarity and simplicity, trusting their suppliers to solve problems and innovate. Compare that approach to legacy OEMs, which try to control the entire process, leading to product development paralysis.
The difference in development speed between Chinese and legacy OEMs is that the emerging Chinese automotive supply chain assumes greater responsibility for engineering solutions. Chinese component suppliers work to specification guidance rather than being paralysed by specification dominance, which has bedevilled American and European technical sourcing.
WORDS IN ACTION 50 JULY | AUGUST 2026