Shanghai's famous auto show, the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, has entered a new chapter. Gone are the old-fashioned ceremonies where, suddenly, music would swell from a booth, drawing all eyes to it just seconds before a car brand's CEO revealed a new model by taking off its protective cover. "I went to two presentations and that's gone, did you notice?" said Xin Tianshu, the head of Leapmotor International, a joint venture between Stellantis and the Chinese startup Leapmotor.

Across the aisle, at the booth dedicated to the state-owned Dongfeng group, a historic automobile brand that now aims to get back into the electric vehicle race, "there was no talk of new models this morning, only technology. It's like being at a mobile phone presentation. They talk about operating systems, artificial intelligence and how it enables the car to learn to drive itself," said Xin. The bodywork, the color: These are no longer important topics. "What sways the customer's decision is how the car will connect to their life," he added.

The show, which alternates with Beijing's, started on Wednesday, April 23, and will be open to the public from April 25 to May 3, represents a new turning point for the automotive industry. A year earlier, auto show visitors had marveled at the SU7, a car produced by the phone manufacturing company Xiaomi, which looked akin to an electric Porsche – though much cheaper. Yet, at the time, there was still some debate about batteries and recharge times.

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