Cutting prices no longer gets you very far in China’s electric car market…In China, especially among younger consumers, in-car software is becoming the key differentiator of next-generation vehicles — sometimes even beating out more traditional factors such as build quality. Seamless connections between cars and smartphones, artificial intelligence-enabled online connectivity, assisted driving systems and in-car entertainment functions are important factors when choosing which EV to buy. Local EV maker Nio, for example, has even made its own smartphone to offer better mobile connectivity with its models. These smart features have been one of the few ways to avoid getting caught up in the brutal price war in the Chinese market…The trend for intelligent vehicles is relatively new. So even foreign automakers belatedly entering the Chinese market have a good chance at finding an edge in this market. China remains a key market for sales growth, with EV sales expected to hit about 10mn this year, higher than last year’s 9.5mn, and accounting for about half of all car sales in the country. 

Elon Musk has made a surprise visit to China as he bids to shore up Tesla’s slumping sales and introduce the carmaker’s self-driving technology in its second biggest market in the face of ferocious competition...The Tesla (TSLA) chief was in town to seek Beijing’s approval for the rollout of Full Self-Driving (FSD) software in China and the transfer of its data overseas, according to a Reuters report…Virtually all Teslas have a driver-assistance system called Autopilot, while the more robust FSD feature comes at a premium price. Autopilot is available in China, but not the full FSD feature, which needs to comply with the country’s data security rules…Musk appeared to have made progress on his goals during the two-day trip, which ended on Monday…On Sunday, the China Association of Auto Manufacturers said in a statement that Tesla’s Model 3 and Y vehicles had passed China’s data security requirements…Tesla has also reached a deal with Chinese tech giant Baidu (BIDU) to form a partnership on mapping and navigation functions ahead of plans to deploy the FSD system, according to a Bloomberg report…Tesla has recently made further aggressive price cuts in China and other major markets in the face of declining sales and growing competition.