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IO+ Week: Pressure from Chinese OEMs on the automotive industry

Our weekly overview offers an overview of the most interesting stories around key innovations every Sunday.

Published on November 2, 2025

chinese cars
Bart Brouwers

By: Bart Brouwers

Bart, co-founder of Media52 and Professor of Journalism oversees IO+, events, and Laio. A journalist at heart, he keeps writing as many stories as possible.

Dr. Yuxi Nie has been keeping us informed of her research work for many years. Nie is a senior researcher at the Centre of Expertise for Sustainable & Circular Transitions at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Her work focuses on circular transition, business strategy, and intercultural communication. She supports organizations in understanding Chinese market trends and entering into strategic partnerships for circular innovation.

Lately, she has been focusing primarily on the automotive industry, and there is plenty to research since one Chinese electric car manufacturer after another is flooding Europe. In her most recent analysis, she discusses the challenges of the “aftermarket,” i.e., everything needed for car service, repair, and maintenance. That aftermarket in the Netherlands is under increasing pressure, she states today on IO+. "SMEs active in areas such as car parts, battery systems, maintenance, and damage repair are facing a double challenge: they must comply with sustainability guidelines and respond to increased competition from cheap, imported Chinese electric vehicles.

But Yuxi wouldn't be Yuxi if she didn't also link her findings to concrete steps to be taken. Read here to find out what they are: Chinese manufacturers put pressure on business model in the automotive sector.

Elections

Last week, we called on you to vote for the future. Did you do that? We'll leave the answer to that question up to you. In the aftermath, we wrote this about it:

But of course, there was more going on last week.

A selection of other highlights from this week:

Watt Matters in AI

We are approaching November 26, the day of our Watt Matters in AI conference. Everything about the exorbitant energy consumption of AI systems, but above all: what solutions are there to prevent this from getting completely out of hand? Tickets are available via Watt Matters in AI. For those who still have doubts about the importance of the subject: be sure to read our articles about the scale and relevance of the challenges we face as a society.

The (impressive) line-up is complete:

Watt Matters in AI

A podcast every day

We'll keep saying it: every morning at 6:30 a.m. (on weekdays), a new podcast is waiting for you. In it, our AI colleagues Oliver and Shelby discuss the two most interesting topics of the day. This makes the IO+ Daily the ideal way to fill your head with some optimistic news from the world of innovation and technology. Tomorrow too.

ioplus daily podcast trailer

Our other newsletters

Thank you for reading this newsletter. But we have more to offer. Signing up is very easy, for example, via the options block on the IO+ homepage:

But you can also just click on your favorite newsletter below:

Enjoy your Sunday and don't forget that a new episode of IO+ Daily will be waiting for you tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. Be prepared when you get on your bike!