Global automakers are shifting gears to focus on the premium and electric vehicle (EV) market even as China's car market shows resilience in those segments in a country recovering from the global pandemic.

Industry analysts and carmakers CGTN spoke to during the ongoing Beijing international auto show 2020 agreed that EVs are here to stay, and the premium segment will continue to see an uptick in demand driven by the wealthier Chinese population.

China, which is the world's largest auto market, saw car sales go down in the last couple of years amid the country's gradual slowdown in growth. The pandemic hit auto industry sales even further.

However, global and domestic automakers have been reporting increased demand especially in the high-end and electric vehicle segment since April, helped by an early recovery from the virus crisis. Earlier this month, official data indicated that EV car sales in China surged 26 percent year-on-year in August, the second consecutive month of gain.

McKinsey: China to be world's largest premium auto market

Mingyu Guan, McKinsey & Company managing partner of the Automotive & Assembly Practice of the Greater China Region, said that the trend towards premium cars would remain in the next few years.

He pointed to a Mckinsey China automotive consumer survey in 2019 found that the overall average retail price of cars in China has gone up at an impressive rate of 36 percent a year in the last decade, faster than the 26 percent annual growth in the overall Chinese passenger vehicle market during the same period.

"We realized that there was the need to upgrade, need for trading up. We see that this will be the fundamental driver that will remain there in the next year to come," he said.

Guan also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has had no major disruption on China's auto supply chain. "The overall supply chain in the past 10 years has become more and more localized in China as well. COVID has had an impact but if you look at all the key players, they have all figured out their solutions," said Guan.

Commenting on sales following a slump from the pandemic, Mirko Bordina, the managing director of Maserati China, said that the sales volume has been going back to normal. "I don't think we will be able to recover the two-three months that we lost but I think people are more willing to spend than before," Bordina said.

"Because you do understand that there are so many things that can happen, that can hamper you in enjoying life and being yourself. We have more people getting closer to the brand. They always wanted the Maserati. Now they can have one say, okay, but I'll get one myself."  

Polestar CEO: True sustainability here to stay

Werner Eichhorn, president at Audi China, said that the car market has grown in the last 10 years, especially in the premium segment.

Eichhorn said that EVs were a "major" part of the company's future strategy, pointing to the carmaker's latest offering, the Audi e-tron SUV. "So it's a major part of our future strategy. And so step by step, having to decide on the next level of electric cars," he said.

He also added that Audi is confident of growing market share even as it saw the best quarters in terms of sales numbers in the last three quarters of 2020.

Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of premium EV brand Polestar, also said that the brand sees a long-term increase in demand from global consumers towards vehicles that are truly sustainable.

"I think by now everybody recognizes if you want to play in the game in the future, you have to do that (sustainability) step. The consumer will not accept, the lawmakers will not accept it," said the CEO of the  luxury startup founded by Volvo Cars and Chinese automaker Geely.

Ingenlath said that in the Chinese car market, it was definitely challenging as "times of incredible growth have come to a halt," but added that EV brands will still see big potential even if the entire market is not growing, or even when at certain times sustainable mobility was not profitable.

(Lily Lyu and Xia Cheng contributed to this story)