Japan’s automakers are jumping on the big-tech bandwagon as they race to revive waning interest among Chinese consumers.
In recent weeks, Toyota Motor said it would collaborate with Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings in areas including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data and social media connections. Meanwhile, Nissan Motor will collaborate with Baidu on AI, including smart cockpits.
The partnership underlines the pressure foreign automakers face to regain ground they lost to Chinese companies, which are able to quickly roll out tech-focused offerings that meet the needs of increasingly selective local consumers. For Japanese manufacturers, this meant cutting production and workforce or, in the case of Mitsubishi Motors, withdrawing from China altogether.
