Chinese social network Weibo also hosts the annual Car of the Year prize in the country. This time around, a jury of six people awarded the grand prize to the Aito M7 SUV co-designed between Seres and Huawei.
Weibo users – more than 500 million people in total – composed the long list of roughly 150 candidates. They were all asked to share their experience driving new cars in 2023 by making posts in the social media with special hashtags.
Based on these posts, the social platform narrowed down the list to 60 candidates. These were presented to car companies so they could pick which of their own models they considered their very best. This led to the list shrinking to just 30 names. In addition to all the domestic brands, it included such less expected entries as Honda Integra, Hyundai Elantra N and even Mercedes-Benz SL.
The jury then voted to determine the winner. The Aito M7 is a fairly popular crossover SUV in the country, with the manufacturer currently reporting over 130,000 pre-orders since the sales launch in mid-September.