China

Tesla has delivered the first cars from its new factory in Shanghai, China, less than 12 months after breaking ground on the site. The first 15 examples of the Chinese-built Model 3 were handed over to Tesla employees on December 30, according to The New York Times, with one employee proposing to his girlfriend at the event. The only difference between cars built in Shanghai and those assembled in California is the badge, which is Chinese.

Haval’s entry-level soft-roader, the H2, has received a modest nip-and-tuck and some extra equipment for 2020. The most notable change to the exterior is the grille. The H2 appears to have adopted the fascia of the Chinese-market H2 Blue Label, a sportier H2 variant introduced in 2016. The six-sided grille gains some horizontal chrome bars, making it rather reminiscent of the outgoing Ford Escape.

LDV has given its seven-seat D90 SUV a price cut, dropping the entry-level model's price by $1000 and the range-topper's sticker by $3000. Powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, the D90 outputs 165kW and 350Nm. It's mated with a six-speed automatic transmission, and sends power to the rear wheels in the base model, but four-wheel drive is an option on the range-topping D90 Executive.

A refreshed version of the Buick Verano sedan has debuted in China. The Verano uses the same D2XX platform as our Holden Astra and has a 2700mm wheelbase, identical to the recently discontinued Astra sedan. Unlike our Astra, however, the 2020 Verano has ditched four-cylinder engines for a pair of turbocharged three-pots. There’s a 1.0-litre mill with 92kW and 180Nm, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, and a 1.3 unit with 121kW and 240Nm of torque mated to a CVT.

There is no shortage of Chinese EV startups to keep us amused with unlikely concepts and far-off products. Your first instinct on seeing pictures of the Human Horizons HiPhi 1 is probably to regard it as one of the ones less likely to make production, and fair enough; this is a vast electric SUV with gullwing flaps in the roof above its rear doors. (Sound familiar, though?)