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DeepSeek Is Already Making Its Way Into Chinese EVs

Both Geely and Voyah have presented that they are integrating DeepSeek AI into their own connected car and AI efforts.

Geely will use DeepSeek to help train and refine its own AI efforts.

Voyah says the Courage EV crossover will gain DeepSeek integration via an over-the-air improvement on Feb 14.

AI is a hot-button topic, especially in the automotive industry. As time marches forward, it seems like we’re all shifting from software-driven EVs, to shoehorning AI into every nook and cranny. Will it work? Who knows. But, the world’s latest low-cost AI Chinese darling, DeepSeek, is fastly ingratiating itself with China’s auto companies. This week, two different companies unveiled their efforts to add AI tech to their vehicles.

First up is Geely. Parent firm to brands like Zeekr, Polestar and Volvo, the brand presented during CES that it was embarking on what it called a “Full-Domain AI for Smart Vehicles. At the time, this was to be understood as Geely’s own internal model. Geely’s AI would span much of the driving experience, from voice commands to putting in the groundwork for fully autonomous driving or furthering its research and development in the vehicles themselves. Geely says that its “ultimate goal is to create a native Autonomous Intelligence for Mobility that is warm, empathetic and continuously evolving.”.

Marketing jargon aside, the organization is now looking outside of its walls to improve its AI aspirations. Geely is combining its own model with Deepseek R1, via distillation training. Effectively, DeepSeek is training Geely’s own AI and refining it. This dataset training its own AI efforts will help the car to understand speech and commands improved. All of this stuff will find its way onto Geely’s next generation of smart connected cars.

Geely isn’t the only one integrating Deepseek into its vehicles, either. Dongfeng’s Voyah brand showcased that the Courage EV crossover and Dream MPV will be the first mass-produced vehicles ever to have the AI tool integrated into their software. , Deepseek will first be ported to the Courage via an over-the-air upgrade on Feb 14. In this context, Deepseek will integrate into Voyah’s existing smart cockpit software and will improve the “AI responsiveness, accuracy and expandability” of the stuff that’s already there. It also will enable Voyah to rapidly improve its software and cater more effective to its vehicles and clientele.

No doubt, this is very impressive, even if the utility for AI integration in-vehicle systems is still a little suspect. It’s only been a few weeks since the dirt-cheap, but very good model put AI giant OpenAI on notice, and yet it is already making its way into China’s car industry. This is part of the lockstep, move-in-unison front I briefly touched on when I went to China last April. China’s tech companies and automotive companies are highly collaborative in ways that go beyond just, say, integrating Apple Carplay or Android Automotive.

However, this does beg a question: are these brands scaling back their global aspirations? DeepSeek has attracted the ire of Silicon Valley and the [website] government. Some say that a ban on the technology is coming soon, which would make any EV product that uses it a non-starter. For brands like Voyah, which doesn’t have much of a presence outside of China anyway, this isn’t such a big deal. But for Geely, which owns Volvo and Polestar, there likely will need to be some serious separation in order to avoid drawing fire from the Trump Administration. Geely has kept most of Volvo and Polestar’s software development away from the rest of the Geely group, but that lack of collaboration on software will likely end up being a pinch point for the two brands that assuredly want to continue selling cars in the [website].

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Volkswagen Admits It Has Fallen Behind Competitors

Since the messy Dieselgate, Volkswagen hasn't been the dominant force we used to take for granted in Europe. The rise of electric cars and Chinese competition caught the folks from Wolfsburg off guard, and the ID lineup of EVs has generated a lukewarm response. VW concedes it needs to "catch up" and is outlining a plan to get back into shape in the following years. It's called Triple A: Accelerate, Attack, and Achieve.

VW intends to roll out nine new cars by 2027, two of which will be purely electric–the [website] will arrive in 2026, and the not long ago teased [website] is scheduled to hit the market in 2027. Before the pair of affordable EVs goes on sale, the first order of business is to launch the second-generation T-Roc. VW referred to the compact crossover as its final new car with combustion engines. A lot is riding on this model, considering it was nearly as popular as the Golf last year in Europe.

During a meeting with employees at the Wolfsburg plant this week, CEO Thomas Schäfer assured them the German site still has a bright future. That's despite the fact that production of the current Golf will shockingly move to Mexico in 2027. The fully electric Golf will be built in Wolfsburg on the VW Group's upcoming Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). The ninth-generation model, co-developed with Rivian, will eschew combustion engines and become EV-only.

However, the return of the e-Golf will occur closer to the end of the decade. VW also confirms plans for an electric T-Roc, but the zero-emission crossover isn't coming soon either. The new models are part of a model expansion conducted in a "targeted way." We can all agree that competition will be even stronger when these new EVs hit the market. We're not just talking about the influx of rivals from China but also European competitors.

Take, for example, Renault, which has been intensifying its electric car efforts, whereas VW is teasing an EV it won't launch until 2027. The new Twingo will beat the [website] to the market by about a year when it goes on sale in 2026, targeting the same segment of €20,000 EVs. The reborn Renault 5 is already available, whereas the €25,000 [website] is still about a year away. The French automaker is also bringing back the Renault 4 as an affordable electric crossover.

Software issues have plagued the launch of several products in recent years. Nevertheless, the German automaker wants to put those bad days behind it by becoming the "technologically leading brand in the volume segment" by the decade's end. VW is one of those companies that are too big to fail, and despite having some rough years, it can pick up the pace provided it can get its act together.

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Nissan Wants to Replace Honda With a Different Partner: Report

The Nissan-Honda merger saga continues with a new episode that takes an interesting twist. Although an official announcement has yet to be made, multiple reports have stated that the plan to form a new holding business has been scrapped. Reuters cites people familiar with the matter as claiming Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida has already informed his Honda counterpart, Toshihiro Mibe, that he is ending negotiations regarding the much-debated merger.

But that's not all. Bloomberg has it on good authority that Nissan is already looking ahead and seeking a different partner after the allegedly failed discussions with Honda. Nissan prefers to team up with a tech organization based in the United States. However, a spokesperson for the Japanese automaker refused to comment on the matter, insisting that details about the tie-up with Honda will be disclosed by the middle of the month.

It’s worth nothing that Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn was reportedly interested in buying some of Renault’s stake in Nissan. However, discussions were paused when it became obvious that Nissan would rather hold talks with Honda instead. the iPhone maker still hasn’t given up on the idea. Renault is Nissan’s largest shareholder by holding a 36% stake.

Officially, the discussions between Nissan and Honda have revolved around a mega merger, which would create the world’s third-largest automaker. However, multiple reports . Honda allegedly wants to make Nissan a subsidiary but it’s facing strong opposition from Nissan's board members. The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) indicates the discussions won't continue unless Nissan agrees to become a Honda subsidiary. That seems increasingly unlikely, especially since Nissan is now reportedly looking for a different ally.

The urgency factor is obvious. At the end of November 2024, The Financial Times quoted two unnamed Nissan executives saying that the firm has “12 to 14 months to survive.” Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen, but the clock is ticking, and layoffs are looming. In November, the Yokohama-based firm introduced plans to eliminate 9,000 jobs and reduce its global manufacturing capacity by 20%.

It's mentioned that Nissan will officially announce its intention to withdraw from the Memorandum of Understanding before publishing its third-quarter earnings next week. The MoU signed in December included a massive cancellation fee of ¥100 billion ($655 million), but if Honda and Nissan mutually decide to part ways without creating a joint holding firm, they won’t have to pay.

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