Audi Warns of Slumping China Sales; Honda Plans 'Raised Version' of Accord to Challenge Subaru OUTBACK

Recently, multiple multinational automakers have continued facing mounting pressure in the Chinese market. Audi has become the latest Western luxury brand to publicly warn that its China operations will drag down overall revenue and profit in 2026. Once the long-standing leader in China's luxury vehicle sales, Audi is now joining German rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz in confronting rapid advances by domestic new-energy vehicle (NEV) makers in electrification and intelligent technologies.

Consulting firm Alix Partners forecasts that China's passenger car and light commercial vehicle sales will decline 10% year-on-year in 2026, falling to 24.6 million units. This contraction is forcing non-Chinese automakers and suppliers to reassess strategic priorities — China can no longer serve as a stable profit pillar, and competitiveness in the domestic market urgently needs strengthening.

Notably, the European outlook is similarly bleak. Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blum has urged the EU to impose higher tariffs on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) imported from China. Data shows that in the first half of 2026, Chinese-brand PHEVs sold 208,368 units in Europe — 28.3% of total European PHEV sales (Dataforce).

Alix Partners further projects that by 2031, Chinese-branded vehicles could capture 17% of Europe's (including Russia's) light-vehicle market share; their 2026 sales may grow 25% year-on-year to 2.3 million units, with especially strong growth in Germany and France.

Meanwhile, Honda Automotive is developing a targeted product strategy: the company plans to launch a crossover model based on the Accord platform — a so-called 'raised version' designed to directly compete with SubaruOUTBACK. As one of the industry's most iconic models with arguably the most loyal user base, OUTBACK has consistently sold over 100,000 units annually in the U.S. since 2011, peaking near 200,000. Although Ford previously explored similar concepts, only the more premium TOYOTA Crown Signia currently offers limited showroom competition — and at far lower volumes than OUTBACK.