Renault’s new electric Twingo — a compact city car aimed at European drivers — illustrates a broader industry shift: China is becoming a center for speed, cost-efficiency and engineering expertise, not just mass manufacturing. The Twingo was developed in Shanghai in 21 months after an initial design phase in France, is built in Slovenia, and arrives in Europe priced just under €20,000 (about $23,000). That cross-border development path shows how legacy automakers are tapping China for rapid product creation.
“The real competition is not China versus the West, it’s fast systems versus slow systems,” said former Chrysler executive Bill Russo, summarizing a key industry fault line. Increasingly, automakers are moving R&D and development work to China to take advantage of a dense EV supplier network, advanced technical talent and a large domestic market. While companies such as Tesla, Volkswagen and GM long manufactured in China, they — and others — are expanding research and development footprints there: Renault and Mercedes enlarged Shanghai research facilities in 2024, Volkswagen opened an R&D center in Anhui in 2025, and Toyota shifted all new-car development for China into the country that same year.
Consultant Alexandre Marian of AlixPartners calls China “the gym of the world” for carmakers. Competition from Chinese players pushing overseas has forced established automakers to both cut costs and accelerate development. Typical Chinese development cycles run roughly two years — about half the length of many traditional Western processes — by emphasizing automation, running phases in parallel, coordinating tightly with suppliers and favoring simpler designs.
Renault’s renewed China effort followed a visit to the Shanghai Motor Show in 2023. Although the company exited the Chinese retail market in 2020, executives saw an opportunity to learn faster development methods. The Shanghai ACDC Center let teams embed in the local ecosystem and adopt leaner processes.
Small EVs like the Twingo are usually tough economically in Europe because margins are thin and fixed costs quickly push prices upward. Developing and sourcing much of the work in China helped keep costs down and the final price competitive. Instead of a typical 42-month development schedule, Renault’s Shanghai teams used parallel workflows, weekly vice-president briefings, and a “build to plan” supplier approach: precise part specifications were sent to manufacturers and, in some cases, Renault assembled supplier components itself (including seats) to avoid time-consuming back-and-forth.
Renault estimates the China-based approach cut development costs by about 40%. The company plans two more models in the near term — one for its Dacia brand and another for partner Nissan — and intends to shorten development times further. Future cars will include more Chinese-sourced parts; even the Twingo’s front lights came from a Chinese supplier after European firms couldn’t meet requirements.
Whether legacy automakers can reproduce that “China speed” at home remains an open question. Analysts point to organizational changes — greater use of AI, flatter decision-making, and empowerment of engineers — as ways to compress timelines. European teams have strong technical skills, Alexandre Marian notes, so the challenge is often shifting processes and culture, not catching up on technology.
For Russo, the stakes go beyond small EVs. Faster development matters for autonomous driving and software, too. “It’s a pressure cooker here,” he said. “If you’re not fast, then you’ll miss the opportunity.”