I sat down with Daniel Tesic, whose career spanned Volkswagen Group China, XPENG, and NIO before moving into advisory and consulting. We discussed why China has become such a powerhouse in EV adoption and digital services, and what Western OEMs often overlook about that market. Daniel reflected on the contrasting approaches of incumbents and challengers, sharing lessons from his time leading over-the-air software launches and rolling out NIO’s NOMI GPT across Europe. Our conversation touched on go-to-market strategies for new entrants, the growing importance of AI copilots and in-car assistants, and the balance between strategy, product, and marketing in a fast-moving industry. We closed with Daniel’s perspective on whether today’s challengers will become tomorrow’s household names — and how customer relationships with cars may look radically different by 2030.