Chinese automakers have overtaken Japanese rivals in Europe on a quarterly basis for the first time, with Chinese brands taking a 12.7 percent share of September new-car registrations versus 11.9 percent for Japanese brands. The figures reflect consumer registrations, with hybrids leading the rise. The EU has introduced extra tariffs on China-made battery electric vehicles and reached a tentative deal to cap hybrid imports at 350,000 a year. China is also cutting export VAT rebates for new-energy vehicles from 2027.

South Korea is moving to require AI training data built or produced during government-backed projects to be provided through the national AI Hub platform. As detailed rules are drafted ahead of an April start, debate is growing over whether data obtained or further processed at companies’ own expense should also be subject to disclosure in joint public-private projects. Another issue is how authorities will assess requests to exclude data on grounds such as trade secrets, privacy or copyrights.