China proposes tougher car testing and design rules

China's industry ministry and three other regulators have proposed tougher testing and design requirements for vehicle approvals, which would apply to XPeng's cars built in China. The ministry's account says the draft requires at least 30,000 km of reliability testing and bans fully hidden door handles and the use of zero-gravity seats while driving. It proposes tighter testing checks for new applications from 1 January 2027, with documents for already approved models due by 1 July. Comments are invited until 10 November; these are proposed rules, rather than requirements already in force. Separately, CCTV reported on 16 October that the four regulators had met with more than 30 carmakers about testing and accurate advertising of vehicle functions. The industry ministry said it would continue inspections, penalise manufacturers with problems and publicly name them.