By Nick Carey, European Autos Correspondent

Greetings from Shanghai!

I arrived in China late last week to see automakers, tour a couple of factories and see what’s new at the Shanghai car show.

This is my first visit to China since 1997 and while I knew it had undergone phenomenal change, it has still been eye popping to see it in person.

Industry experts agree the Chinese now make arguably the best electric vehicles on the roads today, so it will be fascinating to see new models, some from brands I have come to know and others that are entirely new to me.

I’ll update you on that next week when I get home.

Which brings us to today’s Auto File…

• Auto industry does Shanghai

• Tesla investors want some answers

• Tariffs bite Buick

Automakers’ electric bets in Shanghai

More than 70 Chinese and international automotive brands are going to show off 100 new or refreshed models throughout the Shanghai auto show this week, which comes at a pivotal time for both domestic and foreign rivals.

A long consumer price war has taken its toll in China, where most major foreign brands have taken a beating in sales over the last few years. Meanwhile, a number of Chinese car companies, chief among them BYD, have gone from strength to strength.

Next-generation automated-driving features have now become the latest front in the battle for vehicle sales and profits.

But automakers' plans to tout next-generation driver-assistance systems in Shanghai have been upended by a government  crackdown on marketing claims  using terms such as "smart" or "autonomous" to describe their technology after a fatal crash involving a Xiaomi SU7 in March.

The resulting government scrutiny has Chinese automakers like BYD and Zeekr  scrambling to overhaul their marketing presentations, dropping boasts about automated-driving capabilities and instead emphasising driver caution.

Driver-assistance systems have become critical for automakers to differentiate themselves in China's crowded EV market, where BYD supercharged the competition in February when it started offering its "God's Eye" driver-assistance system as  free standard equipment  across its lineup, including entry-level models costing around $10,000.

The cutthroat Chinese car market is about to get a lot tougher.

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Hey Elon, about those affordable EVs…

Tesla will report first-quarter results long after us (temporary) residents of Shanghai have bedded down for the night before the big show tomorrow.

But they could well spark an interesting conversation because investors have questions for CEO Elon Musk.

What investors are most eager to know is what has happened to the automaker’s long-awaited affordable EV, seen as crucial for winning over more customers.

But sources tell my Reuters colleagues Abhirup Roy, Aditi Shah and Hyunjoo Jin that the U.S. production launch of that EV has been delayed until 2026, though why is unclear. You can read about it here.

Oh, and investors also want to know whether Musk’s much touted robotaxi plan is on schedule.

No doubt some investors will be keen to know when Musk is coming back to Tesla instead of working for the Trump administration.

Tariffs ding Buicks

Buick has fallen foul of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have dented the brand’s prospects just when things were starting to go well.

Sales for the once-stodgy brand were up 39% in the first quarter with a refreshed lineup of compact SUVs including the Envision, Encore GX, and the Envista, its top-selling SUV for under $30,000.

But as my Reuters colleague Kalea Hall reports, Buick’s three most popular models are made outside the United States - the Envista and Encore GX are built in South Korea and the Envision SUV is made in China. You can read about it here.

Tariffs could add thousands of dollars to the price tag of those vehicles.  Analysts say this could stall Buick’s momentum and possibly threaten its survival.

Automakers like General Motors, which owns Buick, are likely hoping that Trump was serious last week when he signaled that tariffs might end.

President Trump has, it seems, concluded that U.S. consumers get turned off by abrupt, massive taxes on goods. Or he had last week, anyway.

Toyota’s RAV4 tariff play

Toyota is considering producing the next version of its top-selling RAV4 SUV in the United States in order to avoid a hit from U.S. tariffs, sources tell my Reuters colleague Maki Shiraki.

You can read about it here.

Toyota makes the current version of the popular SUV in Kentucky, Canada and Japan. It originally planned to export the new RAV4 to the United States from Canada and Japan but it is now also considering production in Kentucky.

Any production changes cannot be implemented quickly and require long-term planning, one source said, due to the time-consuming and capital-intensive work involved in retooling Toyota’s manufacturing facilities and adjusting supply chains.

Fast Laps

Ford halted shipments of its SUVs, pick-up trucks and sports cars to China, as retaliatory tariffs mean its vehicles face taxes of up to 150%.

Chinese automaker SAIC's new EV brand co-developed with Huawei has been named Shangjie, with the first model to be launched in the autumn.

Truck maker Volvo Group will lay off up to 800 workers at three U.S. facilities over the next three months due to market uncertainty and demand concerns because of Trump’s tariffs.

Ford’s China business, including exports from the country, made $900 million in earnings before interest and taxes last year.

Renault  Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard is to step down from Nissan's  board of directors as the Japanese automaker tackles its declining performance.

Tesla faces a proposed class action claiming it speeds up odometers on its electric vehicles so they fall out of warranty faster, saving Elon Musk's company from having to pay for repairs.

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(Editing by Alexandra Hudson)