Two years ago, on a visit to a General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, US President Barack Obama dubbed the Chevrolet Cruze the 'car of the future'.
Indeed, the model has proved one of GM's biggest post-bankruptcy successes and is on track this year to overtake the Toyota Corolla as the best-selling compact car in the US.
But the Cruze is unusual in the carmaking world for another reason. It is one of several newer 'global' GM models that, from the earliest stages of development, were to a large extent designed and built with Chinese buyers in mind.
'Before, it was kind of like the China [team] looked at what vehicles GM offered globally and said, 'OK, maybe that will do alright in China', and then they localised it,' Shanghai GM vehicle line director Martijn Van Rossum said.
'Now, China is part of the whole development process from the beginning, and is often the largest market that some of these vehicles will go to. So definitely everybody listens to what China has to say.'
Michael Dunne, the president of Hong Kong-based automotive consultancy Dunne and Co, said: 'As the Chinese market continues to grow, more and more model designs will be 'rooted' in China for many brands.'