• Wired , Wednesday, April 25, 2012 11:24 AM

Not too long ago it would have been impossible to conceive of automakers skipping Frankfurt, and Geneva, not to mention Detroit, to make their global product debuts in Beijing. But China's the big dog in auto sales now. The 2012 Beijing Auto Show features everything from first cars for urban dwellers to super-broughams for the rich. 

And several global debuts: Lamborghini's first SUV, the Urus; and special editions from Bentley and Jaguar are some of the 10 or so debuts at the show. Such attention would've been unimaginable a mere 10 years ago, when automotive status symbols in China were warmed-over Buicks and aging Audis. 

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