THERE was a time when buying a new car was relatively simple. You looked at the brand, checked what engine was under the hood, asked how much horsepower it made, took it for a drive and then figured out whether you could afford the monthly payments.

For many of us who grew up loving cars, performance mattered. A bigger engine was better. More horsepower was always welcome. If one model could get from zero to 100 kilometers per hour faster than another, that was something worth talking about.

Things are changing.

Just look at the number of Chinese automotive brands that have entered the Philippine market over the past few years.

BYD, Geely, GAC, Chery, Jetour, Changan, MG, Omoda & Jaecoo and several others are now fighting for the same buyers who, not too long ago, would automatically walk into a Japanese, Korean, American or European dealership.

And they are giving the legacy brands a serious run for their money.

The reason is quite simple: the Chinese are giving buyers more for less.

For roughly the same amount of money, a Chinese vehicle can sometimes come with equipment that would require moving several variants up the ladder in a more established brand.

Large touchscreens, digital instrument panels, 360-degree cameras, panoramic sunroofs, powered seats, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, voice controls and advanced driver-assistance systems are becoming almost normal equipment on many Chinese cars.

Ten or 15 years ago, we would have expected some of these features only in luxury vehicles.

Today, they can be found in cars priced well within reach of the middle-class Filipino buyer.

But there is something else happening here that may be even more important than price.

Chinese automakers seem to understand that the next generation of car buyers does not necessarily look at cars the same way the previous generation did.

Ask someone from my generation about a new car and chances are one of the first questions will be: What engine does it have?

Ask a younger buyer and the questions can be very different.

Does it have wireless CarPlay? Does it have a 360-degree camera? Can I control things by voice? Can I connect my phone easily? Does it have adaptive cruise control? Can it park itself?

And, of course, how big is the screen?

That may sound strange to traditional car enthusiasts, but it actually makes sense.

For many younger motorists, the car is no longer primarily about how quickly you can get from Point A to Point B. The priority is simply getting there comfortably, conveniently and with as little hassle as possible.

They grew up with smartphones, apps, streaming services and devices that can do almost everything with a swipe or a voice command. Naturally, they expect their cars to behave the same way.

Going faster is no longer necessarily the biggest selling point. Going smarter may be.

This is where many Chinese manufacturers appear to have found their advantage.

Instead of concentrating mainly on horsepower and traditional performance figures, they have increasingly put technology at the center of the vehicle.

That does not mean their cars are slow. Far from it. Electric motors have actually made strong acceleration easier to achieve than ever. But performance is increasingly becoming only one part of the package.

Software, artificial intelligence, connectivity, driver assistance and the way passengers interact with the car are becoming just as important.

One brand that intends to push that idea even further is XPENG, which is preparing to formally launch in the Philippines. We recently had the opportunity to visit XPENG in Guangzhou, China, and one thing became immediately clear: this is a company that wants to sell technology as much as it wants to sell cars.

Its vehicles place heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence, intelligent driving systems, voice-operated cabin functions, smart navigation and connected features.

In other words, XPENG appears to be building cars around what the next generation of buyers wants rather than simply following what previous generations expected from an automobile. And that could make things even more interesting for the Philippine market.

The legacy brands are certainly not going away. Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Honda and the other established manufacturers still have enormous advantages when it comes to reputation, dealer networks, parts availability, resale value and decades of experience with Filipino motorists.

Those things still matter.

But Chinese brands have already succeeded in changing the question Filipino buyers are asking.

It is no longer simply, “What car can I afford?”

Increasingly, it is becoming, “How much car can I get for my money?”

Right now, that is a question the legacy brands can no longer afford to ignore.