If you are still waiting for proof that the world is getting smaller, and that China’s influence in the global economy is growing, look no further than the Shanghai Motor Show.

For years, the Shanghai show has been decidedly second-tier, featuring an eccentric collection of cars destined for the Chinese market.  As a venue for global debuts, it has been verboten, with automakers saving their hottest new cars and concepts for a handful of shows (Detroit, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo…).

No more.

This year, two of the biggest brands in the auto industry chose Shanghai as the venue from which to stage the global debut of their new concept vehicles.

The first, Audi, unveiled what it is calling the Cross Coupe Quattro.  Though technically a concept, it is widely believed to signal the arrival of the Q5 compact-ute.

BMW, meanwhile, pulled the curtains back from its Concept CS, a sleek, four-door coupe in the vein of the Mercedes CLS and Aston Martin Rapide.  Production intent is unknown, but the CS rides on the platform developed for the next-generation 7-Series, and many speculate it may hint at the return of the 8-Series.

Either way, neither of these concepts is restricted to the Chinese market.  Both are very much global concepts, possibly the first to have ever been unveiled at the Shanghai show.

In this author’s opinion, the decision to launch these concepts in Shanghai, rather than Detroit or Frankfurt, is indicative of two major trends.  First, the impact of the internet and its up-to-the-minute reporting on the auto show as an institution, and second, the arrival of China as an important and viable market in the global auto industry.