This is the best of times, this is the worst of times.
Recently, the China Association of Automobile Dealers released some worrying data. The auto dealer inventory warning index for April stood at 62.1%, above the growth and decline line; meanwhile, the inventory coefficient is also rising, with the integrated inventory coefficient for auto dealers in April reaching 1.89. Industry insiders point out that long-term high inventory will encroach on dealers' operating funds, increase their interest expenses and liquidity risks, and may exacerbate the contradiction between dealers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Coincidentally, it is not just passenger cars that have been hit hard. The latest data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has also sounded a warning for the commercial vehicle industry—its overall inventory coefficient has risen above the warning line of 1.8, and the inventory cycle in some heavy truck market segments has exceeded 90 days. To digest inventory, a new round of price wars has quietly broken out in multiple regions, with terminal discount margins expanding again.
As a media outlet that has long focused on the automotive industry, Car Culture saw a historical mirror spanning 170 years in this spreading price competition—In 1854, the 'Coketown' dominated by interests written by Charles Dickens in 'Hard Times' has never truly disappeared.
As the global automotive industry accelerates its transformation towards new energy and intelligence, and Chinese automakers head to the global market at an unprecedented speed, ESG construction has long ceased to be a dispensable decoration in corporate annual reports; it is now a core capability determining whether an enterprise can weather the cycle. Among them, supply chain ESG is the key chain connecting the upstream and downstream of the industry, determining the health of the sector. In the current situation where the industry generally falls into the vicious cycle of 'trading price for volume', the sustainability report released by Foton Motor for 2025 provides a sample worthy of in-depth analysis for us to observe how Chinese commercial vehicle enterprises solve the inherent contradictions of industrial civilization.
The Reenactment of Dickensian History and Foton's Starting Point for Breakthrough
In classic works such as 'Hard Times', 'Oliver Twist', and 'David Copperfield', Dickens recorded the three core contradictions at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution with a pen that was almost journalistic documentary. Among them, in 'Hard Times', the factory owners in Coketown, in pursuit of profit maximization, alienated workers into attachments of machines, revealing the value distortion caused by capital's pursuit of profit; in 'Oliver Twist', the tragic fate of children from the lower classes exposed the reality that the dignity of workers was systematically ignored; the experience of 10-year-old David being exploited in the bottle washing factory in 'David Copperfield' reflected the cruel logic of cost pressure being transmitted unidirectionally downward in early supply chains.
These contradictions from 170 years ago still have clear projections in today's automotive industry. Taking the commercial vehicle industry discussed in this session as an example, from 2024 to 2025, the price war in the commercial vehicle market continued to escalate, with terminal price reductions for models in some market segments exceeding 10%. To maintain its own profits, some leading automotive enterprises directly transferred cost reduction pressure to upstream suppliers, requesting annual price reductions of more than 10%.
The result of this pressure being transmitted layer by layer is that the average profit margin of traditional non-core component enterprises was compressed to below 3%, with a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises struggling on the brink of break-even; downstream channel ends were also under pressure. Data from the China Association of Automobile Dealers shows that in 2025, the loss-making rate of commercial vehicle dealers nationwide reached 52.6%, with a profit contribution of -22.3% for new car sales business; while truck drivers at the end of the supply chain bore the pressure of continuously falling freight prices, with freight rates for some short-distance city distribution routes falling to 0.8 yuan/km, and the average freight rate for medium-to-long distance trunk transport dropping 42% compared to 2020.
This model of 'squeezing profits upstream, pressing prices downstream, and being squeezed at the terminal' is eroding the long-term competitiveness of the entire industry. Of course, Foton Motor is also in this industry environment. Its overseas exports in 2025 reached 164,000 vehicles, creating a new historical high, but it also faced multiple challenges such as the EU CBAM carbon tariff and increasingly strict supply chain ESG reviews in European and American markets; during the new energy transformation process, the industry average cost proportion of the three-electric systems exceeded 40%, and also faced cost reduction pressure.
But unlike most enterprises, Foton Motor did not choose to transfer pressure unidirectionally to the upstream and downstream of the supply chain, but instead took the construction of the whole chain ESG as the core handle for breaking the situation, attempting to explore a more sustainable development path.
Foton's Practice: Responding to Historical Propositions with Win-Win of the Whole Value Chain
The contemporary value of Dickens' works lies in the fact that it always reminds us that the ultimate purpose of development is people, not profit. The whole value chain ESG system built by Foton Motor, covering 'upstream suppliers-middle manufacturing-downstream dealers-terminal users', just responds to the three core propositions raised by Dickens back then.
To address the value distortion caused by capital's pursuit of profit, Foton constructs a symbiotic supply chain through green synergy. It is reported that the company established a supplier lifecycle ESG management system, incorporating environmental, social, and governance indicators into the entire process of supplier access, audit, evaluation, and exit. In 2025, Foton completed the certification of 58 green suppliers, covering core modules such as engines, gearboxes, and axles.
Unlike simply suppressing purchase prices, Foton helps suppliers reduce costs and increase efficiency through technical empowerment and resource sharing. Among them, the supplier rooftop photovoltaic plan is the most representative. In 2025, it assisted 283 suppliers in building a total of 1,901 MW of photovoltaic power generation facilities, directly reducing the energy costs of partners, while also promoting the low-carbon transformation of the entire supply chain.
To address the imbalance of benefit distribution in the supply chain, Foton creates a community of interests through ecological empowerment. Faced with the survival dilemma faced by dealers, Foton completed transformation training for 1,658 dealers in 2025, innovatively launched a three-level channel system of 'Ecological Store, Smart Store, Retail Store', and built 8 dealer ecological ports.
This system helped dealers transform from a single vehicle sales dealer to a comprehensive service provider integrating 'sales + charging and battery swapping + used cars + leasing + maintenance and repair', opening up multiple profit channels for them. At the same time, Foton signed 'Integrity Commitment Letters' with all suppliers, establishing a relatively fair and transparent cooperation mechanism, guaranteeing the reasonable interests of each link in the supply chain.
In addition, to address the lack of dignity for workers, Foton permeates humanistic care throughout the whole chain. Within the enterprise, Foton implements a human engineering improvement plan, introducing customized effort-saving mechanical arms and hydraulic lifting tables in heavy labor posts such as tire assembly and battery installation, reducing manual handling of heavy materials by 30% year-on-year.
At the supply chain end, Foton requires all suppliers to strictly abide by labor laws and regulations, with full coverage of compliance and quality training for key suppliers in 2025 reaching 100%. At the terminal, Foton supported the 'Truck Driver Escort' special action through donations, focusing on the living conditions of logistics practitioners. These measures reflect the enterprise's respect for every worker in the supply chain.
People-Oriented, The Correct Approach for Chinese Cars Going Global
In fact, with Chinese automotive enterprises accelerating their global layout, we are facing not just a competitive pattern of 'price is king', but entering a new era where 'compliance is competitiveness'.
The EU 'Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive' (CSDDD) clearly requires that enterprises must be responsible for human rights and environmental impacts of their entire supply chain; violators will face fines of up to 5% of global turnover; the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) officially implemented in 2026 directly incorporates carbon emission costs into the price system of imported goods. This means the development model relying on low-cost expansion is unsustainable, and supply chain ESG capabilities are becoming the pass to enter the international market for Chinese automotive enterprises.
Foton Motor's forward-looking layout has given it a certain head start in global competition. It is reported that through the construction of a whole value chain ESG, Foton proactively met the compliance requirements of major overseas markets: in Europe, Foton's electric light trucks and VAN models obtained WVTAEU whole vehicle type certification, which is one of the highest thresholds in the European market; plus the EU heavy vehicle carbon emission VECTO certification, this means Foton's carbon data has been recognized by European regulatory agencies, successfully entering the European green transportation system.
In addition, Foton Motor has deeply gained the recognition of global partners: local factories in Thailand, Brazil, and South Africa have been put into production smoothly; the global 12 millionth vehicle rolled off the line at the Brazil factory; in the Australian and African markets, Foton received bulk new energy bus orders; in the Middle East, it delivered 1,000 customized school buses to Saudi customers in batches.
Industry analysts point out that Foton Motor's model provides an important reference for the Chinese commercial vehicle industry; supply chain ESG is not a cost burden for enterprises, but an effective means to enhance supply chain resilience and long-term competitiveness. When enterprises no longer view upstream and downstream as opponents in a game, but as partners for joint growth, the results of their development can be shared by every participant in the supply chain, and the entire industry can achieve truly high-quality development.
Car Culture Says:
'This is the best of times, this is the worst of times.' Dickens' famous quote still applies to China's automotive industry today. We possess the world's largest automotive market, the most complete industrial chain system, and the most advanced new energy technology; this is the best of times; but we also face many challenges such as involution in price wars, prominence of supply chain contradictions, and increased pressure for global compliance; this is the worst of times.
170 years have passed, the technical form of industrial civilization has undergone earth-shaking changes, but how to balance capital pursuit of profit with social equity, and how to ensure that the results of development benefit everyone, remains the fundamental question we need to answer. Foton Motor's practice tells us that ESG is not only a digital report, but a more sustainable development concept with more humanistic touch. When more and more Chinese automotive enterprises plant the concept of people-oriented into supply chain construction, we can not only create more competitive products, but also output a fairer and more inclusive industrial civilization to the world, allowing Chinese automobiles to truly enjoy global reputation with the 'Chinese Solution'. （Written by | Ouyang）
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