Behind BAIC and Changan's Alliance: Auto "National Team" Abandons Solo Struggles

Editor's Note: The signing between the two parties is a strong signal of the changing logic behind the reconfiguration of state-owned automobile assets in recent years.

On June 13, BAIC Group officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Changan China Automobile Group. Zhang Jianyong, Party Committee Secretary and Chairman of BAIC Group, and Zhu Huarong, Party Committee Secretary and Chairman of Changan Automobile, attended the ceremony. Xie Wei, Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee and Vice General Manager of BAIC Group, and Zhang Xiaoyu, Executive Vice President of Changan Automobile, signed on behalf of both sides.

This cooperation covers five areas — forward-looking technology and emerging industries, green and low-carbon development, industrial chain, supply chain, and overseas markets. The positioning statement is also clear: actively explore new pathways for "central-local cooperation" for modern new state-owned enterprises.

BAIC belongs to the Beijing state-owned asset system, while Changan relies on the Ordnance Equipment Group and is a true central SOE vehicle manufacturing platform. A local team and a central team, breaking through administrative hierarchy barriers to achieve full-domain resource synergy — this itself is a strong signal of the changing logic of state-owned automobile asset reconfiguration in recent years.

What is truly "actionable" in this agreement?

First is joint procurement and capacity sharing at the supply chain level. The agreement explicitly mentions that both parties will advance joint procurement on core components such as chips and batteries. This is not an abstract concept — vehicle-mounted MCU, power semiconductors, and power battery cells are precisely the segments with the highest price volatility and supplier concentration in the past two years. Both BAIC and Changan have annual sales volumes in the millions, but when facing top-tier suppliers like CATL, Infineon, and Horizon Robotics, a single company's bargaining chips remain limited; if the procurement demands of both are bundled, the cost elasticity brought by economies of scale is immediate.

Second is the synergy dividend at the level of forward-looking technology, especially focused on intelligent driving. BAIC and Changan are currently among the very first — and still among the few — automotive companies in the country to obtain the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's L3-level autonomous vehicle type approval. The pilot scenarios and data accumulation of the two enterprises have different focuses. Once a data sharing and technology synergy mechanism is established, not only will the iteration efficiency be higher, but the pressure of R&D amortization will also be significantly reduced.

Third is the complementary sharing of overseas channels. In 2025, Changan's overseas sales were about 637,000 vehicles, with deep layout in Latin America and the Middle East; BAIC's exports were about 308,000 vehicles, deeply cultivating Southeast Asia and African markets. Sharing by both parties on overseas dealer networks, logistics and warehousing systems, and after-sales outlets means that in key incremental markets such as Thailand and Brazil, it is possible to avoid redundant investment like "two brands under the same flag building separate networks".

It is worth noting that to date, this agreement still belongs to the strategic framework level, does not involve equity merger, does not establish a joint venture company, and follows the route of market-oriented resource coordination rather than organizational restructuring.

Why the acceleration of "central-local cooperation" at this time

Looking far into the entire industry, perhaps we can understand why both parties would conduct this cooperation. Firstly, the price war has pressed the profit statements of vehicle enterprises to the critical point; the cost structure of "fighting alone" is unsustainable. When new energy penetration rates break through key thresholds, product homogenization intensifies, and consumer price sensitivity remains high, if a single car company wants to succeed with the old logic of "full-stack self-research + independent network building + full industry chain control," marginal returns are decreasing rapidly. What is saved through joint procurement might be the margin points on the financial report next year.

Secondly, the efficiency issue of state-owned automobile assets is shifting from a "reform topic" to a "survival topic." As a market-oriented vanguard within the central SOE system, Changan has flexible mechanisms, a solid military-industry foundation, and relatively successful upward movement of passenger car brands; BAIC holds Beijing regional resources, new energy manufacturing foundations, and regional channel foundations, but always faces bottlenecks in the premium breakthrough of independent passenger brands. The combination of the two, under the premise of not changing property rights, allows "movable resources" such as procurement scale, technical assets, and overseas networks to turn first, replacing repeated construction with synergy efficiency.

Thirdly, Chinese car exports are moving from an "opportunity period" to a "compliance and countermeasure period," where the risk of fighting alone is increasing. EU tariff barriers, localization rate requirements in various countries, and the escalation of brand trust wars all mean that Chinese car companies going overseas need stronger systemic capabilities — channel sharing, unified after-sales standards, and even joint responses to certification and regulatory games — none of which is something a single enterprise can handle alone.

The bigger highlight might be: when local SOEs and central SOE platforms finally find an operating method that does not rely on administrative bonding but on market-oriented synergy ties, will this template be replicated by more "central-local pairings"? If the answer is yes, then the value of this agreement on June 13 is not just that the cost accounts of the two car companies are calculated more precisely, but rather a real evolution in the method of resource allocation for the Chinese automotive industry during the stock competition phase.