With the comprehensive deepening of electrification and intelligence, mainstream automotive supply chain companies are beginning to step from behind the scenes to the forefront, achieving role transition in the process of major changes in the automotive industry and reconstruction of the automotive ecosystem, rather than being limited to suppliers of car companies in the past. The underlying logic of their "rise" is to leverage the new tracks of electrification and intelligence to achieve a paradigm shift in technology, reach a technology premium, become joint definers and equal participants of the underlying technology stack of new cars with automakers, and thus achieve a brand premium, with influence directly reaching the consumer end. Automotive supply chain companies are welcoming a strategic development opportunity for comprehensive advancement.

Aiming at the advancement of supply chain companies, "Auto Panorama" specially produced this issue's "Cover Story" special report.

Currently, the new energy industry stands at a new historical node. In this historical process where the energy revolution and the technological revolution intersect, and reality and the future overlap, CATL has always been answering a question with action: How to build deterministic long-term value in an uncertain world?

CATL's financial report shows that its revenue in 2025 reached a high of 423.702 billion yuan, with net profit of 72.201 billion yuan, and global market share reached 39.2%. It has ranked first globally in power battery usage for 9 consecutive years. Of note, this supply chain company located upstream of vehicle manufacturing saw its net profit last year exceed the total profit of 13 mainstream listed automakers. The joke that "car companies work for King Ning" seems to have come into reality.

Behind this phenomenon lies CATL's influence on mainstream automakers globally. And the starting point of all this is the core status of power batteries in the new energy vehicle industry—power batteries account for about 40% of the cost of the entire vehicle and are undoubtedly the "heart" of new energy vehicles. For automakers, stable and reliable battery supply has long evolved from a basic guaranteed demand into a core strategic demand concerning product competitiveness and long-term development; for CATL, how to transform "top customers" into "strategic allies" is also a key issue determining the ceiling of its business landscape.

So, how did CATL "bind" nearly half of the automotive industry single-handedly? The reason lies in the fact that from a power battery supplier to a full-domain energy ecosystem service provider, CATL has built a deep binding system covering capital, production capacity, R&D, supply guarantee, ecosystem, and more over more than ten years. It is this system that firmly incorporates mainstream global automakers into its own industrial landscape, realizing a leap from "selling batteries" to "setting standards, building ecosystems," and thoroughly reshaping the relationship between supply chain companies and automakers.

Capital Binding

In the wave of electrification reconstructing the automotive industry, CATL jumped out of the traditional supplier's single model of "supply and collect money," using diverse capital means such as direct investment, strategic equity participation, and joint venture holding to deeply penetrate the equity structure of automakers, upgrading the supply-demand relationship into a community of interest and a strategic symbiosis, achieving all-round binding from the levels of funds, discourse power, and resources, and solidifying the foundation of industrial discourse power.

According to incomplete statistics, as of the end of May 2026, the number of new energy automakers invested in by CATL through direct or indirect means has exceeded 10. The latest move was on May 25, 2026, when Seres Group announced that its subsidiary Chongqing Luedian Technology Co., Ltd. received capital increase totaling 6.671 billion yuan from five investors. In the investor list, Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area Wending Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wending Investment") ranked third with an investment amount of 984 million yuan and a shareholding ratio of 9.878%. This Wending Investment is a subsidiary wholly held by CATL.

Earlier, on May 12, 2026, the high-end intelligent new energy vehicle brand Qijing Auto jointly created by GAC Group and Huawei Qiankun announced that it had completed a strategic capital increase of more than 1 billion yuan, invested by CATL, investment platforms under Bosch, and capital of state-owned enterprises and central SOEs. It is understood that CATL's investment this time was also realized through paid-in capital of 300 million yuan via the wholly held Wending Investment, making it the single largest investor.

In fact, CATL's investment landscape extends far beyond these. In the new energy circle, "King Ning" is not just a battery seller, but more like a super player holding a capital map and "setting up circles" everywhere. In 2021, CATL invested heavily 770 million yuan to become the second largest shareholder of Avatr with a shareholding ratio of 23.99%, forming the unique CHN (Changan + Huawei + CATL) model at the time. As a return, Avatr not only featured CATL batteries as standard across all models but also globally launched CATL's Pangshi skateboard chassis for the first time.

In addition, CATL is also an early investor of Zeekr Auto, participating in Zeekr's Pre-A financing round. CATL not only holds about 2.97% of Chery through Wending Investment, but both sides also established the "Times Chery" joint venture company with a registered capital of 2 billion yuan. SAIC and CATL have actually been old partners for a long time. CATL holds about 0.48% of IM Motors, which is under SAIC. In BAIC Motor's financing of more than 8 billion yuan at the end of 2024, CATL invested 200 million yuan to become a shareholder.

In the commercial vehicle sector, in March 2026, Puquan Capital under CATL led the investment of 1.2 billion yuan in Lingyi Auto. In November 2025, FAW Jiefang announced a capital increase of 191 million yuan for the joint venture "Jiefang Times," and CATL invested simultaneously. The three parties invested a total of 412 million yuan. This joint venture company, established in 2023 with 50% shareholding each by FAW Jiefang and CATL, is just a microcosm of CATL's deep binding of automakers through capital ties in recent years.

In overseas markets, CATL also adopts the joint venture participation logic. On December 10, 2024, CATL and Stellantis each hold 50%, investing 4.1 billion euros to build a large-scale Lithium Iron Phosphate battery factory in Zaragoza, Spain. Products are exclusively for Stellantis' European models. Capital binding helps CATL deeply penetrate mainstream overseas automakers.

Of course, CATL has also hit snags when investing in automakers. For example, CATL once held about 2.67% of Neta Auto shares and invested in Aiways Auto early on. However, looking at the current situation, these two EV startups have basically exited the market.

CATL's capital binding is by no means simple financial investment, but a strategic layout to reconstruct the OEM-Supplier relationship and control industrial discourse power. This capital network model allows CATL to upgrade from a simple battery supplier to a strategic partner and community of interest for automakers, firmly grasping industrial leadership in the electrification wave, laying a solid capital foundation for all-round binding in technology, capacity, ecosystem, and other fields.

Production Capacity Lock-in

If capital is the skeleton of ties, then capacity is the flesh and blood. In the industry environment of cyclical tightness in battery supply and demand and intensified raw material price volatility, stable capacity is core competitiveness. CATL's capacity binding strategy can be summarized in one sentence: Build battery capacity where it is most needed—super factories next to automakers, or even directly built in customers' workshops. CATL provides deterministic capacity guarantees for cooperating automakers through three models: exclusive production lines, factory-in-factory, and regional bases, achieving deep binding through "capacity lock-in."

On June 30, 2025, CATL's two CTP 2.0 high-end battery pack production lines officially went into production at Seres Super Factory. This is the first time CATL cooperated with an automaker using the "Factory within a Factory" model to supply battery systems for local production of the AITO series models. The "Factory within a Factory" model is an innovative supply chain synergy model. CATL directly built battery production lines inside Seres Super Factory, achieving efficient closed-loop management from battery production to vehicle assembly. Batteries achieve "produce and install immediately," saving intermediate links such as packaging, transportation, and warehousing, shortening supply chain response speed to the 20-minute level.

If the "Factory within a Factory" is just a trial run of an innovative model, then the power battery joint venture companies widely established by CATL with mainstream automakers such as SAIC, GAC, FAW, Dongfeng, Geely, and Changan, such as Times SAIC, Times GAC, Times Geely, and Times Changan, usually hold controlling rights with 51% shareholding. As early as 2017, CATL cooperated with SAIC Group to establish "Times SAIC Power Battery Co., Ltd.," with a total investment of more than 10 billion yuan. This forward-looking layout allowed SAIC to fully reap dividends in the subsequent new energy transformation wave. When other competitors were queuing in front of CATL's headquarters to grab batteries, SAIC could steadily obtain battery packs meeting their customized needs through the exclusive production line of Times SAIC.

On February 13, 2026, Times Chery (Hefei) New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was officially established, with registered capital of up to 2 billion yuan, held by CATL, Chery Automobile, and Chery Commercial Vehicle (Anhui) Co., Ltd. CATL holds 51%, while the latter two hold 49% in total. According to the agreement, Chery will obtain supply rights for CATL's core products such as Qilin Batteries and Sodium-ion Batteries first, while CATL will promote the application of innovative technologies such as semi-solid-state batteries and battery swap models in Chery's high-end models through technology licensing and joint R&D.

In factories laid out in Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, and other overseas locations, CATL has also achieved "wherever the vehicle is, the battery capacity is there." For international automakers such as Tesla, Volkswagen, and BMW, the European base is configured nearby; for automakers going global like Chery, Geely, and Leapmotor, the Southeast Asian base follows synchronously. Regional capacity layout effectively avoids trade barriers, logistics risks, and exchange rate fluctuations, ensuring automakers always have stable battery guarantees in global market expansion.

The underlying logic of capacity lock-in is using deterministic supply to counter uncertain cycles. For automakers, CATL's capacity guarantee means new cars do not get "choked" at launch, peak season delivery does not run out of stock, and overseas expansion has no worries; for CATL, locking capacity means locking sales, improving capacity utilization, dampening investment costs, and forming scale effects and cost advantages.

R&D Front-loading

If capacity lock-in binds the present, then R&D front-loading binds the future. Traditional battery supply follows a posterior adaptation mode of "automaker raises demand, battery factory makes products," while CATL has completely front-loaded R&D, achieving synchronized development, joint definition, and joint testing of vehicles and batteries, shifting from passive adaptation to active co-creation, realizing binding through deep technology embedding.

On December 17, 2025, CATL signed a 10-year deepened cooperation agreement with Voyah Auto. According to the agreement, CATL will actively cooperate with Voyah's new model development, prioritize providing leading battery technology, and comprehensively promote the scale application of benchmark battery brands such as Qilin, Shenxing, and Xiaoyao on Voyah models. This means Voyah's product planning will stay synchronized with cutting-edge innovation in the battery field. The cooperation vision between the two parties has expanded from a single power unit to new fields such as battery swap models, CIIC Intelligent Chassis Integration, Pangshi Chassis, and V2G representing future mobility ecosystems.

Of course, CATL's R&D front-loading logic is not limited to just this automaker. On November 11, 2025, CATL signed a 10-year comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with GAC Group. Both sides will carry out joint R&D in cutting-edge fields such as intelligent chassis and battery swap ecosystems, and based on CATL's deep accumulation in power batteries, energy storage systems, and energy service fields, jointly create new energy vehicles with stronger market competitiveness. Regarding GAC Trumpchi's model planning, both sides are actively promoting the application of Pangshi Chassis technology.

Since 2025, CATL has reached cooperation with many automakers—not only GAC Group and JAC Group, but also core customers like Li Auto and Seres. Battery manufacturers and automakers are stepping over traditional buying and selling games towards a new stage of deep binding and value co-creation. CATL's R&D system has thereby become more "forward-looking": When the next generation of battery technology is still iterating in the laboratory, CATL has already been planning future vehicle platform architectures with partners.

The deep significance of R&D front-loading lies in making CATL transform from a supplier passively responding to demand into a standard setter proactively defining future technology routes. The Qilin Condensed Battery released by CATL on February 26, 2026, with an energy density of 500Wh/kg, is planned to be equipped for the first batch on NIO ET9 and Zeekr 001 FR at the end of the year. These technology explorations, which are still among the forefront in the industry, are becoming the strongest glue for CATL to bind high-end customers.

Ecosystem Co-construction

In fact, CATL's business field extends far beyond batteries. It is extending electrification goals to broader fields such as low-altitude aviation, ships, and data centers, rapidly expanding battery swap networks and services, promoting zero-carbon ecosystem construction, improving the industrial ecosystem, and extending the value chain. Around automakers, CATL is building an all-domain ecosystem of battery swaps, energy storage, charging, green power, and recycling, achieving irreplaceable binding through ecological barriers.

In the battery swap field, CATL takes Chocolate Battery Swap and Qiji Heavy Truck Battery Swap as the core, working with Changan, Chery, GAC, Seres, SAIC-GM-Wuling, BAIC, and others to form a Super Swap Shared Network, jointly building swap stations, sharing swap blocks, and unifying interface standards. On April 25, 2026, Chery Automobile, Chery Green Energy, CATL, and Times Energy Service signed a strategic cooperation agreement. All parties will focus on the layout of "Super Charging + Battery Swap" shared networks and green energy ecosystem co-construction. Chery Automobile will comprehensively import the Chocolate Battery Swap system of CATL and Times Energy Service. CATL's cooperation with GAC Group is even more all-round. It covers not only key fields such as intelligent chassis application, joint R&D of battery technology, battery swap ecosystem co-construction, and electrified platform innovation, but will also carry out long-term deep cooperation in business fields such as battery leasing and joint station building.

Zero Carbon Parks are projects CATL is vigorously promoting. Currently, zero carbon parks have been laid out in Dongying, Shandong, Xiamen, Fujian, Datong, Shanxi, Yancheng, Jiangsu, Hainan, and other places. They create green smart manufacturing bases through 100% green power direct connection and Source-Grid-Load-Storage integration technology. On July 26, 2025, the first national 100% green power direct-connected zero carbon industrial park led by CATL started construction in Dongying, Shandong. The total investment exceeds 10 billion yuan. The project adopts "Wind-Solar Coupling + Grid-forming Technology" to build an independent energy system, directly connecting wind power, photovoltaic generation, and energy storage systems to the factory. CATL's ultimate goal is to create a panoramic, integrated zero-carbon solution including green power direct supply, zero carbon parks, source-grid-load-storage, and grid-forming energy storage.

Used battery recycling is the last puzzle piece to achieve closed-loop management of the battery full lifecycle. Through recycling methods, CATL processes, purifies, and synthesizes metal materials such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese in used batteries, and recycles collected metal materials such as copper and aluminum through third-party recycling, realizing effective circular utilization of key metal resources needed for battery production. CATL has built a complete closed loop of "Production - Use - Cascade - Recycling," providing battery recycling, cascade utilization, and recycled material closed-loop services for cooperating automakers. Through scaled recycling and regeneration, raw material costs are reduced, feeding back into the price competitiveness of vehicle batteries, forming full-chain value sharing.

In addition, in overseas markets, CATL promotes vehicle-battery integration joint global expansion with Chery, Yutong, Geely, Dongfeng, etc. Overseas battery bases follow the rhythm of vehicle global expansion, providing global warranty, local services, supply chain support, and other services. Automakers going global no longer face battery adaptation, certification, and supply difficulties. CATL expands its global share following automakers going global, forming a globalized ecosystem binding.

The strategic significance of ecosystem co-construction far exceeds commercial cooperation itself. When CATL not only masters battery manufacturing but also controls battery swap networks, Battery Passport data (CATL cooperated with BMW in February 2026 to carry out an EU "Battery Passport" cross-border data pilot), and battery recycling full lifecycle management, it changes from a supplier simply providing parts into an infrastructure platform for the entire new energy mobility ecosystem. Automakers still play the role of building cars in this ecosystem, but key dimensions such as energy replenishment solutions, battery management, data services, and even user travel experience will be included in CATL's ecosystem system. This ecological-level binding far exceeds the product and price levels, forming a true "community of shared future."

The international energy situation continues to fluctuate, oil prices continue to rise, prompting Europeans to accept electric vehicles, and giving Chinese new energy vehicle brands new hope in Europe. According to foreign media reports, in April 2026, overall sales of Chinese automakers in the European market increased by 114% year-on-year, with SAIC Motor, BYD, and Chery emerging as the big winners.

While products are selling well, facing EU trade barriers and the global reality of excess capacity, Chinese top new and old automakers are also accelerating the layout of overseas production bases, landing localized production by acquiring and renovating idle capacity of traditional automakers in the US and Europe.

From export to sales to production, Chinese new energy vehicle brands going global are accelerating their advancement, expected to enter a new stage of reshaping the European automotive industry landscape.

SAIC Steady, Chery Aggressive, Chinese Cars Selling Big in Europe

On May 22, 2026, European automotive media cited the latest data from local market research firm Dataforce, stating April overall new car sales in Europe continued to recover, up 6.4% year-on-year, with the regional car market maintaining a steady recovery trend overall.

Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, European oil prices have risen by about 20% since 2026, therefore, new energy models became the core driver pulling April growth in the European car market. Among them, pure electric vehicles performed the most prominently, with April sales increasing by 38% year-on-year, setting the highest single-month growth rate since 2026; Plug-in hybrid vehicle sales growth was 21%, and Hybrid vehicle sales growth also reached 15%.

European car users are accelerating their shift to new energy vehicles, which also created a perfect growth opportunity for Chinese car brands to accelerate expanding sales in the European market.

Data shows, in April 2026, overall sales of Chinese automakers in the European market doubled, surging 114% year-on-year. Among them, SAIC Motor sales in April were 30,074 vehicles, stably at the top of the Chinese automaker sales list, BYD single month sales were 28,186 vehicles ranking second, Chery April sales were 25,656 vehicles, ranking third. From a single-month performance perspective, the sales gap between the three Chinese automakers in the European market is also continuously narrowing.

In terms of sales growth rate, April European car market growth rate list was almost dominated by Chinese brands, Leapmotor growth rate was as high as 423%, Chery and BYD followed with year-on-year growth rates of 344% and 125% respectively, overall growth momentum was strong.

Among them, Chery became the Chinese automaker with the strongest growth explosiveness in the European market in April. Compared to April 2025, Chery sales increased by nearly 20,000 vehicles. Dataforce data shows, Chery brand April 2025 sales in Europe were only 4 vehicles, this April reached 5,446 vehicles; In addition, two sub-brands under Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo, both exerted force synchronously, all ranked in the forefront of European market sales growth, among them, Omoda growth ranked third in Europe, Jaecoo ranked sixth. Terminal market performance indicates Chery's layout in Europe has entered a stage of full-force exertion.

Because contrasting sharply with the high growth of Chinese brands is that some European local automakers and traditional car giants encountered sales decline in April. For example, Toyota dipped slightly 1% year-on-year, Renault declined 3%, Ford fell 11%, Hyundai decline reached 12%, Premium brand Porsche also surprisingly declined year-on-year to 17%, Mitsubishi decline was most prominent, reaching 51%.

European local giant Stellantis, which maintains close relations with Chinese automakers Leapmotor and Dongfeng, April sales achieved 4.3% year-on-year growth, but growth rate was lower than the overall European car market performance. Brand performance division within the group was significant, Leapmotor, Fiat, Opel/Vauxhall, Citroen maintained positive sales growth, while Peugeot and Alfa Romeo showed obvious sales decline.

If Chinese new energy vehicle new and old brands can continue this upward momentum, they will be expected to reshape the European market competition landscape.

Chinese Automakers on a Crazy Buying Spree, But Still Must Clear Union Hurdles

On one hand, multiple factors such as oil price hikes and new energy vehicle market transition overlap, leading to weak sales of traditional car giants in the European market. On the other hand, the manufacturing system left over from the fuel vehicle era is also gradually falling into the dilemma of idleness or excess capacity.

Consulting agencies predict, large numbers of low-utilization car factories in the US and Europe will face shutdown or transfer in the future, and the EU's measure of imposing additional import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, will further promote Chinese automakers to accelerate the layout of European localized production.

In this context, taking over and renovating traditional automaker factories has become a core method for many Chinese automakers laying out overseas localized production. This phenomenon has also attracted foreign media attention, recently a European automotive media reported that BYD is currently negotiating with Stellantis and other European automakers to take over idle factories in the region. In fact, BYD announced building a factory in Hungary as early as the end of 2023, becoming the first Chinese automaker to build a passenger car factory in the EU.

BYD Hungary factory planned annual capacity is 300,000 vehicles, in 2025 BYD sales in the European market exceeded 187,000 vehicles, year-on-year increase of over 260% compared to 2024. Predicting according to the growth rate, BYD relying solely on one Hungary factory will be difficult to satisfy car sales needs in Europe, therefore rumors about negotiating factory purchase with local car makers are reasonable.

Chinese automakers full of ambition for the European market are not just BYD. Just in one month of May 2026, news has spread about multiple Chinese automakers negotiating European capacity cooperation projects. For example, on May 20, Stellantis Group announced cooperation negotiation with Dongfeng Group, planning to rely on France Rennes factory to achieve local production of Dongfeng new energy models. In addition, Leapmotor also revealed that Leapmotor International established as a joint venture with Stellantis, is expected to acquire Stellantis factory located in Madrid, Spain, quickly build a European local production base.

There is also news that Geely is also actively accelerating the acquisition of Ford Spain Valencia factory partial assembly production line; Xpeng was also exposed to be negotiating with Volkswagen Group, seeking to acquire its European idle capacity. There is also Chery cooperating with Spain Ebro Group to activate former Nissan old factory, currently production has been resumed, Chery models are about to be imported and landed.

Taking over and renovating European automakers' idle capacity, the benefit is avoiding industry duplicate construction, increase local European employment opportunities, conforming to industrial policy orientation, also can save more time and improve efficiency compared to completely self-building factories.

However, what needs to be reminded to Chinese automakers is, buying spree does not mean permanent security, behind it also hides great risks.

Also recently, after news spread about Volkswagen Group and Xpeng negotiating idle capacity sales, Volkswagen Group union head (Daniela Cavallo) stood before tens of thousands of workers, heatedly criticized group management, and strongly opposed management negotiating with Chinese automakers etc. third parties to yield idle capacity.

Under this pressure, Volkswagen Group CEO (Oliver Blume) publicly stated, currently, Volkswagen has not had any negotiations with Chinese manufacturers regarding using European factory capacity, in the future there are absolutely no related cooperation plans.

Compared to emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa with high inclusivity to Chinese automakers, mature European car market regulations, unions, environmental protection, employment commitments etc. constraints conditions are more severe, Chinese automakers landing localization through the method of acquiring factories, besides renovating production lines, adapting supply chains, more need to adapt to local rules, adapt to local culture to survive better.

Of course, self-built factories can fully fit the automaker's own manufacturing standards, supply chain systems, and production concepts, autonomy control is stronger, but this also suits fund-adequate, layout pace controllable automakers to go for long-term layout. From this level, currently BYD's capacity layout in Europe fits long-term + short-term coordination better, globally, besides negotiating qualified old factories in major markets for renovation, BYD has landed at least 4 self-built complete vehicle factories in places like Thailand, Hungary, Turkey.

European new energy vehicle sales significantly increased, brought development opportunities to Chinese automakers eager to go global, however European complex emotions on Chinese automaker acquiring factories, again makes Chinese automakers' Europe road full of difficulties. Actually, this round of global automotive capacity restructuring led by Chinese automakers, reflects structural transfer of industry discourse power in the new energy vehicle era.

Fuel vehicle era, US/EU/Japan/Korea automakers dominated global car technical routes, capacity configuration and industry rules, under the wave of smart electrification, relying on complete new energy supply chain, mature three-electric and intelligent technology, efficient capacity system, Chinese automakers are upgrading from product export to full-scale overseas presence of capacity, technology, standards, expected to reshape the European and even global automotive industry landscape.

(Source: autonews.com, reuters.com, bloomberg.com)

That's right, China's first automaker to accumulate production and sales volume exceeding100 millionhas been born.

What does 100 million mean? If you built 1,000 units daily, it would take over 270 years. SAIC started from a small internal combustion engine parts factory in 1955, and it took 71 years to build this milestone.

In 1958, workers hammered out the first "Phoenix" sedan. Back then, not to mention intelligence, even air conditioning was a luxury.

What happened later? 1983 Santana manual assembly rolled off the line, opening the joint venture era; 1997 Shanghai GM built a factory and produced cars in 23 months, called "Shanghai Speed"; 2006 Roewe born; 2016 Roewe RX5 shouted "World's First Internet Car"; 2020 IM entered the high-end intelligent electric vehicle segment...

To be honest, SAIC's over 70 years is a microcosm of the Chinese automotive industry going from "knowing nothing" to "competing head-on."

And the thing I admire most is SAIC always has a slogan —"Understand Cars, Understand You Better".

Many think this is marketing talk, but look at what they do: early on, joint venture with global giants to build the supply chain system; in the intelligent-electrified era, deep synergy with domestic tech partners to push Large AI Models, Solid-state Batteries, and Full Wire-control Chassis onto cars.Understanding cars is hard tech; understanding you is turning hard tech into functions you enjoy using.

100 million cars is not just a number, it is100 million trusts. This is worth more than any parameter.

The 100 millionth unit is the IM LS9 Hyper, this car has some things

The first 100 millionth car delivered this time, is not Santana, not Wuling Hongguang, butIM LS9 Hyper.

I'll get straight to the point: Full Wire-control Four-Wheel Steering, 520-line LiDAR, Nvidia Thor Chip, Full-domain 800V, Star Super Extended Range... Take this config sheet out, any single one could be bragged about for half a year. It also first equips "SAIC Gold Label Hurricane Three-Motor", directly into the3-second Club.

Even more fierce, it collaborated with Purple Mountain Laboratories to develop "Intrinsic Security" technology, expanding safety from the physical level to the information and system level. Put simply,In the AI era, cars aren't just afraid of crashes, they're afraid of hacks. IM sealed this defense line solid.

Who is the 100 millionth owner?Momenta CEO Cao Xudong.

This is no coincidence. Momenta is SAIC's core intelligent driving partner, deep co-creation between both parties.Partners Become Owners, this delivery carries much more weight than a standard car handover ceremony — this is not a transaction, it is ecosystem resonance.

Behind 100 million cars is SAIC's"Full Suite" no one can copy

Don't think 100 million cars was achieved by one car. SAIC holdsSix Major Sectors: Vehicle, Parts, Mobility Services, Finance, International Operations, Innovation Tech. Full-chain closed loop, from R&D to selling cars to going overseas, they can even run the loop with themselves.

January-April this year, SAIC sold 1.302 million units, ranking first in China for four consecutive months. Among them, independent brands accounted forNearly 70%, New Energy 412,000 units, Overseas 459,000 units, up 50.2% year-on-year.

High Independent Share, Strong New Energy, Fast Overseas Expansion— with these three indicators shining simultaneously, across the domestic market, few can do it.

Look at the delivery site family photo: Independent brands have Shangjie Z7, Huajing S, Roewe M7, MG4 Semi-Solid State Battery version, Wuling Starlight 560... Commercial vehicles from Maxus to Hongyan to Sunwin, cover personal mobility, logistics transport, urban public transit completely.

Joint venture side is not giving in for nothing. Volkswagen ID. ERA 9X launched one month delivered 7,000 units, Buick Zhijing E7 exceeded 10,000 in one month. Note, these cars use SAIC's technology feedback —From "Market for Technology" to "Technology Export", SAIC's role flip is impressive.

Globalization is not just talk, SAIC really sells cars to over 170 countries

At the ceremony, delivery scenes connected Shanghai to London, Indonesia, Singapore... This is not just showboating. SAIC has over 100 parts bases overseas, 3,000+ dealership networks, raising 42 RoRo fleet Anji Logistics, 8 international routes covering global major markets.

MG in Europe has been China Brand Sales Champion for 11 consecutive years, sold over 300,000 units in 2025, becoming the first China Brand to accumulate over a million in Europe and UK. January-April this year, Europe alone sold 120,000 units, growth 22%.

And SAIC not only sells cars, Semi-Solid State Batteries, IM AD Intelligent Driving System, i-Smart Vehicle System all spread overseas.From Product Going Global to Value Chain Going Global, this move is fierce.

100 million units is a milestone, but not the end point. SAIC also said, this is the starting line of "Second Entrepreneurship". 2014 was the first to transform to New Energy, 12 years down, Independent, Joint Venture, Commercial, Overseas —A Thriving Boomsituation has emerged. The sentence I admire most is: "Understand Cars, Understand You Better". Tech is cool, if it doesn't land on users it's scrap. From social media bloggers to National Team Player Yang Chen, from London intern doctors to left-behind children welfare volunteers, every real story is the background color of these 100 million cars. So, don't just stare at numbers. After 100 million units, can SAIC continue "100 Million Mile Journey Together"? It depends on whether it can make the next 100 million users feel —This Automaker, Really Understands Me.

Toyota Motor recently announced plans to further increase the scale of its overseas production cuts, raising the total overseas production reduction volume from June to November of this year from the previously planned 38,000 units significantly to 83,000 units, doubling the production cut magnitude. Combined with the preliminary production cut of 40,000 units by Japanese domestic factories for the Middle East market in the first quarter of this year, Toyota's total vehicle capacity reduction plan within half a year exceeds 120,000 units.

Toyota's capacity adjustment this time is highly targeted, mainly aiming at sluggish markets and slow-selling models, including overseas factories in Thailand, India, Malaysia, etc., and overseas production lines dedicated to the Middle East market. Main models with production cuts are concentrated on fuel version RAV4, Camry, Fortuner, Innova and other traditional fuel SUVs and family sedans. Hybrid models and pure electric models capacity remains basically unchanged.

On the surface, short-term geopolitical crisis and supply-demand imbalance might be the main reasons for Toyota's current production cuts, but actually, this also reflects that holding firm to the internal combustion engine base in the global new energy wave has already fallen into a strategic disadvantage.

For a long time, Toyota insisted on hybrid technology route, pure electric model R&D and launch pace was slow, relying on durability and resale value advantages to deep-plow global fuel car blue ocean market. Especially in emerging markets like Middle East, Southeast Asia long-term occupied absolute leading position. However, in recent years, global auto industry landscape completely reconstructed, core markets like China, Europe comprehensively accelerated electrification substitution, Southeast Asia, Middle East and other traditional fuel car "safe havens" also began to gradually introduce new energy supportive policies, local new energy models rose rapidly, diverting fuel car market share.

Toyota continuously shrinking overseas capacity also reflects the new logic of current multinational automakers' global layout. In the past, automakers pursued global layout, capacity full coverage, to reduce production costs with economies of scale; Nowadays global geopolitical conflicts frequent, regional trade barriers rising, car market regional division intensifying, blind expansion of global capacity risk surged. Multinational automakers began to shift from "global expansion" to "precision layout", shut down inefficient, slow-selling fuel car capacity, concentrate funds and capacity into high-growth electrification tracks, becoming common industry practice.

It can be said, this global capacity shrinkage wave initiated by Toyota, also sounded a warning bell for current Chinese independent brands expanding overseas.

In recent years domestic car market fierce competition intensified, top automakers increased investment in overseas factories, complete vehicle exports, Middle East, Southeast Asia are exactly the core growth markets for Chinese automakers going overseas, in 2025 China's car export volume to the Middle East exceeded 1.4 million units, coinciding with Toyota passively yielded market share due to logistics disruption, geopolitical turmoil, many domestic automakers followed suit to increase regional capacity deployment and inventory stocking. But Toyota's dilemma directly exposed the common risks of global car building: single region geopolitical turmoil, sea shipping routes blocked, regional demand changes, can instantly severely damage heavy-asset overseas capacity layout.

At the same time, Chinese automakers going overseas also currently hide two hidden risks: One is some automakers blindly copying Japanese past heavy-asset factory building models, rapidly launching complete vehicle factories in emerging markets, capacity expansion pace far exceeds local new energy penetration rate, very easy to follow Toyota's fuel car capacity excess trap; Two is some overseas products structure single, over-rely on fuel cars or low-price entry-level new energy cars, lack diverse product matrix adapted to different regional policies, road conditions, insufficient ability to resist market volatility.

In addition, geopolitical supply chain risks Toyota is currently facing also reminding Chinese automakers, going overseas cannot only pursue sales volume scale, must simultaneously build diversified shipping routes, disperse regional market layout, accelerate overseas supply chain localization support, reduce impact brought by external sudden risks.

Looking at the overall situation, Toyota's overseas production cut is another heavy signal of the end of the global fuel car era. Auto industry stock competition arrives, geopolitical risk, energy change, electrification wave triple variables are reshaping global auto industry new rules. For all multinational automakers, relying on fuel cars to lie back and win era has completely ended, only by accelerating capacity structure reform, can adapt to the brand new global auto market layout.

May 20, Stellantis and Dongfeng signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding, planning to establish a joint venture in Europe. Among them, Stellantis holds 51% equity, while Dongfeng holds 49%.

This joint venture will do four things: sell VOYAH brand new energy vehicles, localize production at Stellantis' Rennes factory in France, joint procurement, joint R&D.

After establishing the "Leapmotor International" joint venture with Leapmotor in Europe, Stellantis extended an olive branch to its old partner Dongfeng again this time, adding a layer of consideration for "localization production".

Does this mean Chinese automakers have completely changed their strategy for going global?

First, Clarify the Global Expansion Models

Before analyzing this, let's first clarify the several strategies Chinese automakers use for going global.

The first is whole vehicle export. Cars are built domestically, shipped on boats, and sold by dealers locally. This model is the simplest with the lowest investment, but it lacks market control; once tariffs rise, the price advantage disappears. Chery's early export to Russia followed this path; once tariffs were added, the rhythm was completely disrupted.

The second is KD assembly. Parts are shipped locally and assembled in local factories. This model is a step up from whole vehicle export, able to evade some tariffs and carry a "Locally Made" label. But honestly, many KD factories are just large screw-nailing plants; core parts are still shipped from China, with limited localization. Many Geely and Chery factories in Southeast Asia and the Middle East use this model. It solves some problems but not the root ones.

The third is building factories alone. Bringing money overseas to buy land, build factories, hire people, and build channels. This is the most "hardcore" way and the path taken by top independent automakers. Great Wall Motors and BYD have adopted this model. BYD's Thailand factory is already in production, the Brazil factory is under construction, and the Hungary factory is in planning. The benefit is becoming a true "local brand", evading import tariffs, and securing local government industrial subsidies. But the investment is high, the cycle is long, and management complexity increases by an order of magnitude.

The fourth is acquiring local brands. Geely acquired Volvo, later invested in Daimler, and acquired Lotus. This is the path Geely walked earliest and most systematically. Partial equity or binding with a local giant equals directly inheriting the other party's brand assets, channel networks, and local compliance capabilities. But integration difficulty is huge, with high risks of cultural conflict and management chaos.

And this cooperation between Stellantis and Dongfeng does not fit well into any of the above.

Strictly speaking, it is a combination of the third and fourth types.

Using Stellantis' existing French factories for production is borrowing the other party's manufacturing assets, not building independently; selling VOYAH using Stellantis' existing European sales channels is borrowing the other party's commercial assets. Moreover, the capital structure is shared equity, not Party A hiring Party B to help, but a true interest binding.

This model, I will temporarily call it "Grafting Global Expansion" — not planting a tree yourself, but grafting branches onto an existing big tree.

Why is this path worth attention? Because it solves several core pain points of going global.

1. Channel. The European automotive dealer system is very closed. For a new Chinese brand to build a network from scratch, it would take three to five years. But Stellantis has dealer networks for brands like Peugeot, Opel, and Citroën. These are resources accumulated over decades and cannot be bought with money.
2. Factory. If the Rennes factory can be utilized, VOYAH doesn't need to build from scratch, saving a lot of time and funds.
3. Brand. Selling VOYAH cars separately in Europe, whether consumers recognize you is one thing, but if backed by Stellantis, the trust level will be different.

Where Does Localized Production Really Matter?

Many people talking about localized production first think "evading tariffs". That's right, EU anti-subsidy taxes plus tariffs mean a Chinese EV pays dozens of percentage points more tax entering Europe, basically wiping out the price advantage. But tariffs are just one dimension.

More critical is the carbon footprint. The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has started trial operation, and future import vehicle carbon emissions will also need to be considered. If cars are produced in Europe using European green electricity, the carbon footprint will be much better. In the next 5 years, the cost pressure in this area will increase.

Another point to consider is the supply chain.

Dongfeng is producing in European factories, but what about the supply chain? The memorandum wrote "joint procurement", which means some parts are still sourced from China, leveraging Dongfeng's procurement capabilities in China's new energy ecosystem to reduce costs. But the local supply chain must keep up gradually, otherwise, if geopolitical risks arise, production lines will stop.

Next, the brand. European consumers have high loyalty to car brands; Germans buy Volkswagen, French buy Peugeot. This is a habit of decades. Chinese new brands want to break this habit; product strength alone is not enough, there must be "trust endorsement". Stellantis' participation is this endorsement.

Of course, the cost is that the joint venture is led by Stellantis, and the voice in the European market is mainly in Stellantis' hands. This is a price that has to be paid.

Who Will Be Mainstream in the Next Three to Five Years?

My judgment is that in Europe, "binding with local giants" will become the mainstream.

The reason is simple, the European market is too hard to fight. Tariff barriers are highest, regulations most complex, consumers most picky, competition most intense. The whole vehicle export model will become increasingly difficult in the European market, forcing Chinese automakers to find a way out of localized production.

On the other hand, Stellantis needs to make up for the electrification shortcoming. Other Western automakers, such as Ford, General Motors, Renault and other traditional automakers, are struggling in transformation dilemmas. They have channels, factories, and brands, but lack new energy capabilities. This is exactly what Chinese automakers can provide.

Both sides have needs, so cooperation will increase.

The method may not necessarily be a joint venture form like Stellantis and Dongfeng, it could also be more flexible forms such as technology licensing, channel sharing, joint development, but the core logic is the same: not fighting alone, leveraging momentum to land. While in markets like Southeast Asia, Middle East, South America, building factories alone and KD assembly remain mainstream because barriers are relatively low and price advantages still work.

However, "binding with giants" is not without risk. Being tied up with a giant means destiny is partly in others' hands. What if Stellantis cooperates with Dongfeng today but finds a better partner tomorrow? What if joint venture performance fails to meet expectations? What if there are disagreements on product positioning and pricing strategies? Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën's history has already proved that the relationship between joint venture partners is not always smooth.

From Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën to European joint venture, over thirty years, the relationship between Dongfeng and Stellantis has completed a "two-way rush". Behind the role reversal is the accumulation and transformation of the Chinese automotive industry over decades. Chinese automakers are no longer satisfied with "selling cars"; they want "rooting". The prerequisite for rooting is learning to cooperate with locals.

Whether this time can succeed, we will wait and see.

Author |Ben Yi

Editor |De Xin

In April 2026, there were 660 car models available in the Chinese market, but only 29 had monthly sales exceeding 10,000.

In late May, Shenzhen, 13 leaders from the automotive industry gathered at the 4th Future Car Pioneer Conference. Morning talks focused on product reconstruction, afternoon discussions on vast horizons, but almost everyone was saying the same thing: The competition of specifications is unsustainable; the next card to play must be the brand.

Industry profit margins fell to 2.9%, domestic passenger car retail dropped nearly 19% year-on-year, and more than 150 new models crammed into the market this year but most couldn't even enter user choice circles. The endpoint of the "specification racing" road should be visible to everyone.

Li Bin quoted a set of data from McKinsey research: the ranking of brands in consumer car purchasing decisions ranked fifth two years ago, but has now risen to second. "Believe it will soon enter the first place."

Source: Future Car Pioneer Conference

This judgment was repeatedly verified in the mouths of different speakers.

Avatr Chairman Wang Hui said consumers no longer need you to tell them how fast the acceleration is or how far the range is. "They want to know more rationally what this brand believes in, pursues, and whether it is worthy of entrusting."

Leapmotor Senior Vice President Xu Jun was even more direct. "Specifications have become the most basic entry ticket, no longer the deciding factor."

Chery Vice President Wang Lang believed that cost-performance ratio solves "worth buying", brand value solves "worth believing, worth long-term choosing, worth recommending to others".

Every press conference talks about 800V platforms, large AI models, end-to-end intelligent driving. "If it continues like this, there will be no product differentiation."

If important decision-makers in the whole industry begin to collectively use "brand" instead of "specifications" for external expression, this itself conveys a clear signal: the competition of China's intelligent electric vehicles is shifting from "hardware racing" to competition at the brand dimension.

Avatr's Wang Hui shared a set of data from CPCA: domestic car sales exceeded 34.4 million vehicles in 2025, but profit margins were only 4.1%.

By January-February 2026, this number fell further to 2.9%.

He spoke sharply on site, "Sales without profit are fake sales, scale won by price wars is even more false prosperity."

CPCA Secretary-General Cui Dongshu added a supplement to this data from the supply chain perspective.

Whole vehicle enterprises selling cars don't make money, "basically becoming a state of working for upstream", while mining industry net profit margins have risen to about 40%. Car companies expanded the industry cake, but profits were taken by upstream.

Source: Future Car Pioneer Conference

The market side is also seriously challenging. Li Bin revealed that domestic passenger car retail sales dropped 18.9% year-on-year from January to April 2026, and even dropped more than 24% in the first few weeks of May. CPCA's annual forecast adjusted from -1% at the beginning of the year to -11% all the way. Cui Dongshu himself said, "This "drastic forecast adjustment is historically rare".

The backlash caused by price wars has also fully manifested.

Wang Hui calculated an account, "Price can only hold for two months, after two months there is not much effect, and there is a pile of old users being backstabbed." Since April, nearly 20 products in the market have announced price hikes. Avatr's own 06T and new Avatr 12 average price was 20,000 to 30,000 yuan higher than the previous generation. He said, "After the price increase, we can finally sleep soundly. Because we told customers we wouldn't stab them in the back, this counts as fulfilling the promise to users."

In a sense, it is not that car manufacturers chose to wake up proactively to carry out "brand upgrading", this is more of a passive turn under profit squeeze. When prices can't be driven down, specifications can't stack differences, "brand" almost became the only competition dimension that hasn't been fully penetrated.

Consensus is consensus, but specifically "how to build a brand", each gives a completely different answer.

Li Bin stated he would not make extended range, plug-in hybrid, and MPV. "Cars that are obviously not profitable will not be developed." Basic R&D (chips, operating systems, batteries) is firmly invested, application layer looks more at ROI. NIO brand average transaction price is about 400,000 yuan, 50,000 yuan higher than BMW, 130,000 yuan higher than Audi, achieving operating profit for two consecutive quarters. ES8 launched 215 days, delivered over 100,000 units, consecutive 5 months over 400,000 yuan regardless of energy form sales champion, so the current NIO is "save where you should, spend where you should".

Changan Group just streamlined its future five-year products from 63 models to 36 models. Wang Hui's led Avatr has struck a combination of punches in the overseas market: entering more than 40 countries, Avatr 11 starts at 290,000 yuan in China, selling near 450,000 yuan overseas, Thailand luxury electric SUV sales first, achieving stable profit after only one and a half years entering overseas.

"50:50 market, but looking globally, may need to put 80% of resources to gain the recognition of another 50% of customers." Wang Hui's underlying meaning is obvious, Domestic competition is exhausted, globalization is real incremental.

Xu Jun did not reveal details of the second brand, but said a thought-provoking sentence, "The end game of China's automotive industry development must be brand". When Leapmotor starts talking about brand upgrading, this itself is a clear signal. System synergy capability (CTC+ Central Integrated Architecture overall optimization), scenario definition capability (C16's large six seats solves second-child family travel, not just two extra seats), and long-term compound interest accumulated from over a decade of full-domain self-research, are the three layers of "hidden kung fu" supporting Leapmotor's turn.

Zhang Zhengping revealed, AITO M9's intelligent driving mileage share has exceeded 52% (overall data of 280,000 vehicles). Users choose AITO Top 3 reasons are: Intelligent driving, Safety, Brand, traditional "high performance" (acceleration, range) even did not enter the top three.

AITO also did one thing in the manufacturing end: "One Car One File", every screw of each car, each welding time, voltage, current, and operator have complete records. This is adding user trust in the brand from the underlying infrastructure.

New Generation AITO M9｜Source: HarmonyOS Intelligent Official Website

If a car company wants to build "Intelligent Brand Competitiveness" in the AI era, may need to learn from Geely.

Geely Research Institute Director Li Chuanhai admitted facing severe AI talent shortage, "Those who understand AI don't understand products, those who understand mechanics don't understand training models", and traditional recruitment can't attract top AI talents, those people are in large model companies.

Geely's solution is not hard recruitment, but building an ecosystem, and cooperating with partners like StepFun, Qianli Technology, XinQing Technology, etc., pulling AI talents into their own ecosystem. Product end, ZEEKR 4 years cumulative delivery nearly 750,000 units, average price over 300,000 yuan, ZEEKR 9X average transaction price over 530,000 yuan, consecutive months over 500,000 yuan SUV sales champion, proved the output ability of this system.

The intelligent driving supply chain side also has resonance on this.

DeepRoute CEO Zhou Guang judged, current small model intelligent driving has reached the ceiling, "Investment is increasing more and more, improvement is slower and slower".

He used "See-Saw Effect" to describe: small models solved Shanghai's problem, Shenzhen might get worse, the repeated see-saw between versions is the core reason users find it difficult to trust intelligent driving systems long-term.

DeepRoute bet on large model paradigm transition, deployed 40B base model, goal is to increase city safety takeover mileage from tens of kilometers to over 1,000 kilometers. If realized, intelligent driving will change from "usable" to "commonly used", in reverse will also become the core barrier of brand differentiation.

Source: 2026 Future Car Pioneer Conference

Additionally, worth mentioning is that the topic of FSD entering China was mentioned multiple times that day.

Zhang Zhengping stated "New M9 equipped with 6 laser radars, 40 sensors, hardware configuration definitely not lose to FSD". Zhou Guang was much more open-minded, he believes "This is a positive signal, Tesla FSD entering will make intelligent driving safety higher", but also pointed out, if still insisting on small model paradigm, "it will be quite troublesome".

Competition has upgraded, every company must bring out real stuff.

"Future ultra-luxury cars must collapse. There is no luxury car concept in the world, only premium car concept. Luxury will be replaced, just like electronic consumption, no century accumulation, only technological innovation." Cui Dongshu gave a very radical judgment.

But the big shots doing premium products on stage may not fully agree with this.

Li Bin holds 400,000 yuan average price not letting go, Wang Hui's Avatr overseas wants to sell 450,000 yuan, Xiang Xingchu's Luxeed S800 consecutive 8 months holding luxury sedan sales champion over 700,000 yuan, Zhang Zhengping's AITO M9 consecutive 2 years 500,000 yuan level champion.

Interesting is, This "disagreement" on luxury concept may not be true disagreement.

Cui Dongshu speaks of old luxury disintegration, that is luxury supported by century accumulation, handcrafting, Logo premium. What Chinese brands are doing is exactly using "Technology + Experience" to redefine luxury, which is "Real luxury is not who you are like, but who you are."

As the only foreign car company guest that day, Mercedes-Benz China R&D Head Drummond Jacoy being present on site itself makes the discussion interesting.

He mentioned "Oil and Electric Equipped with Intelligence" and "Chinese Speed" in speech, for example Chinese R&D team has begun to lead multiple global projects, including new generation S-Class rear entertainment system. When asked if Chinese luxury new brands pose a threat to Mercedes, his answer was relatively restrained, but significant: "China has many very excellent brands and products, I highly respect them."

Source: 2026 Future Car Pioneer Conference

Cui Dongshu and manufacturer representatives actually speaking of "Luxury" one body two sides: Old luxury is dissolving, new luxury is building. Disagreement also fundamentally not at "whether to do premium", but "what supports premium".

When Luxeed S800 sells to 800,000 yuan with technology, when NIO average price exceeds BMW, market data has already given the answer. The foundation of brand premium, is shifting from historical accumulation to technology experience.

This is probably the most worth paying attention to topic of this year's Future Car Pioneer Conference: when industry profit margin drops to 2.9%, when specification competition reaches the end, each car brand must answer is, what exactly are we selling?

Obviously, a function configuration table piled with various specifications is already not attractive enough.