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" 2026 China Auto Forum Hotly Discusses Intelligence and Globalization "
Author | Gong Chenyan
Editor | Li Guozheng
Produced by | Bangning Studio (gbngzs)
"We are in a very good era. The future of the automotive industry is extremely glorious." On July 22, at the 2026 China Auto Forum, Fu Bingfeng, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (abbreviated as "CAAM"), said so.
At the critical node of concluding the first half of the year and connecting the development of the whole year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers held this forum in Jiading, Shanghai from July 21 to 23.
This year, the forum set 1 closed-door summit, 1 main forum, 1 technology leader summit, 13 thematic forums, as well as multiple launch events. All conferences focus on hot spots and core issues of the automotive industry, explore industry development directions, and lead future industry trends.
The main forum was held on the morning of July 22. The core is to discuss how the industry can establish long-term confidence, adhere to strategic determination, and delve into long-term value to push the industry from scale expansion to high-quality development, facing challenges such as complex and changing international environment, fierce domestic market competition, and pressure on enterprise development.
Luo Junjie, Vice President of China Machinery Industry Federation, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor Li Jun of the School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, You Zheng, Deputy General Manager and Standing Member of the Party Committee of Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd., Jia Jianxu, President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, Wang Hui, Executive Vice President of Changan Automobile Co., Ltd., and Chairman of Avatr Technology Chongqing Co., Ltd., as well as Fu Bingfeng and other guests delivered thematic speeches at the main forum.
The high-frequency words running through this main forum are intelligence and globalization. Attendee guests believe that electrification is the entry ticket for Chinese automakers going global, while AI intelligence and self-developed capabilities are the core barriers to winning the global market. The overseas expansion model of automakers has upgraded from single product export to deep localization of the whole industry chain and system.
After entering the starting year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the domestic car market has entered a white-hot competition of stock market, and overseas has become the core engine for the growth of China's automotive industry.
In the first half of this year, vehicle production and sales totaled 14.993 million and 15.017 million units respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 4% and 4.1% respectively, with the decline rate narrowing compared to the first 5 months. Among them, export growth exceeded expectations and formed stable support, with sales reaching 5.096 million units, an increase of 65.3% year-on-year. According to CAAM, this is the first time China's first-half exports broke through 5 million units.
A good industry ecosystem is the key guarantee for the industry to make steady and far-reaching progress.
Luo Junjie proposed in his speech that the whole industry should improve governance systems, quality systems, and self-discipline systems, compete in a standardized and orderly manner, resolutely resist chaotic phenomena such as irrational competition and blind expansion, and continue to promote quality improvement and brand cultivation actions to help create a batch of Chinese automobile brands and benchmark enterprises with global competitiveness.
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Overseas Partners Value Chinese Auto AI
Different from previous forums focusing on overseas sales, model supply, and channel setup, this year's meeting saw several auto company executives bring news from frontline overseas visits.
In their view, the focus of overseas clients has shifted from models and prices to automaker AI and intelligent driving layout. The industry needs to adhere to long-termism and promote overseas expansion in coordination with technology, brand, and standards to shape a new global image for Chinese automobiles.
"Whenever I go overseas, partners are not concerned about our next-generation cars, but how we layout our next-generation AI." Details of overseas visits shared by Wang Hui at the main forum sparked heated discussion at the scene.
Wang Hui returned to China one week before the meeting. In the next 3 months, he will also travel to 20 countries to carry out overseas market work. Combining frontline overseas expansion observations, Wang Hui believes that the overseas education cost for Chinese brands is decreasing significantly, and the acceptance and recognition in markets around the world have improved significantly.
"Walking into every country overseas, one can fully feel confidence, which is a very good opportunity for Chinese car brands." He said, "The overseas market is a sprint race for incremental expansion. The globalization journey of Chinese automobiles has been fully launched."
In Jia Jianxu's view, the cognitive turning point occurring in the European market more intuitively confirms the changes in overseas demand; the Chinese automotive overseas expansion model will shift from product output to synergistic output of the whole industry chain.
He stated that in May this year, the monthly registration volume of Chinese passenger cars in 31 European countries surpassed Japanese brands, which is a highly significant turning point. Chinese automakers no longer rely on price to seize the market but compete with international first-tier brands on the same stage with original technologies such as Three-Electric systems, smart cockpits, intelligent driving, etc., outputting a complete set of new energy vehicle manufacturing standards and intelligent mobility solutions.
* SAIC Motor Group President, Deputy Party Secretary Jia Jianxu
The industry's past inherent perception was that Europe favors small commuter cars, but currently, models equipped with high-level intelligent driving and large-size smart cockpits have leading sales growth. When European consumers make car purchase decisions, they no longer only weigh price and range; vehicle AI interaction and full-domain intelligent experience have become core bonus items.
Chinese automobiles are also rewriting the cooperation logic with multinational car companies.
At the meeting, Leapmotor Technology Founder, Chairman, and CEO Zhu Jiangming introduced the details of cooperation with Stellantis, stating that it broke the past inherent model of Chinese auto companies only selling whole vehicles overseas.
"We have classic cooperation cases with FAW Hongqi, FAW Besturn, and Stellantis. We provide platform solutions and core components, and their production is very fast with guaranteed quality." Zhu Jiangming said this is equivalent to bundled services, a new model for Leapmotor as a supplier, similar to the Huawei model.
This indicates that electrification is the entry ticket for Chinese automobiles to open overseas markets, but the era of simply comparing models and cost-performance has come to an end. AI intelligence and self-developed technology are the core standards for overseas companies to judge the long-term value of Chinese automakers and finalize deep cooperation.
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Output a Complete Set of Intelligent Car Manufacturing Solutions
Iterative demand from overseas cooperation partners is not a temporary fluctuation of short-term market preferences but a necessary trend under the dual reform of global automotive industry technology routes and overseas expansion models.
At this main forum, the judgment of auto company executives speaking is consistent: automaker competition extends from single vehicle products to a complete set of intelligent industry ecosystems; automaker overseas expansion has also upgraded from simple whole vehicle trade to a full-chain industry model where technology, capacity, and services land simultaneously.
Wang Hui introduced the transformation and development path of Changan's overseas expansion model.
"In April this year, we released the Comprehensive Global Strategy 2.0 to promote global development, upgrading from a product trade-dominated type to a comprehensive business model with coordinated manufacturing trade, investment services, and ESG construction. For this, we will focus on seven directions for comprehensive upgrades." Wang Hui said the upgrades are mainly reflected in technology, products, brands, investment, cooperation models, services, and teams.
Regarding teams, in the next 3 years, Changan's overseas staff will exceed 4,600 people, the proportion of local employees will exceed 70%, driving the total employment scale of the upstream and downstream industry chain to exceed 15,000 people. Through comprehensive dimensional upgrade in 7 directions, it aims to sprint to 1.5 to 1.8 million overseas sales in 2030.
In his speech, You Zheng proposed that the industry used to compare which company's cars run faster; in the future, it will compare which company's cars are smarter.
Facing the global market, Dongfeng Motor launched the Sky Sailing Plan, promoting comprehensive overseas expansion of products, capacity, and industry. By investing over 100 billion yuan of core resources, it will launch 55 global new energy vehicle models to meet laws, regulations, and technical requirements in various global regions, achieving over 50% localization in manufacturing. By 2030, it strives to achieve an overseas sales ratio of 40%.
* Dongfeng Motor Deputy GM, Standing Member of Party Committee You Zheng
"In the context of continuous reconstruction of global rules, only by relying on compliant, systematic layout, integrating the industry chain, innovation chain, and service chain into the local area can we achieve a leap from 'going out' to 'going in' to 'going up'."
You Zheng said, "The true test of going overseas is not whether you can 'go in', but whether you can stay locally."
Jia Jianxu also advocates that when the layout model upgrades from trade overseas to deep localization of the full value chain, Chinese enterprises should pay special attention to compliance issues.
"Going to someone's home as a guest, I think the guest must follow the host's rules; otherwise, you will be driven out by the host sooner or later. So my first advocacy is compliance. If you are non-compliant, the host definitely won't like you." Jia Jianxu reminded.
According to him, SAIC's cumulative investment has exceeded 150 billion yuan, tackling core technologies of intelligent electrification, holding over 26,000 self-developed patents. The 3rd generation electrical and electronic architecture connects intelligent driving, cockpit, and chassis full-domain control, adopting a route of self-developed foundation and open ecosystem, compatible with smart regulations and software/hardware systems of various countries.
At the same time, SAIC Group landed overseas manufacturing bases in Thailand, India, and Indonesia, supporting construction of local parts industrial parks, owning RoRo ships to connect global logistics links, achieving simultaneous overseas expansion of complete vehicles and intelligent components. It does not output vehicles separately but outputs a complete set of intelligent car manufacturing solutions.
Addressing weak charging infrastructure in Southeast Asia and long-distance travel demands in Europe, Leapmotor's self-developed direct-drive plug-in hybrid technology uses a set of underlying architectures to adapt to different global markets, directly outputting standardized intelligent power solutions to overseas auto companies, reducing partners' R&D cycles and costs, and saving thousands of yuan in parts expenditure per car for partner brands.
Facing the reconstruction of global trade rules, You Zheng suggested that the industry persist in systematic layout, brand operation, and compliant operation, jointly maintain the Chinese automotive brand image, and create a batch of world-class automotive brands.
"Going overseas is generally a market-oriented behavior. Enterprises have different tactics and layout considerations, changing endlessly, none of which can be criticized, but one point is the same: enterprises going overseas must grasp the rhythm; we must blend with the local market and economy and consider the local capacity to bear." Fu Bingfeng believes that the international market needs to be steadily developed, joint venture cooperation models need to be innovated, overseas localization operation and cross-cultural management capabilities need to be improved to achieve stable development in overseas expansion.
