When the growth dividend of the industry fades, the 2026 semi-annual reports reveal the underlying colors of automakers, with differentiation further intensifying.

Author | Zhang Heng

The semi-annual reports of listed automakers for 2026 have all been released.

Among the 23 A-share and H-share listed complete vehicle companies, 14 realized profits, accounting for just over 60%; however, only 6 saw year-on-year positive growth in net profit, less than 30%. Revenue increasing but profit not increasing has become the most common industry characteristic.

In the intense competition cycle of the industry, automakers with different backgrounds have walked completely different development paths.

State-owned Automakers: Independence Has Not Yet Achieved Self-Sustaining

Changan, SAIC, and GAC's revenue size firmly ranks in the first tier of the industry, but the model of relying on joint venture business for profits and feeding back to the independent brand sector has exposed obvious shortcomings in this semi-annual report.

Changan's first-half revenue was 65.63 billion yuan, down 9.71% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 817 million yuan, down significantly by 64.32% year-on-year. The reduction in exchange gains dragged down profits significantly. After deducting exchange influences, net profit attributable to the parent grew by about 12% year-on-year. The product structure continued to optimize in the first half, but the industry's common problems still existed: the market share of the joint venture sector continued to shrink, and profit contribution declined year by year; independent brand sales increased, but single-vehicle profitability was weak, unable to fill the profit gap left by joint venture business. Independent brand sales accounted for more than 80% of the group's total sales, but profit contribution was far from reaching the same proportion, and the problem of increasing volume but not profit was prominent.

SAIC and GAC transformation contradictions are also prominent.

SAIC Group's first-half revenue was 298.65 billion yuan, down slightly by 0.31% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 5.15 billion yuan, down 14.38% year-on-year. The decline in profit was mainly dragged by the joint venture sector. Joint venture enterprise revenue and profit contracted double. The traditional fuel car base shrank, new energy products lacked competitiveness, terminals kept lowering prices, continuously squeezing joint venture business profit space. The independent sector sales rose steadily, new energy sales increased year-on-year, but it was in a high investment cycle of platform iteration, channel expansion, and smart driving R&D. The profit created currently was not enough to cover the huge gap brought by the contraction of joint venture business.

GAC Group's first-half revenue was 46.12 billion yuan, up 9.38% year-on-year; net loss attributable to the parent was 4.47 billion yuan, turning from profit to loss compared to the same period last year. Independent sector sales and new energy penetration rate rose synchronously, but profitability was weak. GAC AION sales continued to surge, but to cope with the price war, terminal concessions were increased continuously, and the sector still failed to achieve obvious scale profitability. The joint venture sector encountered the problem of fuel car shrinkage and insufficient competitiveness of new energy products. Joint venture enterprise profits retreated significantly, causing overall profit to continue to be under pressure.

It can be seen from the semi-annual reports of state-owned automakers that getting rid of the profit dependence on joint venture business and promoting independent brands to truly self-sustain, the transformation task is urgent.

Private Automakers: Going Global Becomes the Watershed

BYD, Geely, Great Wall, Chery, and Seres are representative samples among private automakers. Enterprise revenue and profit sizes still show differentiation, and the core variable that widens the gap between them comes from overseas business.

Geely, Chery, and Great Wall relied on overseas market volume to offset profit compression caused by domestic price wars.

Geely's first-half revenue was 173.6 billion yuan, up 15% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 9.09 billion yuan, down slightly by 1.8% year-on-year, with profitability basically stable. Exports were the biggest highlight — first-half overseas sales were 474,000 vehicles, up 158% year-on-year. In Southeast Asia, Middle East, and European markets, the proportion of high-margin models continued to rise. The revenue earned from overseas business basically compensated for the single-vehicle profit ceded from domestic price cuts. Geely's multi-brand matrix has taken effect after two years of structural adjustments. The proportion of high-end model sales increased, solidifying the overall profit base.

Chery's first-half revenue was 143.28 billion yuan, up 1.2% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 8.57 billion yuan, down 11.7% year-on-year. Although revenue growth was flat, the overall gross margin increased from 13% to 16.1%, and the profit quality was outstanding. Overseas markets were the core growth engine, reaching revenue of 98.97 billion yuan, up 51% year-on-year, accounting for nearly 70% of total revenue. Domestic market was squeezed by price wars, single-vehicle profit was under pressure. Chery relied on high-margin overseas business to hedge the profit pressure of the local market.

Great Wall's first-half revenue was 102.1 billion yuan, up 10.6% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 2.47 billion yuan, down 61.1% year-on-year. Profit fell significantly, mainly due to the impact of large one-time gains last year pulling up the base. Overseas, Thailand, Brazil, and Russia three major production bases' capacity continued to climb, exports rose 45% year-on-year, and overseas revenue ratio further increased. Domestically, relying on Haval, Tank, Oric, and Weimo multi-category layout to disperse operating risks brought by single-model sales fluctuations.

These three automakers did not cut R&D investment. The profit buffer provided by overseas business made their anti-cycle ability significantly better than peers.

BYD and Seres, however, faced greater profit pressure.

BYD's first-half revenue was 344.82 billion yuan, down 7.13% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 12.33 billion yuan, down 20.54% year-on-year. Although BYD is still the only automaker in the entire industry with net profit breaking 10 billion yuan, the decline in profit cannot be overlooked. Domestic hybrid and pure electric terminal discounts continued to be released, single-vehicle profit space was continuously compressed.

Seres's first-half revenue was 57.49 billion yuan, down 7.87% year-on-year; net loss was 1.72 billion yuan, turning from profit to loss compared to the same period last year (profit was 2.94 billion yuan last year), operating pressure further amplified. AITO's main models were at the new-old iteration node, old model concessions cleared inventory lowering overall gross margin, new model capacity and delivery were still climbing. Added to inventory impairment provisions and various expenses from channel optimization, multiple pressures were concentrated in this financial report.

By comparing several financial reports of the private camp, it can be seen that the dividend period of the domestic new energy industry has ended. Overseas revenue ratio, high-end model penetration rate, product iteration rhythm, these three indicators determine enterprise profit performance.

New EV Players: Profitability Remains a Difficulty

Li Auto, XPeng, NIO, and Leapmotor all had to bear three rigid expenditures in the first half: product replacement, smart driving R&D, and channel operation and maintenance. There was already obvious differentiation within the camp.

Leapmotor's first-half revenue was 38.11 billion yuan, up 57.14% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 210 million yuan, up 531% year-on-year, achieving profitability for three consecutive semi-annual periods, operating relatively stably among new forces. Relying on supply chain vertical integration, focusing on mainstream home market, in the general environment of price cuts in the whole industry, Leapmotor's vehicle gross margin was maintained in a healthy range (first-half gross margin 11.7%, second quarter rose to 12.6%). Sales growth smoothly converted into operational resilience. New forces that can maintain the profit window belong to the minority.

Li Auto, XPeng, and NIO, on the other hand, are bearing operational pressure brought by the industry cycle.

Li Auto's first-half revenue was 48.65 billion yuan, down 13.4% year-on-year; net loss attributable to the parent was 3.99 billion yuan, turning from profit to loss (profit was 1.74 billion yuan last year). Existing main range-extended models entered the end of the product life cycle, terminals lowered prices significantly for promotion, all-new product series had not yet formed enough sales contribution, product gaps directly lowered vehicle gross margin. Smart driving business continued to invest money, profit end was squeezed from both sides.

XPeng's first-half revenue was 32.78 billion yuan, down 3.8% year-on-year; net loss attributable to the parent was 3.12 billion yuan, loss expanded significantly year-on-year. Vehicle platform iteration, all-domain smart driving large-scale upgrade, channel system adjustment synchronously, R&D expenditure remained high. Technical investment has not yet fully converted to sales. Product terminal prices adjusted frequently, continuously impacting profit levels.

NIO's first-half revenue was 57.67 billion yuan, up 85.8% year-on-year; net loss attributable to the parent was 1.22 billion yuan, loss significantly narrowed year-on-year. First-half cumulative delivery was 191,100 vehicles, up 67.4% year-on-year. Three product matrices brought significant sales increase, scale effects were gradually released. But high-end market growth slowed, charging swap station construction and operation, high-end service system brought continuous fixed cost expenditure, book balance overall has not yet achieved net profit attributable to parent turn positive, operating pressure hard to resolve in short term.

Looking back at the new forces sector, the past logic that "scale could exchange for development space" has become invalid. Vehicle gross margin, cost control ability, cash reserves, became the core elements for enterprise survival.

2026 first-half automaker financial reports reflect the difficult industry situation, but not the entire industry collective decline.

State-owned automakers test transformation landing effectiveness; private large factories compete on overseas expansion speed and product iteration rhythm; new forces need to guard gross margin, control costs, and ensure cash safety. With the centralization of a large number of all-new products in the second half, the gap inside major camps will further widen. [Copyright Notice] This article is original to "AutoMan", all rights reserved by the publisher. No reprint or partial copying without authorization, violators will be investigated.