October 16, Changan Automobile issued an announcement that Zhu Huarong continues to serve as Party Secretary and Chairman of China Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Changan Automobile"), coordinating the overall planning and long-term development of the automobile businesses under the group from the group level, and no longer holds any position in Changan Automobile and its holding subsidiaries. Former Changan Automobile President Zhao Fei was promoted to Chairman, and former Executive Vice President Ye Pei was promoted to President.

If one only looks at personnel changes, this seems to be just a management position adjustment. However, against the background of the one-year anniversary of the establishment of the China Changan Automobile Group and the continuous deepening of automotive Central Enterprise SOE reform, what this adjustment truly warrants attention to might be a deeper issue: After the group integration completes the initial organizational setup, how to further streamline the relationship between the group and the listed company, allowing strategic coordination and market-based operations to play their respective roles, while forming more effective synergy?

File Photo: Zhu Huarong participated in the 2023 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Coffee Gathering · Car Night Talk event

Looking back to the initial establishment of China Changan Automobile, Zhu Huarong had stated: "The new Changan is not as simple as changing a sign or integrating an architecture, we need to conduct experiments in the mechanism, creating combat capabilities adapted to market rhythms under the logic of Central Enterprises."

Now, this reform is further moving from the organizational structure level to the operation mechanism level. Previously, when Global Auto communicated with Li Jin, Vice Chairman and Chief Expert of the SOE Management Think Tank, he pointed out that for the new round of automotive Central Enterprise reform, what is truly important is no longer just the recombination of scale, but whether new "chemical reactions" can be produced after resources are reallocated.

This "chemical reaction" is first reflected in the reshaping of corporate capabilities. Today, judging the competitiveness of an automobile enterprise cannot rely solely on traditional indicators such as production/sales volume and asset scale; it is more important to see whether it can continuously form new capabilities. Innovation here includes not only technical breakthroughs but also how products are defined, how organizations collaborate, how users are operated, how the supply chain is integrated, and how business models adjust continuously with market changes. Whoever can form these capabilities faster will have more opportunities to take the initiative in the next stage.

The formation of these capabilities cannot do without the support of organizations and mechanisms. The explanation provided by China Changan Automobile regarding this adjustment offers an important entry point. In the early stages of the group's establishment, a multi-person concurrent management model was adopted to ensure the smooth establishment of the new Central Enterprise and the normal operation of Changan Automobile. With the gradual improvement of group governance, how to further strengthen the group's strategic leading role while enhancing the listed company's independent operational capabilities has become the core issue that this adjustment needs to solve.

File Photo: Zhao Fei participated in the 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Coffee Gathering · Car Night Talk event

From the arrangement after the adjustment, the responsibility boundaries between the group and the listed company are further clarified. Zhu Huarong focuses on strategic coordination at the China Changan Automobile Group level. Zhao Fei concurrently serves as General Manager of the Group and Chairman of Changan Automobile, responsible for connecting group strategy with listed company development. Ye Pei serves as President of Changan Automobile, further focusing on the operation and management of the listed company.

Behind this is actually the recalibration of the relationship between group strategic coordination and listed company market-based operations. For China Changan Automobile Group, it needs to coordinate business layout, resource allocation, and industrial synergy from a higher strategic dimension, promoting the connection of overall group development with national strategic requirements. For listed companies like Changan Automobile, the core task is to face market competition directly, respond to user needs faster, and form breakthroughs in products, technology, marketing, and operational efficiency. Both sides require both a clear division of rights and responsibilities and an efficient coordination mechanism.

As Professor Li Jin pointed out, the development of the new energy vehicle industry is no longer just an industry issue, but a matter concerning the quality of the entire national economic development. In his view, future Central Enterprises must conduct deep adjustments from the perspective of the grand pattern of global competition, rather than simply pursuing scale expansion. This adjustment includes both technical innovation and institutional reform.

What Changan Automobile is experiencing is exactly such changes. From the perspective of technical accumulation, Changan Automobile's R&D investment ratio reached 7.67% in 2025, possessing over 7,500 intelligent talents, cumulatively building over 400,000 virtual simulation test scenarios, and the full-stack self-developed "Tianshu Navigation" intelligent driving assistance system has begun to achieve large-scale commercial use. Changan Qiyuan Q06's cumulative orders broke through 35,000 units within 24 hours of launch, indicating that technical capabilities are accelerating transformation into product and market performance.

From the perspective of globalization layout, Changan's pace is also further accelerating. Currently, its business covers 149 countries and regions, the Thailand new energy vehicle assembly plant has already started production, and 17 KD factories have been built in 8 countries including Brazil, with overseas capacity reaching 446,000 units. According to management, Changan's overseas sales are expected to reach over 900,000 units this year, and next year plans to push the overseas sales of independent brands to double.

These achievements indicate that Changan already possesses technical accumulation and globalization foundations. However, the deeper the globalization promotion, the higher the requirement for the enterprise's overall operational capability. In other words, as Changan moves from product overseas expansion to systematic global layout, competition is no longer limited to the performance of a single product or business, but whether the entire organization can operate efficiently around market demands. After group integration, whether stronger system capabilities can be formed is becoming a question Changan must answer for its next stage of development.

The "two-level organization, one-level efficiency" proposed by Changan Automobile is precisely the response to this issue. Although the group and listed companies bear different responsibilities, the division of organizational levels should not become a source of efficiency loss. Major matters require group coordination, while specific businesses should be as close to the market as possible with quick decision-making. Through direct information, compressed processes, and reducing unnecessary internal circulation, let the group's strategic guidance and the listed company's market response form a synergy, rather than letting the two-level organizations operate separately.

Matching the governance architecture adjustment is also the optimization of the management team. In this adjustment, Yang Dayong was promoted to Executive Vice President, Deng Chenghao was promoted to Executive Vice President, and the responsibilities of some management personnel were also adjusted accordingly. According to the official explanation, this adjustment not only involves professional structure but also takes into account age structure and experience structure. The purpose is not simply to pursue the rejuvenation of the management team, but to further optimize team configuration, allowing talent with different professional backgrounds and familiar with industry development laws to undertake corresponding responsibilities, enhancing organizational vitality and execution capability while maintaining strategic continuity.

If the vision is expanded a bit more, this adjustment can also be observed against the background of the continuous deepening of automotive Central Enterprise SOE reform. Whether it is the "Three Big, Three Small" industry layout, or the four major business directions proposed by China Changan Automobile "New Cars, New Components, New Services, New Ecosystems", reform cannot stay at the recombination of organizational structure, more importantly is to form effective synergy between different businesses.

Professor Li Jin once pointed out that the new energy vehicle market has moved from a simple expansion stage into a competitive stage of selection of the fittest and elimination of the weak, how Central Enterprises and SOEs can play a leading role and optimize market layout will directly affect the future of the entire industry. This is a question that current automotive Central and SOE reform needs to answer.

As Zhu Huarong said, the Center requires Central Enterprises to "forge a bloodied path" in fierce competition. In his view, this is not only a breakthrough in sales targets, but also a march towards world-class enterprises. In the highly competitive automobile industry, Central and SOEs must build high-efficiency market-based mechanisms and operational capabilities. For China Changan Automobile, the system cannot change, but mechanisms can be continuously optimized. The Central level also clearly stated that there is still room for mechanism optimization.

In other words, for automotive Central Enterprises and SOEs, serving national strategy and participating in market competition are not contradictory. On the contrary, the more one faces fierce global competition, the more one needs to further streamline rights and responsibilities relationships and improve resource allocation efficiency through mechanism optimization. The significance of reform lies not only in optimizing industry layout but also in establishing a set of operational mechanisms that can adapt to market changes and support long-term competition.

Organizational integration solves how resources are combined, while mechanism reform answers how resources generate value. For Changan, the true test is whether this adjustment can let the group's strategic coordination capabilities and the listed company's market-based operational capabilities form a synergy. In this sense, architectural adjustment is just the starting point; how to make organizations more efficient and resources better serve the market is the answer sheet this reform truly needs to hand in.

On October 16, Changan Automobile announced a leadership change. Zhu Hourong will no longer hold any position at Changan Automobile and its holding subsidiaries, continuing to serve as Party Secretary and Chairman of China Changan Automobile Group; Zhao Fei has been promoted to Chairman of Changan Automobile, and Ye Pei to President.

The announcement was short, but the underlying reality of this leadership change is a set of numbers that are not easy: the annual target completion rate for the first three quarters is only 51.7%, first-half net profit attributable to shareholders was 817 million Yuan, down 64.32% year-on-year, deducted non-recurring net profit was 251 million Yuan, down 83.01% year-on-year; the relatively bright spot is overseas, with cumulative deliveries of 729,700 vehicles in the first three quarters, up 56.8% year-on-year, with September's single-month overseas sales share accounting for about 44%.

These numbers outline an uneven performance report. For the new management team, they are taking over not a single-line front, but a two-front situation of defending domestic profits and pushing for overseas delivery.

This leadership change falls during a period with the most concentrated actions by Changan. In recent years, Changan has moved continuously on products, organization, and overseas layout: the model count has been streamlined from 63 to 36, Avatr and Deepal are advancing mid-to-back-office integration, the Thailand factory is ramping up, the Brazil factory has started production, and Europe base site selection is progressing. These actions correspond to the shrinkage of the overall fuel vehicle market domestically, Changan New Energy's baton relay being slow, and fast overseas export growth but local profitability not catching up yet.

Now, actions have been laid out, and the real test is the execution pace: whether the same strategy can form verifiable improvements in average vehicle price, new energy vehicle loss per unit, and overseas regional profitability. After the leadership change, the new team takes over exactly this execution challenge.

First, look at the domestic market. In the first half of the year, the domestic fuel vehicle market size decreased by 27.8% year-on-year, which is an industry-wide contraction; but Changan's sales core base is still pressed heavily on fuel vehicles, and the relay speed of the new energy sector has not outperformed the speed of the market contraction. In the first three quarters of 2026, Changan New Energy sales share was 41.6%, while the industry new energy penetration rate stood at 53.6% during the same period.

Changan's electrification progress is not stagnant, but the gap of running behind the overall market is clear: for every two vehicles sold in the industry, more than one is new energy, but for Changan, only after selling five vehicles does it just pass two. This is the structural explanation for the pressure on the profit statement. Changan's first-half net profit attributable to shareholders declined 64.32% year-on-year, and deducted non-recurring net profit declined 83.01% year-on-year; phased sales pressure and reduced exchange gains are direct causes, but the speed difference of the structural switch is the line worth watching more. Industry profit margins have fallen to around 3.8% during the same period, and the space to trade price for volume is narrowing.

Facing the dilemma, Changan's response has already landed on the product and organization levels. The total number of models has been streamlined from 63 to 36, a 43% compression, with the goal of growing 6 flagship models with annual sales exceeding 300,000 vehicles. Avatr and Deepal are advancing the integration and sharing of platform architecture, three-electric systems, intelligent driving software stacks, and supply chain procurement, with shared resource costs expected to decrease by 20%—30%. At the terminal level, Qiyuan Q05 has been ranked high in sales of compact pure electric SUVs for consecutive months, the Qiyuan brand achieved quarterly profitability in the second quarter, and Avatr reduced losses year-on-year; Qiyuan's average vehicle price increased by 12,000 Yuan year-on-year, and Avatr's average vehicle price increased by 2,000 Yuan year-on-year, indicating that "not blindly following the price war" is beginning to generate average price support on some product lines. However, these are still improvements at the single-quarter, single-brand level; the cost reduction effect will be more fully reflected in the financial statements after the integration is completed by the end of 2026. For this domestic execution challenge, short-term looks at whether new energy penetration rate can bottom out and whether vehicle-level losses can narrow; mid-term looks at whether flagship models with high volume can grow from the 36 models.

If the domestic market is still transitioning, overseas has already seen a volume surge, but the volume surge itself also brings deliverables that need fulfilling. Overseas revenue in the first half of the year was 21.942 billion Yuan, up 78.77% year-on-year, with the proportion of overall revenue rising from 16.89% in the same period last year to 33.43%; overseas gross margin was 20.13%, significantly higher than China's 11.67%. Overseas cumulative deliveries for the first three quarters were 729,700 vehicles, up 56.8% year-on-year, September's single-month share approaching 44%, and the overseas goal of 750,000 vehicles for the whole year is within reach. But in the first half of 2026, foreign operating cost growth of 83.59% was faster than revenue growth of 78.77%, overseas gross margin narrowed by 2.1 percentage points year-on-year, and signs of "volume growth without profit growth" have already appeared in the statements. The tariff structure of the European market is a harder constraint: Chinese-produced electric vehicles face a 10% basic tariff, plus up to 35.3% countervailing duties, with a comprehensive tax rate ceiling close to 45%, making it increasingly difficult to maintain price competitiveness solely relying on complete vehicle exports.

For this, Changan's solution is to push production capacity to the front line of the markets. The Thailand Rayong Factory fully operated in May 2025 with an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles, expanding to 200,000 vehicles in 2027, serving Southeast Asia and European RHD markets; the Brazil factory started production in March 2026, achieving "Made locally, supplied locally, integrated locally". The selection of local bases in Europe is also progressing, planning 180,000 vehicles capacity in 2028, and 300,000 to 350,000 vehicles in the long term, with the goal of avoiding tariffs and shortening supply chain radius through local manufacturing. A longer-term framework is the "1+N" global manufacturing and supply chain system, setting a main base in each overseas major region, serving multiple KD/CKD assembly nodes, pushing going global from complete vehicle trade to regional closed loops. For this overseas execution challenge, short-term looks at the capacity utilization rate and local procurement ratio of the Thailand and Brazil factories; mid-term looks at whether export growth rates can gradually shift to regional profitability.

The two questions in front of Changan are essentially different cycles: domestic new energy relay looks at penetration rate and vehicle-level loss in the coming few quarters; overseas local profitability looks at capacity utilization rate and local procurement ratio measured in years. The same team running the accounts for two cycles at the same time is the true difficulty of the "two-front situation." Now, the leadership change has only completed the handover, and the real test is in the financial statements of the coming few quarters.

October 18, themed “Starting Fate in Changan, Accompanied by Sichuan Airlines”, the “2026 Chongqing Youth Collective Wedding and China Changan Automobile 14th Youth Collective Wedding” successfully concluded. Hosted by the Youth League Committee of Liangjiang New Area District, Youth League Committee of Yuzhong District, China Changan Automobile Youth League Committee, Changan Automobile Youth League Committee, and Sichuan Airlines Youth League Committee. 50 newlywed couples from various industries in Chongqing City, Changan Automobile domestic and overseas, and Sichuan Airlines walked into the marriage hall together at Changan Automobile Technology Park. Zhang Ke, Deputy Secretary of the Youth League Committee of Chongqing City; Shen Yingchun, Vice Mayor and Party Group Member of the People’s Government of Liangjiang New Area; Zhu Furong, Party Committee Secretary and Chairman of China Changan Automobile; Zhao Fei, Deputy Party Committee Secretary and General Manager of China Changan Automobile, Party Committee Secretary and Chairman of Changan Automobile; Ye Pei, Deputy Party Committee Secretary and President of Changan Automobile; Du Kunfei, Deputy Party Committee Secretary of Sichuan Airlines Group and Sichuan Airlines Co., Ltd. attended the event.

Shen Yingchun, Vice Mayor and Party Group Member of the People’s Government of Liangjiang New Area, stated that today’s collective wedding is not only China Changan Automobile demonstrating the responsibility of a central state-owned enterprise, actively responding to the call for building a youth development city with concrete actions, caring for youth employees, and serving youth marriage and love; it is also a warm miniature of Liangjiang New Area deepening the construction of a youth development city.

Zhao Fei, Deputy Party Committee Secretary and General Manager of China Changan Automobile, Party Committee Secretary and Chairman of Changan Automobile, expressed blessings, stating that Changan always remembers General Secretary Xi’s important discourses on youth work, firmly attaches importance to youth, cares for youth, and supports youth, continuously builds a stage for youth to start businesses and do things, and fully solves urgent difficulties and worries. On this auspicious day, may the newlyweds possess the warmest “Heartfelt Companion”, be each other’s “Smart Partner”, and have “Changan Companion for a Lifetime”!

Before the ceremony, a wedding car fleet composed of Changan TianShu Pilot Ultra and Changan Qiyuan Q06 traveled through the city to welcome newlyweds from all over. During the parade, the newlyweds experienced the peace of mind guarding brought by Changan TianShu Pilot immersively. As the first intelligent driving assistance solution self-developed by a central state-owned enterprise, Changan TianShu Pilot is equipped with LiDAR on the full series, adopts Central Ring Network Communication Architecture and One-piece End-to-End Technology Architecture, with comprehensive performance ranking in the industry’s top echelon. Facing the mountain city’s undulating slopes, multi-road intersections, and urban traffic flow, Changan TianShu Pilot achieves smooth following, intelligent lane changing, and precise speed control, escorting the journey of happiness with safe, silky, and easy-to-use experiences.

This wedding also welcomed a Thai newlywed couple from the Thailand Rayong Factory. On stage, the bride’s authentic “Perfect!” won round-the-house applause. Meanwhile, employees from various overseas bases also sent online blessings across the distance, gathering the same heart with different languages. The Changan TianShu Pilot Ultra equipped Changan Qiyuan Q06 transformed into a blessing messenger, delivering blessings in multiple languages. This love connection spanning mountains and seas is a vivid footnote to Changan Automobile’s globalization “Inclusive Gathering” Plan. Currently, Changan Automobile has built 22 overseas manufacturing bases including the Thailand Rayong Factory, with market coverage in 129 sales countries and regions; last week, Changan Automobile showcased its globalization product matrix at the 2026 Paris Auto Show, launching a series of releases around brand, product, service, and marketing fields. From Thailand Rayong to the European continent, Changan Automobile not only roots products and services globally but also allows employees and partners from around the world to meet and know each other in a common career. Inclusive Gathering gathers travelers from the five continents and four seas, gathering belonging and identity beyond borders.

In the warm ceremony, attending leaders and guests jointly awarded major prizes to newlywed representatives, including Changan Qiyuan Q06 and domestic and international round-trip tickets. Every prize was full of prestige, pushing the atmosphere of the entire ceremony to the climax.

The Youth Collective Wedding has been held for 14 consecutive sessions. China Changan Automobile has always persisted in doing good things well and doing practical things solidly, supporting youth employees in growth and success, allowing youth who choose Changan to settle down and chase dreams freely here. In the future, China Changan Automobile will continue to move in the same direction with the vast youth and achieve mutual success. On the journey of forging a world-class automobile brand, we will write more happiness chapters belonging to strivers.

On October 18, with the theme of "Originating in Changan, Accompanied by Sichuan Airlines", the "2026 Chongqing Youth Group Wedding and China Changan Automobile 14th Youth Group Wedding" organized by the Communist Youth League of Liangjiang New Area Committee, Communist Youth League of Yuzhong District Committee, China Changan Automobile Youth League Committee, Changan Automobile Youth League Committee, and Sichuan Airlines Youth League Committee successfully concluded. 50 newlyweds from various industries in Chongqing City, Changan Automobile's domestic and overseas entities, and Sichuan Airlines joined hands in the hall of marriage at Changan Automobile Technology Park. Zhang Ke, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Youth League of Chongqing Municipal Committee; Shen Yingchun, Deputy District Head and Member of the Party Leadership Group of Liangjiang New Area People's Government; Zhu Huarong, Party Secretary and Chairman of China Changan Automobile; Zhao Fei, Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of China Changan Automobile, Party Secretary and Chairman of Changan Automobile; Ye Pei, Deputy Party Secretary and President of Changan Automobile; Du Kunfei, Deputy Party Secretary of Sichuan Airlines Group and Sichuan Airlines Co., Ltd. attended the event.

Shen Yingchun, Deputy District Head and Member of the Party Leadership Group of Liangjiang New Area People's Government stated that today's group wedding is not only a concrete practice for China Changan Automobile to demonstrate the responsibility of a central SOE, actively respond to the call for building a youth-friendly city with practical actions, care for young employees, and serve young marriage and love, but also a warm vignette of Liangjiang New Area deepening youth-friendly city construction.

Zhao Fei, Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of China Changan Automobile, Party Secretary and Chairman of Changan Automobile, expressed in his blessings that Changan always unswervingly values, cares for, and supports youth, continuously building a platform for youth to start careers and achieve goals, and fully addressing their urgent needs and concerns. On this auspicious day, may the newlyweds have the warmest "intimate companionship", be "wise partners" to each other, and be "accompanied by Changan" for a lifetime!

Before the ceremony began, Changan Qiyuan Q06s equipped with Changan Tianshu Pilot Ultra formed a wedding car convoy, traveling through the city to welcome newlyweds from everywhere. During the parade, the newlyweds immersively experienced the peace of mind protection brought by Changan Tianshu Pilot. As the first self-developed intelligent driving assistance solution by a central SOE, Changan Tianshu Pilot models are equipped with LiDAR, adopting a central ring network communication architecture and one-piece end-to-end technology architecture, with comprehensive performance ranking in the top tier of the industry. Facing the mountain city's undulating slopes, multi-road intersections, and urban traffic flow, Changan Tianshu Pilot achieves smooth car following, intelligent lane changing, and precise speed control, with safe, smooth, and user-friendly experience, escorting the journey to happiness throughout.

This wedding also welcomed a Thai couple from Rayong Plant in Thailand. The bride on stage's authentic Chongqing dialect "Okay" won a round of applause. At the same time, employees from overseas major bases also sent blessings remotely "cloud-style", gathering different languages into the same sentiment. Changan Qiyuan Q06s equipped with Changan Tianshu Pilot Ultra turned into messengers of blessings, conveying good wishes in multiple languages. This relationship across mountains and seas is exactly a vivid footnote to Changan Automobile's globalization "Welcome All" Plan. Currently, Changan Automobile has built 22 overseas manufacturing bases including Rayong Plant in Thailand, with market coverage in 129 sales countries and regions; last week Changan Automobile showcased its global product matrix at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, launching a series of releases around brand, product, service, marketing, etc. From Rayong, Thailand to the European continent, Changan Automobile not only roots products and services globally, but also lets employees and partners from all over the world get to know each other in a common cause. Welcoming all streams, it gathers travelers from around the globe, gathering a sense of belonging and identity crossing national borders.

In the warm ceremony, attending leaders and guests jointly presented grand prizes to the newlywed representatives, including Changan Qiyuan Q06, international and domestic round-trip air tickets for two. Every prize was extremely impressive, pushing the atmosphere of the entire ceremony to a climax.

The youth group wedding has been held for 14 consecutive editions. China Changan Automobile always insists on doing good things well and practical things solidly for youth, supporting young employees' growth and success, allowing youth who choose Changan to settle down with peace of mind and chase dreams without restraint. In the future, China Changan Automobile will continue to move in the same direction with the vast youth, achieving each other, and write more happy chapters for strivers on the journey of building a world-class automobile brand.

Recently, the 2027 model Qiyuan Q05 went on sale. Three trims, official guide price 89,900 RMB to 101,900 RMB, limited-time subsidy price 79,900 RMB to 95,900 RMB. This car has just ranked as the sales champion of domestic compact SUVs for six consecutive months, cumulative deliveries have exceeded 100,000 units, September global monthly sales directly hit 30,000 units. In Changan's entire new energy portfolio, it is the most capable vehicle at the moment.

Looking back at the data, when it launched in 2025, monthly sales hovered between 1,000 and 2,000 units, having almost no presence in the compact SUV market. The turning point appeared in March this year, when monthly retail sales suddenly jumped to 12,000, then continued climbing: April 15,800, May 16,000, June 18,900, July approaching 19,000. From over 1,000 monthly sales to nearly 20,000, it multiplied more than ten times in half a year.

This growth cannot be explained by price cuts. Price cuts can pull a wave, but not this consistent climbing slope. Behind this is Changan's redefinition of this car.

So what is it based on? In one sentence, it is not an explosion sold out from a price war, but a hit forged in a specification battle.

In the 100,000 RMB segment, full series standard CATL LFP battery, full series supports 3C fast charging, 15 minutes from 30% to 80%. High trim version comes directly with LiDAR, equipped with NOA pilot assist for highways and urban viaducts. This combination, before Q05 appeared, was usually seen only on cars above 200,000 RMB. 2,735 mm wheelbase, 540 L trunk, folding rear seats up to 1,380 L, these numbers put in the 100,000 RMB segment are all over-class existence.

In plain language, this car did something very hard, forcibly stuffing configurations others dare not release into the 100,000 RMB segment, yet making users believe this brand is worth paying for. So Q05 did not win on price, it won by turning the four words "Technology Democratization" from marketing jargon into something tangible and usable for users. When LiDAR is no longer a symbol of high-end, when 3C fast charging becomes standard for 100,000 RMB segment, users naturally vote with their feet.

This 2027 model update, upgrades are also very targeted. Full series range unified to 506 km, cut original 405 version, entry-level is long range; full series standard heat pump AC, directly solving the old problem of pure electric car range shrinking in winter; run-flat tire stability also made full series standard. You see, the facelift has no gimmicks, every cut targets user hard needs.

But for Changan, the significance of Q05 is far more than just a hit.

Looking at Changan Auto's moves this year together, Q05's position is particularly key. First half of this year, Changan actively cut low-profit micro EV Lumin, this cut down is about 70,000 units sales gap. Who fills this gap? Avatr goes high-end, Deepal goes mid-end overseas, the one that can really move volume, can shoulder sales, is Qiyuan. And whether Qiyuan can shoulder it, key depends on Q05.

July data gave the answer. Changan Qiyuan single month global delivery nearly 40,000 units, among which Q05 contributed nearly half. In Changan New Energy's three brands — Avatr, Deepal, Qiyuan — portfolio, Qiyuan has surpassed Deepal, becoming Changan New Energy's top sales pillar.

This significance is big. It indicates Changan, in the adjustment period of cutting low-end products and integrating brands, found a clear, replicable, and already market-verified path — using self-developed intelligence and electrification capabilities, to create differentiation in the mass market.

Going one level higher. Qiyuan established barely three years ago, cumulative sales have broken 1 million units, and achieved profitability. In today's universally pressured new energy market, this is not an easy thing. Supporting this strategy is exactly Q05, this hardest prototype.

Here must mention Changan's layout. As early as 2017, Changan proposed "Third Entrepreneurship", successively established Avatr and Deepal two new energy brands, stepped in pits, also accumulated methodology. By 2023 Qiyuan born, the tuition fees of the previous two brands, all fed back to this new brand positioning mainstream family use. So Qiyuan these three years rhythm very clear: first use A07 to stand brand, then use E07 to show SDA architecture technical foundation, then unfold product line, finally use Q05 such hit to rush volume. One year one step, almost no detours.

More worth mentioning is, this road is already going outwards. This year Q05 first launched in Thailand, less than half month orders broke 3,000, then entered Uzbekistan, also plans to do CKD localization production locally; this Paris Motor Show, Qiyuan again followed Changan three brands together to place in Europe. A car killing out from 100,000 RMB segment market, now becomes Changan globalization vanguard.

Auto Review: So back to the 79,900 RMB car at the beginning. It looks cheap, but cheap is just the result. The real reason is Changan took three years tech accumulation, self-developed Tianshu Intelligent Driving, Jinzongzhao Battery, SDA Architecture, one by one downgraded to mass market, let most ordinary family, use most affordable money, drive decent car. This is where Qiyuan Q05 is most worth discussing. It is not only Changan New Energy's first pillar, it proves one thing: Changan's new energy transformation path, has been completed.

For Changan, the Paris Auto Show is not just a new product launch, but a key node in the promotion of the globalization strategy.

October 12, the 2026 Paris International Auto Show opened. Changan Automobile, with the theme "Embrace All, Grow Together", showcased its three major brands Changan Qiyuan, Deepal Automobile, and Avatr, while also concentrating on showcasing self-developed technologies such as Blue Whale Super Engine Hybrid, Tianshu Intelligence, and Jinzhongzhao Battery.

Counting from the establishment of the Turin design center in Italy in 2001, Changan has walked 25 years in Europe. At this auto show, Changan Qiyuan officially entered Europe, and the three major smart digital new energy brands completed full lineup coverage, reflecting profound changes in the path of Chinese car companies going overseas.

Changan is one of the earliest Chinese car companies to layout in Europe.

As early as 2001, Changan established a European design center in Turin, Italy, kicking off the path of European gene fusion. In the following decade, Changan also established a R&D center in Birmingham, UK, focusing on powertrain and chassis integration and chassis tuning, with a cumulative investment of 240 million euros and a team size of over 100 people. In 2021, the Avatr global design center was established in Munich, Germany. Point by point and from inside to outside, Changan's R&D layout in Europe is gradually unfolding.

In addition, the R&D-first approach allows Changan to get closer to the real needs of European users. The local European expert team conducts car design, chassis tuning, and power adaptation combined with local road conditions, regulations, and user preferences. The Changan Qiyuan Q05, Deepal S07 PHEV, and Deepal S05 PHEV Right-Hand Drive versions which debuted at this auto show are products developed specifically for European family scenarios, charging conditions, and regulations.

Beyond R&D, Changan's channel and service network in Europe is also continuously expanding.

Currently, Changan has established sales companies in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, with over 350 sales service outlets in 15 countries in Europe. From the landing of the first design center to the full chain layout of R&D, production, sales, and service, Changan's role in Europe is shifting from a product exporter to a local market participant.

The most attention-grabbing move at this Paris Auto Show was Changan Qiyuan officially entering Europe. In March 2025, Changan and Avatr brands were released in Europe; in September of the same year at the Munich Auto Show, the Deepal brand was officially released. With Qiyuan bringing Q05, Q06, and A06 to Paris, Changan's three major smart digital new energy brands landed in Europe, forming a full spectrum layout covering premium luxury, young technology, and mainstream home use.

The positioning of the three brands varies. Changan Qiyuan targets mainstream family users, focusing on quality, practicality, and smart living, among which Q05 has topped the domestic compact SUV sales chart for six consecutive months, with a WLTP range of 450 kilometers, and received a 5-star safety rating from Europe NCAP in 2026. Deepal Automobile targets young users, highlighting technology and driving fun, S07 PHEV and S05 PHEV Right-Hand Drive versions were deeply optimized for European roads and user habits. Avatr is positioned as original design and smart new luxury, T09 made its global debut in Paris, and brand products will officially enter Europe by the end of this year.

Multi-brand and differentiated product combinations allow Changan to form a relatively complete product ladder in the European market. From compact SUVs to mid-to-large sedans, from plug-in hybrids to pure electric, models with different price points and power forms cover European users' diverse car usage needs. For car companies competing in mature markets, the completeness of the product matrix is often more important than the highlights of single models.

Behind the products is the support of the technology system. At this Paris Auto Show, Changan brought mature domestic self-developed new energy and intelligent technologies to Europe.

In the new energy field, Blue Whale Super Engine Hybrid covers multiple technology routes including HEV, PHEV, and REEV, with six years of R&D, urban fuel consumption as low as 2.98 liters per 100 kilometers, and over 2 million kilometers of vehicle reliability verification. The CS55 PLUS Blue Whale Super Engine HEV also made its debut overseas at this auto show, becoming a microcosm of Chinese hybrid schemes stepping onto international Tier-A auto shows.

Regarding batteries, the Jinzhongzhao Battery has an energy retention rate of over 90% at minus 10 degrees Celsius, adapting to vehicle usage scenarios in some high-cold regions of Europe, and achieves all-weather monitoring relying on the iBC Digital Battery Management System. Changan disclosed that they have completed the verification of 20 Ah sulfide and oxide composite solid-state batteries, with an energy density of 400 Wh/kg, planning to mass-produce all-solid-state batteries in 2030.

On the intelligent level, Changan Tianshu Intelligence brand covers sequences such as Tianshu Pilot, Tianshu Cockpit, and Tianshu Chassis. Tianshu Pilot adopts a one-piece end-to-end architecture, equipped with LiDAR on all models, relying on Central Ring Network Communication Architecture to achieve interactive pilot; Tianshu Cockpit uses AI-native intelligent model architecture to process complex tasks; Tianshu Chassis adopts distributed electric drive. Changan has obtained the first batch of L3-level autonomous driving product access permits from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and has been approved for L4-level Robotaxi testing licenses.

Beyond technology output, Changan is also participating in the co-building of international standards, participating in the formulation of ADSGTR, the world's first unified technical regulation for autonomous driving, leading the compilation of several ITU international standards, and participating in over 360 types of standards in total. For Chinese car companies, moving from technology following to participating in standard setting is an unavoidable step in the globalization process.

Entering Europe with products and technologies is just the first step. Whether to establish a sound service and operation system locally determines whether the brand can truly take root. At this Paris Auto Show, Changan simultaneously launched several localization strategic initiatives, continuously strengthening the "with U" global user brand.

Regarding the service network, Changan has laid out over 350 sales service outlets in 15 countries in Europe, built four regional central warehouses, maintained spare parts fulfillment rate above 97%, providing 1-day delivery in core cities and 72-hour express spare parts service across Europe.

In addition, Changan established two major training and certification centers, conducting engineer certification for new energy three-electric systems and intelligent technologies, building a Europe call center, responding to user demands 7 days x 8 hours. After-sales, Changan launched a 7-year or 160,000 km long-term warranty for the whole vehicle, Pan-European road rescue and courtesy car service, aiming to build user trust through longer warranty cycles and perfect rescue networks.

Regarding talent and production, Changan has invested 1.18 billion euros in Europe so far this year, established 8 subsidiaries, with over 800 employees, localization rate over 80%, planning to expand to 1,200 people within three years, driving 2,400 local jobs. The layout of European production bases is basically determined, expected to build 180,000 unit capacity in 2028, and 350,000 unit capacity planned for 2030. Previously, the Rayong Plant in Thailand started production last May, and the Brazil Plant also started production this March, with the global manufacturing network gradually taking shape.

From sales outlets to spare parts centers, from training systems to local factories, Changan has built a full lifecycle user operation system in Europe. For consumers in mature markets, purchasing decisions often do not only look at the product itself, but after-sales convenience, spare parts availability, and brand certainty of long-term existence are also important considerations.

Changan's layout in Europe is a microcosm of its overall globalization strategy. In April 2023, Changan released the globalization "Open to All" plan, with long-termism and localization as principles. In the past five years, Changan's overseas sales increased from 100,000 units to 637,000 units, with a cumulative total of over 2.8 million units, an average annual growth of 50.4%. In September this year, Changan's overseas delivery reached 96,200 units, a year-on-year increase of 73.8%.

In April 2026, Changan released the "Open to All" Plan 2.0, proposing to double overseas vehicle sales to 1.5 million units by 2030, with a goal of 1.8 million units, releasing 43 global models, and overseas capacity exceeding 800,000 units. Compared to Stage 1.0, Version 2.0 emphasizes the synergistic full business model of manufacturing, trade, investment, service, and ESG, marking Changan's globalization transformation from product trade-led to systematic operations.

Observing against the industry background, Changan's overseas path is somewhat representative. Early Chinese car companies going overseas were mostly product trade, relying on cost-performance ratio to open emerging markets. But in Europe, a mature market with high thresholds and strict standards, pure product output is hard to sustain, R&D localization, service systematization, and manufacturing localization became mandatory options.

Changan used 25 years to build a full chain layout of R&D, production, sales, and service in Europe, with three brands differentiated positioning, core technology independent and controllable, local service network continuously expanding, multiple important elements together constituting the foundation of systematic overseas expansion.

The European market competition is fierce, local brands have deep roots, and Chinese car companies still face many challenges. Tariff policies, brand awareness, supply chain stability issues, etc., all need time to digest. But judging from the signals released by Changan at the Paris Auto Show, long-termism and localization investment are turning from strategic slogans into concrete actions. For the Chinese automotive industry going global, Changan's exploration provides a sample worth observing.

The exhibition booth of the Paris Auto Show is just a window, outside the window is the accelerating promotion of Chinese car companies' globalization process.

Changan used 25 years to complete the leap from design center landing to R&D, production, sales, and service full chain layout in Europe, three brands launching simultaneously, core technology going overseas, localization operations deepening, outlining a complete path of systematic overseas expansion for a Chinese car company.

From product output to industrial rooting, from trade-led to system synergy, Changan's exploration in Europe reflects the advanced direction of the globalization of China's automotive industry. The test of mature markets has just begun, brand awareness building, supply chain stability, local team adjustments, all need more time verification.

But it is certain that long-termism deepening local markets and global competition participation with system capabilities are becoming a consensus for Chinese car companies going overseas.

The 2027 Changan Qiyuan Q05 officially launched on October 13, 2026. As a model year revision, the new car has updates on appearance colors and configuration levels.

What Changes Are There In Interior and Exterior Configurations?

The appearance continues the Digital Wisdom Flying Wing 2.0 design language, adding exclusive colors. It further enriches choices based on the five existing body colors: Pine Green, Flowing Gold Purple, Moonlight Silver, Cloud Shadow Grey, and Cloud Brocade White.

This time only the Le Enjoy, Shu Comfort, and Chang Enjoy three versions with 506 km range are newly released. Core upgrades focus on two key configurations: 506 km range versions come standard with heat pump air conditioning, and the Tire Blowout Stability System is standard across the entire lineup.

The former directly solves the biggest shortcoming of the current model lineup lacking heat pump air conditioning and severe winter range shrinkage; the latter is comprehensively pushed through 46 whole-vehicle OTA upgrades, changing safety configurations from high-spec exclusive to entire lineup standard.

From Monthly Sales of Thousands to Six Consecutive Titles, Cumulative 100,000 Units Write a U-Shaped Curve

Reviewing the sales trajectory of Changan Qiyuan Q05, this is a typical U-shaped growth curve. At the beginning of the 2025 launch, monthly sales hovered between 1,000 to 2,000 units for a long time, having almost no presence in the compact SUV market.

The turning point occurred in March 2026, when the monthly retail sales suddenly jumped to 12,602 units, then climbed all the way to 15,814 units in April, 15,954 in May, 18,908 in June, reaching 18,871 in July.

Cumulative sales from January to August 2026 reached 52,674 units, with August single month reaching 17,349 units. As of August, the cumulative sales of the new Q05 broke through 100,000 units, holding the compact SUV sales champion title for 6 consecutive months. In September, global cumulative sales broke through 30,000 units.

All-Around Benchmark in the 100,000-Level Market, Balanced Product Power Precisely Hits Essential Needs

The core reason Changan Qiyuan Q05 stands out is that it doesn't win through price wars, but through configuration wars making it a hit. This car accurately positions itself in the 100,000-level home pure electric SUV market, making high-level configurations standard: Entire lineup standard CATL Golden Bell 2.0 battery, entire lineup supports 3C fast charging, 15 minutes from 30% to 80%, high-spec versions equipped with LiDAR and Horizon J6M chips, supporting Highway NOA pilot assistance.

2,735 mm wheelbase and 540 L trunk space are at a leading level in the same class. Compared with major competitors, Qiyuan Q05's 405 km version power consumption is only 11.30 kWh/100 km, significantly lower than BYD Yuan UP's 12.5 kWh/100 km, fast charging speed is also far better than competitors. To summarize in one sentence: Within a 100,000-level budget, Qiyuan Q05 forces configurations that others dare not release downwards into it, making users believe this brand is worth paying for.

Heat Pump Air Conditioning Fixes Shortcomings, Tire Blowout Stability Sets New Safety Benchmark for Same Class

The 2027 model upgrades are extremely targeted. The biggest user pain point of the current Qiyuan Q05 is the entire lineup lacks heat pump air conditioning, relying on PTC resistance heating causing winter range to shrink significantly. Actual test shows winter 2 to 6°C temperature, highway range only 200 km+, achievement rate less than 50%.

After the 506 km version standard heat pump air conditioning, this problem will be significantly improved. Tire Blowout Stability System standard across entire lineup is another highlight - this function was previously pushed free via OTA to old users, 2027 model solidifies it as factory standard, can effectively control vehicle direction under highway blowout scenarios, reduce risk of loss of control. These two upgrades precisely respond to user core demands: Winter range anxiety and driving safety.

Continued Sales Prospects Look Promising, Commuter SUV Worth Recommending

Overall, the 2027 model Qiyuan Q05 continuous sales is almost a certainty event. Besides domestic, Changan Qiyuan Q05 held compact SUV sales champion for 6 consecutive months, overseas market Qiyuan Q05 has officially landed in Thailand market, planned to launch in Spain and Italy in Q1 2027, global layout will provide extra increment to sales. For consumers buying electric commuter SUV, 2027 model Q05 worth recommending: budget limited choose 506 Le Enjoy version enough to meet daily commute; pursue comfort experience recommend Shu Comfort version; users with demand for smart driving can pay attention to Chang Enjoy version.

On September 28, China Changan Automobile Group signed 6 major projects in Chongqing in one go, and the group headquarters office space was also commissioned on the same day. The signing targets range from Liangjiang New Area, Shapingba, Hechuan all the way to CCB, CMB, Chongqing Yufu. It sounds like routine business, but when you lay out the list, you will discover that it is not that simple.

Chenzhi Group signed for headlamps, electronics/electricals, and battery packs with the three districts respectively, aiming for a trillion-yuan level parts platform. The underlying logic of this is not "building more factories", but transaction costs — Chongqing already has 19 whole vehicle enterprises and over 1200 registered above-scale parts enterprises, local matching rate stable above 45%, the shorter the transport distance, the lower the friction costs of inventory and model changes. The true dividend of industrial clusters has never been subsidies, but compressing "who to find to do it, how long to arrive". Changan was able to pull intelligent driving all the way down to the 130,000-level Q06, relying precisely on this flattened cost curve.

The group jointly initiated an industrial fund with Yufu, explicitly investing in automotive-grade chips, new automotive materials, and digital intelligent technology — the fund does not build cars, it creates "supply", burying future tight links early into the local area. On the other hand, Changan Minsheng Logistics signed a memorandum with the Port Logistics Office to equip the "Chongqing Vehicles Going Global" with a supply chain: parts are consolidated and packaged at Guoyuan Port before export, saving 40% of logistics costs compared to whole vehicle transport; KD parts go via the New Land-Sea Corridor in the West to the Thailand factory, reducing time and costs by 30% and 20% respectively. Changing from whole vehicle export to capacity export, rewriting the accounts of tariffs, freight, and rhythm simultaneously.

Wanyou Auto signed with Yuzhong District to build and operate an automotive new media center. A central state-owned enterprise writing "content creation" into an industrial agreement is rare in the automotive industry. Usually, marketing is an expense, once spent it ends; becoming a standing institution, it moves from expense item to asset item — content can be reused, can be accumulated, and can be allocated to each vehicle. When parameters from various manufacturers cannot be distinguished, whoever can continuously produce credible content at low cost holds the pricing power of customer acquisition costs.

Tianshu Navigation adopts a one-stage end-to-end approach, compressing perception, prediction, and planning into one network, equipped with 560 TOPS chips and 256-line LiDAR, relying on 10Hz high-frequency inference for redundancy, identifying earlier than human eyes in low light, backlight, and rain/fog.

However, the extended-range version uses 400V plus 3C, not that 800V set; the entry-level 602 Yuexiang Edition is also not equipped with LiDAR and Tianshu Navigation. In-house development is never cheap, intelligence technology invested over 60 billion over ten years, a team of 7,500 people, these fixed costs ultimately need to be amortized bit by bit through scale.

There has always been another voice in the industry: intelligent driving solutions can be bought externally, why carry this cost yourself. There is no standard answer to this question, but Q06 turned it into an arithmetic problem — once the installation volume goes up, the marginal cost of in-house development will approach zero, while procurement will always have to pay that premium.

This new central state-owned enterprise, established in July last year with registered capital of 20 billion yuan, has achieved full brand revenue of 359.8 billion yuan, there is capital to amortize. So the bet of this signing is clear: rely on localization to press costs, rely on in-house development to grasp technology, rely on scale to recoup investment, if one of the three links breaks, the game cannot be played alive.

In 2026, the competition for intelligence in Chinese automobiles has entered a rather subtle stage.

The Department of Equipment Industry I of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology disclosed that since 2026, the penetration rate of passenger cars equipped with L2-level combined driving assistance functions domestically has reached 70.5%, and the penetration rate of NOA functions has reached 34.2%.

For today's car buyers, assisted driving is changing from a bonus feature on high-spec models to an increasingly common basic capability.

The industry is already preparing for the next stage. At the end of 2025, the first two L3-level conditional autonomous driving models obtained access permission, conducting pilots on designated roads under limited conditions in Beijing and Chongqing. Meanwhile, many new cars emphasized reserving sensing, computing, power supply, steering, and braking redundancy for L3 when released. Hardware is ready, but it does not mean consumers can use L3 now, but it indicates that automakers are investing in advance for the changes in regulations and liability boundaries.

More cameras, LiDAR, and chips are on the car, another question has become prominent: who is actually thinking for these cars?

From the supply side, intelligent driving capabilities are not as dispersed as the number of models. Besides automakers self-developing, Huawei Qankun, Momenta, and Horizon Robotics have entered different brands from complete systems, hardware software, and computing platforms, becoming important support for traditional automakers' intelligent implementation.

The "2025 Urban NOA Car Assistance Driving Research Report" released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in the first 11 months of 2025, domestic urban NOA passenger car sales were about 3.129 million, among which about 679,000 used third-party cooperative solutions; in this part of the market, Momenta and Huawei HI Mode combined accounted for about 80%. Horizon Robotics covers a wider range of models from chips and computing foundations. This not only shows that intelligent driving functions are rapidly popularizing, but also shows that underlying capabilities are still concentrated in a few suppliers and OEMs with self-developed capabilities.

For traditional automotive enterprises, purchasing mature solutions is natural. For the past few decades, automakers have always been organized parts through the global supply chain, then complete vehicle definition, integration, and manufacturing. It is just that when vehicle experience starts to be continuously rewritten by algorithms, the suppliers no longer control just a parts, but also data, iteration speed, and part of product definition rights.

This makes Changan's choice worth discussion.

First, at the end of 2025, the 30 millionth Changan China brand vehicle rolled off the production line. Changan's huge product and user base welcomed a new stage. After becoming a "new central enterprise", Changan is still promoting the goal proposed in 2017: transform into a smart low-carbon mobility technology company.

Second, intelligent driving under Changan is not a single route. Avatr and some Deepal models use Huawei Qankun solutions. Deepal L06 was jointly developed by Changan, Deepal, and Horizon Robotics. Qiyuan E07 was an earlier mass production landing point for Changan's full-stack self-developed high-level assistance driving.

Open cooperation can quickly make up for product capabilities, but a large automaker that hopes to become a technology company still needs to establish its own core capabilities.

Therefore, when Tianzhu Pilot entered the 150,000-200,000 yuan new energy SUV market with Changan Qiyuan Q06, what is worth looking at is not just what functions this car added. Changan also needs to verify a harder thing: whether self-developed intelligent driving can enter mainstream prices, and run its own data loop relying on a large enough mass production scale.

Q06, What to Compete for More in the Family SUV Market

Buying a new energy SUV for 150,000-200,000 yuan, consumers already have very few choices to lack. Leapmotor C11, Deepal S07, BYD Seal 06 and other products are all competing for family users with increasingly comprehensive requirements. Space must be large, range must be enough, comfort configurations cannot be missing, assisted driving is gradually becoming an item to compare when purchasing a car.

Changan Qiyuan Q06 started pre-sales on the evening of September 4, launching 9 models, pre-sales price 149,900-191,900 yuan, covering pure electric and extended-range two power sources. This price range is hard to decide victory and defeat by relying on a single configuration again. Users valuing space also need to compare comfort, people caring about range will calculate replenishment time, whether assisted driving is easy to use needs to be judged after truly driving.

Q06's product combination carries this ambition. 4,837 mm vehicle length and 2,940 mm wheelbase, first respond to family car space needs; pure electric and extended-range two routes, let users with different charging conditions and travel radius have choices. High-spec pure electric models use total power 330 kW rear dual motor scheme, 800V high-voltage platform and 6C fast charging extend competition to driving and replenishment experience. Front double wishbone, rear five-link suspension, and zero-pressure seats, rear entertainment screen and cold/heat refrigerator, continue to make up parts family users can perceive directly.

These configurations do not need to come one by one to win. They put together, show Q06 wants to fight for space and cost-performance users, also wants Qiyuan to have more performance, comfort and technology identity. Same price products more and more comprehensive, Q06 must make consumers remember specific differences.

And as the first mass production car equipped with Tianzhu Pilot, Qiyuan Q06 provides a perceptible entry point in intelligent assisted driving through Tianzhu Pilot - drivers can express temporary driving intentions to the vehicle using natural language.

Changan Automobile Chief Intelligent Driving Technology Officer Tao Ji compares it to a driver who needs occasional communication. For example, users hope to change lanes less on a road, or express their lane preferences on familiar commuting routes. A few gears in traditional settings are hard to cover these needs.

Interactive navigation connects end-to-end driving through multi-modal understanding, making the way of expressing intentions more natural. Tao Ji also talks about World Model, Mind Model and Ontological Model, involving road environments, intentions of other traffic participants, and the vehicle's own motion boundaries. These still belong to some continued exploration technical directions. For current Q06, a more realistic task is to solidify the already open interaction capabilities and driving assistance experience.

The technological feel in family cars, finally falls on how to use it every day, whether it can reduce operation burden. Whether users are willing to use it continuously is more persuasive than how many commands can be demonstrated on the launch event.

And according to Changan's disclosure at the communication meeting, Q06 pre-sales orders reached 11,000 units in two hours, Ultra version accounting for 53%, rear dual motor version accounting for about 30%. This is a positive early signal, indicating that new technology and new power schemes are receiving attention.

From the test drive experience of Auto Talk, Q06 is very competitive in handling, comfort configurations, and assisted driving experience. The real test is whether these advantages can remain consistent in daily use.

A Large Automaker, Why Still Do It Yourself

For Q06, "self-developed" itself will not automatically become a selling point. Its value depends on whether Changan can implement its product ideas on the car, and continuously improve during the user's car usage process.

Changan Automobile Executive Vice President and Changan Brand Business Unit General Manager Yang Dayong said on site: "The reason is simple, just two words, brand." He subsequently added: "We hope that whether it is Changan Qiyuan, or Changan Automobile, or Changan Brand products, the core technology of products must come from Changan's own hands."

This is not a temporary impulse. Changan released "Beidou Tianzhu" plan in 2018, and launched "Beidou Tianzhu 2.0" again in 2025, clearly adopting "self-development + cooperation co-creation" two routes. Previously full-stack self-developed high-level assistance driving has already been mass produced on Qiyuan E07, Tianzhu Pilot continues to push this route to products with larger coverage.

Therefore, currently it seems, Tianzhu Pilot does not mean Changan giving up cooperation with Huawei, Horizon Robotics and other enterprises. Different brands, prices and product positioning can choose different solutions; Changan needs to fill in, is its own ability to define functions, find problems and decide iteration order. Interactive navigation is a specific attempt: it comes from Changan's judgment on how users use vehicles, and also requires algorithms and vehicle engineering to complete together.

Communication meeting scene, besides brand and intelligent driving persons in charge, product, R&D, cockpit, manufacturing and service persons in charge also take turns answering questions. A driving assistance system installed into mass production car, has to go through vehicle definition, engineering development, production filling, verification and after-sales, far more than algorithm department completes a model training once.

Changan Automobile Vice President, Chief Cybersecurity Officer, Chief Digital Officer, simultaneously serving Changan Technology Director, President He Gang, explained this from vehicle engineering perspective. Intelligent driving problems occur, reason may be in perception and decision, also may come from steering, braking or power. He asked on site: "Is it eyes having problems, brain having problems, or legs having problems?"

For users, these finally manifest as whether the vehicle drives smoothly, actions conform to expectations. For R&D team, it is to put vehicle data, algorithms and actuators together to analyze. After finding problems, then collect relevant cases, train models, after verification push new version. He Gang said: "Only when you find problems, you can improve yourself quickly."

According to He Gang's introduction, Changan has already included cross-city generalization testing into development system, conducting road tests in 45 cities, and through simulation, real cars and virtual-real fusion verification polished system. This is the disclosure at Changan's communication meeting, finally still has to be tested by long-term use of different cities and different users.

Changan also launches Tianzhu Pilot Assurance Package, providing relevant compensation and exclusive services, specific guarantee subject to terms. Currently open is still L2 level assisted driving, drivers need to bear corresponding responsibility; enterprises then have to catch problems exposed during user use. He Gang's expression is: "We will take the responsibility for the whole result, take responsibility, including the subsequent continuous use period."

Self-developed also faces investment and return. Changan Automobile 2026 semi-annual report shows, first half year net profit attributable to parent company 817 million yuan, down year by year 64.32%. This financial report information placed here meaning is very direct: Technology must enter mainstream products and obtain user recognition, long-term investment has more stable foundation. Q06 undertakes is this mass production scale verification.

Driving Out of China, What Gates Does Tianzhu Pilot Still Pass

Going global is still a hot topic at technical communication meeting, but before discussing Tianzhu Pilot going global, need to first look where Changan has already sold cars.

Changan's "Hai Na Bai Chuan" plan divides global market into five major regions. As of April 2025, Changan disclosed built 9 overseas factories, global channel outlets exceeded 9,000, Thailand new energy vehicle base also entered production stage. Sales aspect, Changan overseas sales grew from 249,000 vehicles in 2022 to 637,300 vehicles in 2025, first half of 2026 exported 455,000 vehicles. Overseas has become an important source for Changan to expand scale.

Channel, factory and sales spread out, intelligent driving must keep up with products going out speed. System that works well in China, change a country whether still work well? This is Auto Talk on site chasing Changan's question, involving local roads, regulations, data processing, and adaptation work brought by left/right steering traffic environment changes.

He Gang gave a very specific example: Brazil, Mexico some roads' speed bumps, raise different requirements for recognition and deceleration. Some areas network conditions are limited, traffic signs, road participants and driving habits also different from domestic. These differences need vehicles learn and verify locally again.

Changan Brazil Factory

Intelligent driving going global cannot just rely on changing interface language, also cannot take domestic performance directly as overseas experience guarantee. Local roads data comes from where, how discover new problems, after update how verify, need a method that can operate continuously.

Talking about local computing power, He Gang said on site: "You want to do globalized business, you should build local computing power centers in these corresponding regions globally." Changan proposes data loop in local areas, its consideration includes both adapting to local roads, also meeting data processing legal requirements.

Overseas data compliance does not equal all data one by one prohibited cross-border. Most markets allow cross-border transmission meeting conditions, but enterprises need to explain collection purpose and scope, data recipients, and what mechanism provide protection.

For example, EU GDPR requires purpose restriction and data minimization, personal data transmission to third countries also need meet corresponding conditions. Vehicle location, driving habits, in-vehicle voice once able to associate personal, cannot because train model need infinitely collect. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Brazil specific rules different, similarly require enterprises establish legal paths for personal data cross-border transmission for individuals, cannot default all back to headquarters.

Local computing power, data loop and verification system will increase short-term investment, also determine whether system can truly adapt to local roads. According to He Gang's judgment at communication meeting, overseas highway navigation may first spread than urban capabilities, UAE then may become early attempt urban navigation market. This is still promotion direction, specific landing follows local testing and regulation conditions.

Make Technology Become Reason for Buying Car

Back to Q06, Tianzhu Pilot gives it added confidence, first is a more distinct intelligent experience. Space, replenishment and comfort constitute product foundation, driving assistance and natural language interaction then provide new identity.

Changan has many years vehicle R&D, manufacturing and service accumulation, can handle intelligence problems from whole vehicle angle; self-development makes product definition and software iteration distance shorter. Next need to prove, whether these capabilities can cooperate well on Q06, let users drive smoothly every day, after update also feel specific improvement.

If Q06 can establish such reputation, Qiyuan harvested will exceed one new car heat. Changan can use mass production tested capabilities to more models, let R&D accumulation get reuse, also let brand gradually form clearer technology tags.

Q06 worth looking forward to place, lies at that it brings Changan's whole vehicle experience and self-developed intelligent driving to main family able to consider price point. When Tianzhu Pilot from test drive fresh sense, change into daily car use willing open, used smooth function, it gives Q06 added confidence, will truly become consumers buying car reason.

Volume increased, but profits did not follow.

Against the backdrop of the domestic automotive market decline and overseas boom, every traditional listed auto company stands at a crossroads, though everyone's feeling is different.

In this context, Changan Automobile, upgraded to a central automotive SOE, delivered its first semi-annual report after promotion, and the financial data does not look good.

01

In H1 2026, Changan Automobile's revenue was 65.634 billion yuan, down 9.71% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 817 million yuan, down 64.32% year-on-year; net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses was only 251 million yuan, plummeting 83.01% year-on-year. Gross margin was 14.5%, slightly down 0.08 percentage points year-on-year.

On the surface, this is a report card with declining revenue, profit, and gross margin. But carefully reviewing this semi-annual report reveals the situation is not as simple as it appears.

In the first half, Changan Automobile recorded a net exchange loss of about 230 million yuan, while last year's same period had a net exchange gain of about 1.356 billion yuan. One in and one out, the difference is 1.586 billion yuan. This is also an objective reality faced by all listed Chinese automotive companies.

Affected by this, Changan Automobile's financial expenses changed from a net gain of 1.957 billion yuan in the first half of last year to a net expense of 69 million yuan now, a difference as high as 2.026 billion yuan.

Changan Automobile also admitted in the semi-annual report: "After deducting the impact of exchange gains, the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company increased by 12% year-on-year." In other words, more than 64% of the decline in net profit was largely caused by exchange rate fluctuations.

[Image Source: Changan Automobile Announcement]

Apart from exchange losses, Changan Automobile accrued about 456 million yuan in asset impairment provisions in the first half, among which inventory price decline provisions reached 468 million yuan, while last year's same period was only 59 million yuan. If this impairment is deducted, the net profit for the first half could reach 1.273 billion yuan.

The combination of these two non-recurring factors is the real driver behind the sharp decline in this automotive central enterprise's profits.

Changan Automobile mentioned at the performance explanation meeting that, affected by the overall industry downturn in the first half, market demand continued to weaken. The company went all out to stabilize operations and grab sales volume. Although the half-year results were below expectations due to the general environment, it still stabilized the core business.

But in the view of AutosKline, guarding the core business itself has already consumed a large amount of resources.

02

In the first half, Changan Automobile's total sales volume was 1.1189 million units, down 17.44% year-on-year. Among them, new energy vehicle sales were 414,200 units, down 8.3% year-on-year.

But excluding the gap of about 70,000 units from the Lumin model which stopped production this year, the new energy sales actually grew by about 11% year-on-year. This means the sales growth of other products is just enough to fill the exit of old products.

[Image Source: Changan Automobile Announcement]

In this view, the contraction of fuel vehicles is the more troublesome problem.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that the domestic fuel vehicle market contracted by 27.8% year-on-year in the first half. Changan Automobile's main fuel models such as CS75 PLUS, sales volume dropped nearly 40% year-on-year.

Looking by brand, the situation is more differentiated.

Changan Qiyuan delivered 173,800 units in the first half, achieved profitability in a single quarter in the second quarter, becoming the first brand in Changan Automobile's new energy sector to achieve self-sustaining growth. At the same time, Deepal Automobile delivered 164,200 units, a year-on-year growth of 14.6%, overseas sales 35,800 units, skyrocketing by 141%.

Avatr, which was highly expected internally by Changan Automobile, became the group's financial bleeding point. It delivered only 31,500 units in the first half, a year-on-year plunge of 46.74%. Cumulative losses over 4 years of establishment exceeded 13.2 billion yuan, to the point where Zhu Huarong proposed an integration plan for Avatr and Deepal Automobile in April this year for cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

[Image Source: Avatr Prospectus]

The Changan fuel vehicle main lineup, as the main force of fuel cars, delivered about 329,800 units cumulatively in the first half. Affected by the overall contraction of the fuel vehicle market, sales continued to be under pressure. The highlight lies in the performance of hybrid models.

AutosKline believes that in the process of switching from old to new drivers of momentum, Changan Automobile is experiencing a period of transition. The profit pool of fuel vehicles is quickly drying up, and although the scale of new energy business is expanding, profitability has not caught up yet.

03

In comparison, the overseas market became a highlight for Changan Automobile in the first half, just like most listed auto companies.

In the first half of this year, Changan Automobile's overseas sales were 455,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 51.9%; overseas income was 21.942 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 78.77%, with the share of total revenue rising from 16.89% to 33.43%. Overseas gross margin was 20.13%, far higher than the 11.67% of domestic business.

Changan Automobile's overseas strategy is named "Embrace All Waters". It was upgraded to version 2.0 in April this year, establishing the four principles of "Long-term, Localization, Systematization, and ESG Integration". The goal is to achieve overseas sales of 1.5 to 1.8 million units by 2030.

In the first half, its Brazil factory officially started production, the Thailand factory's 20,000th vehicle came off the line, and the overseas sales network has expanded to 129 countries and regions. However, the two subsidiaries responsible for exports encountered increased revenue but not increased profit.

Chongqing Xingzhi Technology revenue was 10.905 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 85%, net profit 165 million yuan, down 65% year-on-year; Changan International Sales Service revenue was 4.316 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 25.6%, net profit 137 million yuan, down 58% year-on-year; overseas gross margin also decreased by 2.1 percentage points year-on-year.

04

The costs of overseas channel construction, brand promotion, and localized operations are being incurred in advance, and profits are naturally eroded. More importantly, the larger the export scale, the greater the exchange rate risk exposure.

According to foreign currency monetary items disclosed in the semi-annual report, as of June 30, Changan Automobile's foreign currency assets totaled about 7.967 billion yuan, foreign currency liabilities about 3.356 billion yuan, net foreign currency exposure about 4.612 billion yuan.

As Changan Automobile stated in the semi-annual report, if the Renminbi appreciates or depreciates by 5% against the US dollar, it will increase or decrease net profit by about 66.1935 million yuan as a result.

Although Changan Automobile has already carried out forward foreign exchange hedging business, the amount sold for hedging in the first half was about 372 million yuan. Relative to over 4.6 billion yuan of net exposure, the coverage ratio is less than 10%, making it difficult to effectively hedge exchange rate fluctuation impact.

05

In addition, from the end of the first half to the release of the latest August sales data, Changan Automobile's overall situation has not improved.

Total sales for the first 8 months of this year were 1.4772 million units, down 17.92% year-on-year. The decline rate is still expanding compared to the first half. Independent brands' sales for the first 8 months were down 20.18% year-on-year, compared to 19.91% in the first half. The decline is also expanding.

The only comforting thing is new energy. Changan Automobile's August new energy single-month sales broke through 100,000 units, a year-on-year growth of 12.98%, and new energy penetration rate broke through 51%.

[Image Source: Changan Automobile Announcement]

From accumulated data, new energy's first 8 months cumulative sales were 589,500 units. The year-on-year decline has narrowed from 8.3% in the first half to 5.03%. Qiyuan, Deepal and other brands continued to scale up, becoming main drivers.

But if placed under the group's overall performance, this result is obviously not enough.

At the beginning of the year, the group set an annual sales target of 3.3 million units. The completion rate for the first 8 months was less than 45%. In the remaining 4 months, monthly average needs to exceed 450,000 units to meet the target. In the current market environment, this is an impossible mission.

06

For such reality, perhaps Changan Automobile itself is also hard to feel satisfied.

At the semi-annual performance explanation meeting on August 31, facing online investor questions, Changan Automobile management's answer left people bewildered.

When investors asked about HEV model sales, Changan Automobile answered how advanced the Blue Whale Ultra Engine hybrid technology is; when asked about second-half performance outlook, the official answer was "Will continue to deeply promote three major plans" and "Persist in value orientation, volume and profit balanced operating principle"; when asked about capacity utilization rate, it only said "See disclosed relevant reports", turning to explain how to improve operational efficiency.

Behind these answers to non-questions, reflects Changan Automobile's caution and avoidance when communicating with investors under operational pressure. No matter how grand the enterprise high-level strategy is depicted, it cannot cover the reality of operational difficulties.

In the first half, Changan Automobile's three core strategies - Smart "Beidou Tianshu", New Energy "Shangri-La", and Overseas "Embrace All Waters", all made progress in technology and scale. But between strategy and profit, there are multiple variables such as product, market, cost, exchange rate, etc.

R&D investment has not yet converted to significant profit contribution. New energy brands are still continuously losing money. Fuel vehicle base accelerates contraction. Export business volume increases but profit does not.

07

After the semi-annual report release, multiple mainstream brokerages' judgment on Changan Automobile was highly consistent. They believe its short-term performance is dragged by exchange rate and other non-recurring factors, but the medium-to-long term logic of overseas expansion, new energy loss reduction, and smart technology remains unchanged.

CITIC Securities believes Q2 product structure continued to optimize, overseas sales hit a quarterly high. At the same time, based on domestic demand pressure, it lowered the full-year earnings forecast. Guoyuan Securities values Tianshu Smart Driving completion from hardware to complete solution loop.

However, institutions' prediction for full-year net profit ranges from 2 billion yuan to 5.6 billion yuan, divergence is quite large. Most research reports also warned of domestic demand continuing to bear pressure, industry competition intensifying, overseas trade barriers and exchange rate fluctuation, etc. risks.

For this semi-annual report, capital market feedback was relatively flat. On the first trading day after the semi-annual report release (August 31), Changan Automobile micro-dropped 0.42%. In that week, its stock price only micro-grew 0.28%, closing at 7.12 yuan. The stock price being nearly zero fluctuation might be because the profit performance forecast released in July already released most negative news in advance.

But if the time line is lengthened, since this year, Changan Automobile stock price has fallen from 11.74 yuan at year start to 7.11 yuan at noon close on September 10, a decline of 39.44%.

Views of AutosKline:

Changan Automobile's semi-annual report is a typical answer sheet for a traditional auto giant experiencing pain during key transition period.

Exchange losses and asset impairment amplified the profit decline. But even excluding these factors, fuel vehicle base contraction, new energy not yet profitable, overseas expansion investment period triple pressure superposition is the truly structural problem to face.

Beidou Tianshu, Shangri-La, Embrace All Waters, these strategy names are loud enough. Technical level also indeed let outside world see this central enterprise's strength. But Changan Automobile needs to prove not only owning advanced technology, but more is products can sell well, money can earn.

Text is original by AutosKline, content reference materials from listed company announcements and industry public information (related companies and institutions should be responsible for the authenticity of truth); some parts from Internet images, copyright belongs to original owner.

This account article, without authorization, cannot reprint, violators will be prosecuted. At the same time, article content does not constitute investment advice to anyone! Stock market risk is high, investment must be cautious!

 According to media reports, Wang Hui, Vice President of Changan Automobile and Chairman of Avatr Technology, will shift his focus to Changan Automobile's globalization and has already started to be responsible for Southeast Asian and Central & South American business.

Chen Zhuo, promoted to Vice President of Changan Automobile this June, will take on more responsibility for Avatr.

Public records show that Wang Hui graduated from Wuhan University of Technology majoring in Material Forming and Control Engineering, joined Changan Automobile in July 2003. He has held various positions including the Process Planning Institute of the Process Technology Department of the Research General Institute, Chief of the Strategic Planning Division of the Strategic Planning Department, Director of the New Business Coordination Project Group, Office Director of the Company, and so on. In the 2010s, he was transferred to Changan Mazda Engine Co., Ltd., successively serving as Executive Vice President and Party Secretary. In September 2022, he was promoted to Vice President of Changan Automobile upon the President's nomination, becoming a core member of the young transformation of the enterprise management layer.

From 2023 to 2025, Wang Hui served as General Manager of the Overseas Business Development Department of Changan Automobile and General Manager of the Southeast Asia Division, promoting the construction of the Thailand factory and the implementation of the globalization strategy, proposing a localization rate target of over 80% for the Thailand factory.

After assuming the chairmanship of Avatr Technology, Wang Hui led the promotion of strategic cooperation with Huawei and CATL, establishing a new integrated development model of "one team, one goal, one strategy, one successful move", and led the investment affairs in Huawei Yinwang Company. In November 2025, Wang Hui promoted the announcement of the upgrade of the cooperation model with Huawei, launching the HI PLUS joint co-creation model, extending the scope of cooperation from pure technology supply to user insights, product definition, product development, integrated marketing, team co-building and other full value chain links. At the same time, the globalization layout principle of "no overseas without domestic, no overseas without first-class, no long-term without value" was proposed, promoting Avatr to enter 34 national markets and planning to expand to 46-50 countries in 2026.

In the first half of this year, although Changan Automobile's revenue decreased by 9.71% and net profit attributable to the parent company also declined by 64.32%, overseas business grew rapidly. Among them, overseas sales reached 455,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 51.9%; overseas revenue was 21.942 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 78.77%, accounting proportion of total revenue rose from 16.89% to 33.43%. Overseas gross margin was 20.13%, far higher than the 11.67% of domestic business.

It is worth noting that although Avatr had the backing of three giants, Changan, Huawei, and CATL, its development was not smooth in recent years.

From 2022 to 2025, Avatr accumulated losses exceeding 13.2 billion yuan.

In the first half of 2026, Avatr delivered approximately 27,619 units year-to-date, a year-on-year decline of 51.3%, completing only 12.6% of the full-year target of 220,000 units set at the beginning of the year.

The listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was also fraught with twists and turns. In November 2025, Avatr submitted a listing application to the HKEX for the first time, but due to failing to complete the listing hearing within the specified time, it automatically expired on May 27, 2026. On June 30 this year, Avatr resubmitted the listing application to the HKEX, currently in the review process stage, with no clear listing schedule.

Source: Car Observation

The moment the press conference ended, people around started placing orders

After Changan Auto released its Tianshu Pilot technology, Qiyuan Q06 simultaneously opened pre-sale orders, with a reservation price starting from 147,900 yuan. There are 7 pure electric versions and 2 extended-range versions, totaling 9 models.

Due to its strong performance in various aspects, it instantly switched to a high-volume order mode.

Where there is popularity, there are controversies. Someone asked an interesting question: Is this car the Changan version of the Xiaomi YU7?

This plainly reflects the questioning many new cars faced in the past year: Does Car A look like Car B? Is it a rushed product?

This is also the reason why Changan released the Tianshu Pilot technology before the Qiyuan Q06 pre-sale.

The strongest trump card of Qiyuan Q06 is three words — Full Self-Development. Tianshu Pilot, Tianshu Cockpit, Tianshu Chassis, three major "Tian Series" technologies gathered on one car for the first time, all developed by Changan from the ground up, representing a total release of Changan Auto's over a decade of intelligent accumulation.

In this issue, we will use four I Ching hexagrams, with Qiyuan Q06 as a product case, to excavate Changan Auto's core competitiveness in the Chinese and global markets.

Qian Hexagram: Single-segment End-to-End, Grasping the Core of Intelligent Driving

Qiyuan Q06 debuts with Tianshu Pilot Ultra, the first single-segment end-to-end intelligent driving system self-developed by a central state-owned enterprise.

What is a single-segment end-to-end? It's not engineers writing rules line by line, but the system watching over 20 million real driving videos and learning how to drive itself. Lane changes are smooth, cornering is stable, acceleration and deceleration are like an experienced driver, because it learned from real humans how to drive.

The hardware specs are tough too: 560 TOPS computing chip, 256-line LiDAR, LiDAR standard on all trims. In low light, backlight, rain, or fog, the machine sees clearer than humans. Achieving "identification earlier than humans" relies on 10Hz high-frequency inference and active LiDAR detection, so even in bad weather, it's not panic.

In terms of features, Highway NCA and City NCA are fully connected, usable from city areas to highways. Over 400 parking scenarios, including narrow spots, dead-end roads, diagonal spots, all handled in one move. 31 active safety functions monitor throughout, the system reacts before humans in emergency situations.

The most amazing is Interactive Pilot. Users just say "Lane change overtake", "Turn right at next intersection", the system understands instantly, also responds to continuous composite commands. Not making people adapt to the car, but the car adapts to people.

Why can these be done? It's the accumulation of full self-development technology. Not bought black boxes, not supplier solutions. It was polished and researched night and day by Changan's 7500 engineers.

The Qian Hexagram says "Heaven moves vigorously, the gentleman strives unceasingly". If you cannot master core technology yourself, you will always be choked by others.

Kun Hexagram: 2940mm Wheelbase plus 800V Fast Charging, Good Cars Make People Feel Secure

No matter how strong the intelligent driving is, the car is ultimately for people to sit in. In this aspect, Qiyuan Q06 goes the extra mile.

Wheelbase 2940mm, longest in its class, space efficiency 91.7%. Exterior doesn't look bulky, interior is very spacious. Rear seatback 145-degree infinite electric adjustment, all seats feature ventilation, heating, and massage. 1.3 meters interior net height, 479mm pure flat corridor, three people in rear seats don't hit legs or shoulders squeezed, dubbed the "Comfort Rear Seat King", not an exaggeration.

In terms of cockpit comfort, 15.6-inch 2.5K HD entertainment screen, sky screen with electric sunshade, instantly becomes a mobile cinema. The "Light Rail Passing Through Building" style electric sunshade, operation feels particularly ceremonial, just swipe lightly to open.

The chassis uses Tianshu Chassis, front double wishbone rear multi-link, luxury car level configuration. Class debut dual-motor rear drive, plus torque vector control, left and right wheel torque independent output. Makes Qiyuan Q06 not slip in rain, not float at high speed, not drift in turns, stable to drive, comfortable to sit.

Range and recharging are equally important, 800V Silicon Carbide platform plus 6C fast charging, fastest "one kilometer per second", charge 5 minutes, range 200 km. CATL battery cells, pure electric 700 km, extended range combined 1600 km, whether city commute or long distance travel, range anxiety basically non-existent.

"The greatness of technology lies not only in being advanced but also in being popularized". Kun Hexagram says "Virtuousness carries all things". Vehicle design is sufficiently generous, large space, stable chassis, long range, so a family can travel safely without worry, enjoying pleasure.

Ji Ji Hexagram: Not a Rushed Car, 15 Years of Ultimate Polishing

Many brands making intelligent driving cars wish to launch dozens of models a year, "Honest Car Making" Changan Auto does not do this.

In 2009, Changan established an intelligent research department, at that time most people didn't know what intelligent driving was. After 15 years, the intelligent team grew from 0 to 7500 people, investment over 60 billion. The first L3 autonomous driving official license plate in the country was taken by Changan, the only national key laboratory focusing on intelligent vehicle safety technology in the country was built by Changan.

This mass production of Tianshu Pilot Ultra on board, behind it is over 400,000 virtual simulation scenario trainings, cumulative verified mileage about 1.45 billion km. Changan executives personally served as "drivers", driving Qiyuan Q06 across dozens of cities nationwide, elevated merging, narrow road pedestrian-vehicle mixed traffic, polishing scenario by scenario.

To ensure users drive worry-free, Changan Auto also specially designed "Tianshu Pilot Peace of Mind Package", accident loss compensation, premium hike compensation, total loss replacement compensation, new and old users buying before end of 2026 all get free for one year. Full scenario protection, full process service, all users available.

Changan used 15 years to polish the sword extremely, only then do we have the today's complete intelligent driving solution composed of single-segment end-to-end, City NCA, over 400 parking scenarios together.

This is something rushed cars simply cannot do.

Ji Ji Hexagram water on fire, rice already cooked. Changan's intelligent driving feast, brewed for 15 years, verifies an old saying, good food is not afraid of being late.

Da You Hexagram: Full Stack Self-Development is the Root, Deep Roots Allow Leaves to Flourish

Someone asked, why can Qiyuan Q06 bring the pre-sale price down to 147,900?

The answer is still the previous three words: Full Self-Development.

Tianshu Pilot from chip to algorithm to chassis, all Changan does itself, not bought black boxes, not supplier patchwork solutions, it is written line by line by code by 7500 engineers.

Because of self-development, costs are controllable. 560 TOPS computing, 256 line LiDAR, 800V Silicon Carbide, 6C Fast Charging, dual-motor rear drive, full aluminum front double wishbone rear multi-link, these things put together, others need to sell for 300,000, Changan can sell for 147,900.

Because of self-development, iteration is fast enough, OTA upgrades don't need to wait for supplier schedules, Changan calls the shots.

Because of self-development, safety guarantee, the only National Key Laboratory for Intelligent Vehicle Safety in the country is Changan's own, Tianshu Intelligent Experiment Center is also Changan's own.

Tianshu Pilot divided into four gradients — Pro, Max, Ultra, Ultimate, LiDAR standard on all trims, single-segment end-to-end on all trims. Not luxury goods made for a few, but to let everyone use them.

Da You Hexagram says "Fire in the sky, light shines everywhere", full stack self-development is that fire, illuminating the road where 140,000 price range can also enjoy high-level intelligent driving.

Conclusion: Deeply Planted Roots, Branches and Leaves Can Reach Far

Full stack self-development root has been planted down, Changan's branches and leaves start to stretch outwards.

In 2025, Changan's annual overseas sales 637,000 vehicles, YoY growth 18.9%, exports accounted for 21.9% of total sales. First half of 2026, overseas delivery 402,000 vehicles, YoY sharp increase 35.1%, overseas business proportion in total sales has been raised to about 33.6%. Overseas business gross margin maintained above 20%, became Changan's high profitability second growth curve.

Thailand Rayong Factory 20,000th vehicle roll out, Brazil Anapolis Factory completed and production. Sales channels cover 129 countries and regions, global layout 93 factories. Changan plans to land Tianshu Pilot's Highway NCA solution overseas first next year.

From Chongqing to the world, from full stack self-development to global layout, Changan walks a path of "Deep Roots Flourishing Leaves".

Changan Auto Group Chairman Zhu Horong said at the press conference: "Core technology must be grasped in one's own hands, central state-owned enterprises must shoulder the banner of national competitiveness, new quality productive forces, technology self-reliance and self-strengthening."

Qiyuan Q06 is this flag. 147,900, single-segment end-to-end, 256 line LiDAR, 800V fast charging, dual-motor rear drive -, this car is not a substitute for anyone, it is Changan showing the sword polished for 15 years, pointing to the global.

Sword is drawn, the road to going global is illuminated.

In the past two years, the choice of intelligent assisted driving solutions by automotive companies has triggered a massive discussion in the industry regarding the "Soul Theory"—but this has not stopped most automotive companies from seizing market opportunities. They continue to choose mainstream suppliers' intelligent driving systems and smart cockpits to improve their products' competitiveness. Obviously, establishing an intelligent driving system requires evolution from "consciousness" to "pragmatism," and it cannot be achieved overnight, as this involves R&D investments in the range of tens of billions. Now, a new Central SOE has finally taken a substantive step, and that is Changan Automobile.

On September 4th at the 6th Changan Tech Ecosystem Conference, the release of Changan Tianshu Leading technology and the pre-sale launch of Changan Qiyuan Q06 were officially held, which can be considered a closed-loop response to the "Soul Theory" of that year. In the subsequent media communication session, Changan Automobile Executive Vice President Yang Dayong directly pointed out the core of Changan's intelligent driving self-research: "From the beginning of creating the Changan brand and Qiyuan brand until now, what we were waiting for was Tianshu Leading. Changan Qiyuan models will be equipped with, and only equipped with, Changan's self-developed Tianshu Leading intelligent driving assistance system in the future. The core reason comes down to two words: Brand."

Objectively speaking, in this era where almost every car company talks about "end-to-end," there are not many companies that have truly implemented mass production with a fully self-developed one-piece end-to-end approach. However, Changan is an exception among them. With cumulative sales breaking through 30 million units, persisting in intelligent R&D for over a decade, and investing over 60 billion into the intelligent sector, Changan's firmly chosen path of full-stack self-research still holds relatively high value today.

Of course, if this path is simply labeled as "computing power competition" and "scenario coverage," it is actually looking at Changan's decision too simply. Firmly choosing such a capital-intensive route and releasing a product with superior intelligent driving levels without setting a high threshold, the strategic significance behind Changan's intelligent driving self-research is worth deep discussion.

Changan Intelligent Driving Self-Research Understands the "Coase Boundary"

Even though intelligent driving is a topic that mainstream car companies must face, the matter of "whether to self-research" is understood differently by everyone. Facing fierce market competition, thinking about your own "Coase Boundary" in advance is perhaps the more reasonable answer to this question. The Coase Theory holds that when market transaction costs are higher than internal organization costs, enterprises choose to "do it themselves" rather than "buy from others." In other words, how much an enterprise should do depends on the cost comparison between building in-house and outsourcing.

Theoretically, the current Chinese intelligent driving market has a fairly mature supplier ecosystem. Any of Huawei, Momenta, or Horizon could allow Changan to take a shortcut in intelligent driving; Changan has the condition for "plug and play" in this field. Transferring R&D costs to the supply chain and focusing on vehicle manufacturing and brand marketing is also a choice for many car companies.

Surprisingly, Changan did not do this. So what was its choice? Since establishing an intelligent R&D team in 2009, Changan has persisted on the self-research route, building an intelligent R&D team of over 7,500 people and constructing the only National Key Laboratory in China focusing on intelligent vehicle safety technology. It can be seen that Changan's investment in this area is huge.

"Why must we insist on self-research? Without self-research capability, it is difficult for the brand to clearly explain to consumers: Why should users choose us? What differentiated experience can we provide? Consumers are not just buying a car, but an affirmation of the brand, which is also an important part of our brand's new quality productive forces." Yang Dayong stated.

Then, why take the detour instead of the shortcut? In our exclusive interview, Changan Automobile Vice President He Gang provided an explanation. He mainly mentioned four points: First, only self-research allows for deep understanding of user needs and polishing products with real data; Second, only self-research possesses complete system analysis capabilities. When vehicle anomalies occur, problems can be located at the whole vehicle level. If only doing the intelligent driving single module, the whole picture of the vehicle cannot be seen; Third, only self-research can achieve rapid iterative optimization. After problems are found, data can be quickly collected, models trained, and simulations verified; Fourth, only self-research can back up safety and responsibility. As an OEM, it must be responsible for the final result of the whole vehicle.

From these perspectives, Changan's decision logic is very clear. When intelligent driving technology becomes a "core differentiated element" of automotive products, market transaction costs will exceed internal organization costs. Outsourcing intelligent driving solutions may look like a "shortcut" on the surface, but hidden costs are very high. Apart from negotiation costs, coordination costs, and iteration costs, the core thing belongs to others, making it difficult to form a true technical barrier. For a car company of Changan's scale, "borrowing the path" is not a long-term plan.

Besides the underlying considerations at the strategic level, the long-term value of the self-research route is more reflected in the core advantages of the technical architecture. Changan Automobile Chief Intelligent Driving Technology Officer Tao Ji broke down Tianshu Leading's "one-piece end-to-end" into three layers: First is the World Model. Driving is a dynamic game task; the vehicle needs to truly "read" the intentions of other traffic participants and play games with them; Second is the Body Model, incorporating vehicle dynamics and chassis capabilities into the large model to understand the "boundaries of muscle capability"; Third is the Multimodal Large Model, allowing the system to understand natural language instructions like "follow that grey sedan in front" and accurately map them to specific vehicles in 3D physical space. The three eventually share a backbone of a basic large model in the cloud. This is also the most essential difference between Tianshu Leading and "outsourced solutions."

Changan chose to self-develop Tianshu Leading. This system forms a deep coupled system-level synergy with the SDA Tianshu Central Ring Network Architecture, Tianshu Chassis, and Tianshu Cockpit 2.0. This synergy cannot be achieved by any outsourced solution. Yang Dayong stated at the communication meeting: "According to Changan's planning, whether it is Changan Automobile or Changan Qiyuan Brand, Changan brand models will be equipped with, and only equipped with, Changan's self-developed Tianshu Leading intelligent driving assistance system. So far, we have no intention to introduce other suppliers to provide intelligent driving assistance overall solutions for the Changan Brand. The core reason comes down to two words: Brand." Changan wants to clarify "why choose us" to consumers through this way and further shape brand recognition. From a long-term perspective, this is a very visionary move to enhance brand competitiveness.

Changan's ambition goes beyond self-research and self-use. He Gang revealed: "When Tianshu Leading was originally planned, it was to build a global intelligent platform, hoping to provide it to all car factories and industries related to intelligent robots, such as robots, flying cars, etc. Currently, besides our product brands, external car factories are also communicating with us. Some strategic agreements will be released recently, and next year, some models in vehicles outside the Changan family will be equipped." This means Changan's role positioning in the intelligent driving field is extending from "Client" to "Solution Provider."

Behind Qiyuan Q06 Pricing is a Downward Marginal Cost Curve

At the 6th Changan Tech Ecosystem Conference, Qiyuan Q06 started pre-sales. The pre-sale price starting from 147,900 RMB was quite unexpected, especially since this is a vehicle fully equipped with LiDAR and carrying the Tianshu Leading intelligent driving system. If adding the 800V Silicon Carbide High Voltage Platform, 6C Fast Charging, front double wishbone rear multi-link full aluminum suspension, etc., it is clearly a pricing exceeding industry norms.

Now the industry is heavily competitive, and breaking existing price anchors while improving value experience is not easy. Now Changan has done this with this new car. Why? After all, its marginal cost curve is moving downward. The cost structure of outsourced solutions is "linear," making the upfront investment look acceptable. However, in reality, for every car sold, the car company needs to pay a fixed licensing fee or hardware premium to Tier 1.

To put it bluntly, no matter how much car companies want to reduce costs, there is a supplier's profit floor controlling it. Self-research solutions are different. The cost structure of self-research solutions is "steep then flat," meaning huge upfront investment, but the marginal cost keeps decreasing. For example, Changan's upfront R&D investment is a fixed cost. Once mass production is completed, the "intelligent driving marginal cost" for every additional car is only chip, sensor, and other hardware material costs.

Beyond self-research, Changan has further confidence in cost reduction. Hesai's official website mentioned that it has obtained exclusive mass production projects for multiple Changan brands, with planned orders exceeding 1.5 million units. This scale of centralized procurement means Changan has more bargaining space on the hardware side. Therefore, behind Yang Dayong saying "this car must make money," is a problem calculated in advance. On one hand, self-research amortizes fixed costs; on the other hand, centralized procurement suppresses hardware costs. Under dual-wheel drive, Changan dares to break norms with Qiyuan Q06 and re-calibrate the value of this level of vehicle. Qiyuan Brand's actual sales also prove the correctness of Changan's strategy in recent years.

"Qiyuan's global sales broke 45,000 in August. After Q06 is out, I believe the number will increase further. Moreover, this number was achieved under the difficult situation of guaranteeing Q05 supply now, with tens of thousands of Q05 orders still not delivered. Plus Q06, I personally think Qiyuan's average monthly sales might have a chance to reach around 60,000 units, and the total sales this year should be around 400,000 units." For Changan Qiyuan's current achievements and next goals, Yang Dayong believes there is more confidence and optimism with the support of Tianshu Leading.

In the interview, Changan Qiyuan General Manager Li Rui revealed that Q06 pre-sales reached 11,000 units in two hours last night. Among the two major configuration gradients, one is Tianshu Leading Pro, the other is Tianshu Leading Ultra. The percentage of customers choosing Tianshu Leading Ultra reached 53%. Most customers chose the 700 km range, and they have a higher focus on intelligent driving assistance. Especially Changan Automobile's inaugural dual-motor rear-drive data, the users who chose it account for about 33%. This means the willingness of initial users to pay for intelligent driving is not low, and it also shows that although car companies have huge investment in self-research, the outbreak of market demand will allow car companies to quickly welcome the return period.

Gaining User Trust, Central SOE Identity is an "Open Card"

To take root in the intelligent driving track, "safety" is the story that must be told well. However, various intelligent driving safety accidents that occurred in the industry in the past did not leave people with a good impression. The trust deficit consumers have in intelligent driving is a problem every car company must face. Changan's advantage lies in its ability to tell the story well and its strength to implement the story. Of course, here is an "open card," which is the Central SOE identity.

In economics, there is a concept called "Credible Commitment." When one party can make an irrevocable commitment, transaction costs can be reduced, and trust efficiency improved. As a Central SOE, Changan has a very high cost to breach commitments. This "dare not mess around" constraint actually makes it easier for people to generate trust. At the launch event, Changan repeatedly emphasized "Assisted Driving is not Autonomous Driving" and "No Exaggeration, No Misleading." Its statement on intelligent driving safety issues carries the characteristics of "Credible Commitment."

This "dare not mess around" constraint is also reflected very specifically in Changan's R&D system. He Gang revealed at the communication meeting that Changan has officially included intelligent driving "generalization testing" into the development test system. 500 engineers cover 45 cities nationwide for road tests. After each version iteration, engineers receive differentiated map tasks for on-site testing. The backend statistics takeover times and other key data in real-time. This mechanism ensures Tianshu Leading will not only stay at "works well in Chongqing," but truly possesses "can work nationwide" generalization capabilities.

In addition, there are a few key points that can indirectly reflect the trustworthiness of Changan's intelligent driving. Changan is the first car company in China to obtain official formal license plates for Level 3 autonomous driving and is also one of the first Central SOEs to obtain Level 4 Robotaxi test licenses. Behind these two licenses are the strict audits of ministries such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security, carrying the meaning of "Official Certification" in itself. Changan also deeply participated in the formulation of ADS GTR International Regulations—the world's first unified technical regulations for autonomous driving—and led the formulation of multiple national standards such as "Automated Driving Classification of Automobiles." Currently, Changan has deeply participated in formulating over 270 international, national, and industry standards, including over 60 in the intelligent field. It can be seen that Changan's strength in intelligent driving is very hardcore.

Besides, the Qiyuan Brand has not only focused on the domestic market but repeatedly emphasized "Domestic and Overseas Global One Game." In August 2026, Changan Automobile's overseas deliveries reached 92,400 units, up 78.6% year-on-year, achieving year-on-year growth for 7 consecutive months; With the completion of the Brazil Factory production and the 20,000th whole vehicle rolling off the line from the Thailand Rayong Factory, Changan's localized production network continues to deepen, and the overseas market is becoming one of its core growth pillars. He Gang's judgment on overseas intelligent driving implementation is that Highway NCA will spread quickly, but Urban is not that easy. After personally visiting multiple countries, he believes that the UAE road conditions are clear, lane lines are neat, and driving behavior is good, which might be the best overseas market for layout Urban NCA. Senior management is not aggressive, cautious and rhythmic attitude, which is very rare in the industry.

Trial of multi-form consumer markets has already become an important idea for Changan Automobile after core technology support, because for a time-honored car company, the "sense of crisis" always exists.

Yang Dayong analyzed: "There are currently about 120+ automotive brands in China, among which there are about 50-60 with certain sales scale that can enter the rising list. Among these 50-60 brands, the truly active ones, which contribute about 80% of China's auto market sales, are about 25, belonging to 10 to 15 OEMs. According to the '80/20 Rule' deduction, by 2030 or a future point in time, the ones that may finally survive are just these 20+ brands. From over 120 reducing to 20+ means the Chinese market will eliminate about 100 brands in the next few years, inevitably followed by extremely fierce even brutal competition." According to his judgment, before 2030, competition in China's auto market will still be in a white-hot stage. Changan Automobile is confident to be among those 20+ brands and can persist in walking for a long time, and this requires enterprises to build unique competitive advantages in brand power, product power, marketing power, and other aspects.

Conclusion

Tianshu Leading launch, redefined the marginal cost curve of intelligent driving with full-stack self-research and scale effect; Qiyuan Q06, with a pre-sale price starting from 147,900 RMB, reshaped the value anchor of intelligent driving models; Plus the Central SOE identity trust endorsement, management's control of industry rhythm, and constructed differentiated brand cognition, Changan is building a differentiated brand cognition system, every step is walked solidly and clearly.

Industry competition will only become more fierce, and Changan's answer sheet about the "Soul Theory" has been written clearly enough. This is not only a business choice for a car company to gain market recognition through technical self-research, but also a strategic layout for a new Central SOE to carry the banner of core technology independence and controllability in the automotive intelligence wave. From self-research and self-use to open empowerment, from the domestic market to the global stage, Changan's strategic layout ultimately points to the core discourse power of China's automotive industry in the global intelligent competition.

September 4, at the Changan Technology Ecosystem Conference, Changan Tianshu Pilot Technology was launched alongside the Origin Q06 presale. Booking prices range from 147,900 to 189,900 yuan, with two powertrains (pure electric and range-extended) totaling nine models.

The Origin Q06 comes standard with Changan's in-house Tianshu Pilot Intelligent Driving, 256-line LiDAR, 560 TOPS computing power directly downgraded to the 150k level. 800V high-voltage platform plus 6C ultra-fast charging, charging power from 30% to 80% takes as little as 9 minutes.

Over the past three years, Origin relied on the Q05 to carry sales. Behind the August sales volume of nearly 46,000 units lies a product structure where a single car supports half the business. What Q06 aims to do is pack Changan Group's best-kept technology into the mainstream price range, allowing Origin to upgrade from a sales supporter to a technology supporter, and serve as the market verifier and technology popularization pioneer for Changan's systematic technology downgrading.

Perhaps the path of Changan's technology equality can be summarized in eight words: Origin Verification, Matrix Charge.

Put the best technology into the 150k level

First look at the most counter-intuitive move of this presale: the selection point for technology first fitment.

Tianshu Pilot is Changan's in-house end-to-end assisted driving solution, divided into Pro, Max, Ultra three tiers, computing power ranges from 100+ TOPS all the way to 500+ TOPS. The Ultra version is equipped with VLM Vision Language Large Model, capable of interactive assisted driving. This system did not choose to launch first on other brands within the group, but was first fitted to the Origin Q06 starting at 147,900 yuan, achieving standard equipment across the entire series.

The intensity of hardware downgrading at this price point is rare. 256-line LiDAR, 27 sensing hardware, 560 TOPS computing power. This configuration last year was for models in the 300k price range.

Technical depth is also backed: relying on over 20 million lines of human driving data training, identifying obstacles 2 seconds earlier than human eyes in low light scenarios; Tianshu Center's simulation capability covers 400,000 scenarios.

Functionally, end-to-end pilot assistance covers highways and urban areas, supporting 3km long-distance memory parking and 100m track backward driving, AEB daylight maximum support 135km/h stationary braking.

Changan lacks no technology in the laboratory, but lacks the decisiveness to deliver technology to mass-production vehicles on time. Tianshu Pilot choosing Origin instead of higher-end brands for first fitment is itself a statement: what Changan wants is not a technology showcase, but a technology harvesting machine.

Three-electric systems also follow flagship standards. Pure electric version based on 800V silicon carbide high-voltage platform, 6C ultra-fast charging, CLTC range 602km and 700km two tiers, battery 66.02kWh and 80.02kWh, single motor 225kW and 245kW two power levels, dual motor four-wheel drive integrated 330kW. Range-extended version equipped with 28kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, pure electric range 200km, integrated range over 1,600km, system power 270kW. Pure electric and range-extended dual power displayed side by side, offsetting the two ends of anxiety for 150k level users at once.

Chassis and cabin also have no weak points. Front double wishbone rear five-link full aluminum suspension, 4837/1970/1670mm body, 2940mm wheelbase, official claims space yield rate 91.7%. Rear row 145-degree zero-pressure stepless adjustment plus 28-point massage, 196L front trunk, 236 LED bulbs' smile headlights and 274 bulb star ring taillights. Configuration density is built according to 200k level standards.

Rich Roles, From Sales Support to Technology Support

The significance of Q06 to Origin must be seen from the reverse of this sales report card.

August, Changan Origin delivered 45,885 units, year-on-year growth 103.1%. Same door brother Deep Blue cars 28,659 units, Avatr 8,082 units. Origin one brand's delivery volume, more than the sum of Deep Blue plus Avatr, sits firmly first in Changan system.

But behind the prosperity lies a structural problem. Origin's sales heavily rely on one car, the Q05. July Q05 delivered 18,871 units, consecutive 4 months reigned champion of compact SUV, supporting half of Origin's business. Sales supported by one car is essentially betting brand fate on a single hit. The more successful Q05 is, the greater Origin's product structure risk. Once demand fluctuates in this price range, or Q05 enters the end of product cycle, Origin's growth curve will lose speed, this situation is not lacking cases among top brands.

Q06's task is to dispel such potential risks, find another growth curve for Origin or Changan.

147.9k to 189.9k price range, exactly fills Origin's gap in 150k-200k level. Existing product line supports 100k level home sedan, connects down to 200k level SUV, Q06 fills the most mainstream, highest volume golden price range in the middle.

Greater significance for Changan. Among Origin, Deep Blue, Avatr three passenger car brands, Origin is the most reliable base. Deep Blue monthly sales 28k, Avatr 8k vehicles, high-end story sounds good, but obviously didn't support scale. Changan New Energy August delivery 105,000 units, year-on-year growth 22.7%, penetration rate near 50%, every sold two Changan vehicles one is new energy. Half the pressure of this big market is on Origin's shoulders.

Origin Product Promotion Director Qiu Bei's statement is: Origin is striving to converge towards Million Origin, this year has continuously for many months firmly ranked in China New Energy Brand Sales Top Ten. Q06 is the decisive move on this million road.

150k Price Range, The Most Ruthless Meat Grinder

But must pour a basin of cold water. The 150k level mid-size SUV market Q06 enters, is the segment with highest industry supply density, most brutal price war, most picky consumers.

Supply density first look at a set of background. August narrow-sense passenger car retail expected 1.58 million units, month-on-month growth 8.1%, big market slightly warm, but warmth didn't fall to 150k level. This price range squeezes all camps' main forces: domestic brands volume models, joint venture brands counter-attack forces, new forces' low-price product lines, all in same track close combat, mid-size SUV segment monthly new car supply long-term oversupply.

Consumer pickiness degree is also highest in industry. 150k level buyers spoiled by years of configuration arms race out of picking and choosing habit: range not standing on 600km step out, fast charging power low out, no LiDAR out, seat function not enough complete out. Any item absence, configuration party directly vote with feet.

Specific to Q06, pressure comes from three dimensions.

Range and recharging arms race. Same level mainstream models range already generally stood on 600km, flash charging technology is rapidly probing down from flagship models. Q06's 700km and 6C fast charging only squeezed into first echelon, yet to constitute generation difference advantage. 9 minute recharging experience indeed leads, but when industry overall recharging level all climbing, this lead window won't be too wide.

Intelligent driving equality race accelerating. Many car companies all pushing LiDAR and end-to-end solutions to 150k level, Tianshu Pilot's first fit dividend window, optimistic estimate only few months. Qiu Bei said Q06 urban smooth degree especially good, already possessed first-class driving intelligence ability, this words established, but first-class not equal unique, few months later same level intelligent driving configuration will rapidly level out.

Range-extended and pure electric civil war. Q06 itself provides range-extended and pure electric two sets of power, this is both demand coverage, also shows 150k level users to pure electric recharging still have anxiety. Range-extended version integrated range over 1,600km, obviously prepared for anxious crowd Plan B.

So in 150k level, no technology moat, only technology time difference. Changan's real exam question is, Tianshu Pilot's iteration speed can it beat competitor's follow speed, here need to put a question mark. Changan's R&D system once turned to agile iteration, scale effect will appear, otherwise Q06 is another pile material car, piled even thicker, only configuration table victory.

Origin Verification, Matrix Charge

Pull perspective to Changan Group level, Q06's true value fully emerges: it is Tianshu Pilot's scale verification field, after verification passes, technology will along Changan's brand matrix downwards compatible, upwards harvest.

Logic chain is like this. New technology mass production cost curve, needs scale to flatten. Origin is Changan system inside volume capability strongest brand, Q06 monthly sales once站稳，256 line LiDAR and computing platform procurement cost will be quickly diluted, then downcast Deep Blue and Avatr marginal cost tends to zero. First use sales largest brand run technology mature, bring cost down, then use high-end brand collect brand premium, this is a complete system arithmetic.

Traditional car company technology path usually flagship brand first, mainstream brand follow, Changan reverse walk, let volume brand first verify. Seemingly technology courtesy, actually cost calculation. On Avatr first fit, technology premium will be diluted by high-end pricing, consumers only say this car originally should have; on Origin first fit, same technology becomes dimension reduction surprise, scale effect directly converted to supply chain bargaining power.

Matrix charge imagination space can be unfolded. Deep Blue focus on young tech sports, weak point exactly in intelligent driving narrative, Tianshu Pilot downcast after, intelligent driving ability and sports positioning form complement, Deep Blue product story immediately complete. Avatr already positioning high-end smart, wait technology mature after mount Ultra version, VLM vision language large model interactive ability can support higher pricing. Further out, Changan main brand huge fuel car base, also can undertake mature version scheme do stock upgrade, give old car owner a replace car technology reason. One fish multiple eat, one technology base feed full four brands.

But opposing perspective also worth attention. Multiple brands share technology exists dilution risk. Tianshu Pilot if simultaneously appears on 140k Origin and 300k Avatr, high-end brand technology exclusivity narrative is dismantled by self, recent certain new force brand co-creation partner brand and technology effect diluted sales halved is case. Industry technology downcast do well companies, commonality is technology layering and brand layering bite very tight, same base, different gradient, consumer perceived differentiation still clear. Changan's test is downcast rhythm and gradient design, cannot urge success.

Also one inescapable transmission risk: Origin Q06 if verification fails, matrix charge becomes matrix chain reaction. One brand's reputation accident, will along shared technology base transmit to whole system. This means Q06 only allow success, Changan bets system reputation also on.

Looking deeper, Origin verification, Matrix Charge's true significance, is to transform Changan's R&D system from cost center to profit center. Past enterprise technology R&D was budget driven, invest how much money produce how much results, results then slowly find spot, R&D expense in financial report is pure expenditure item. Changan now doing attempt, is to let market capacity largest brand act as technology first spot, use sales raise technology, then use technology feed back whole system. If this flywheel can turn up, is truly Changan car making logic reconstruction.

Three Year Promise, Origin's Coming of Age Ceremony

From August 2023 launch count, Origin just full three years. Three years from 0 to monthly sales 45,000 units, Jan to July global cumulative delivery breakthrough 210,000 units, in central enterprise new energy sequence live into number one player. Q06 is its coming of age ceremony, also Changan Shangri-La plan one last exam.

In front of Million target, Q06 is decisive variable. Monthly sales 45,000 units base, Q06 needs monthly average contribute 8,000 to 10,000 units, to support Million target required slope. This number in 150k level not impossible, but requires product reputation, delivery rhythm cannot appear flaw.

Overseas is second battlefield. Q05 already entered Thailand, Uzbekistan, about to land Europe multiple markets. Changan August overseas delivery 92,400 units, year-on-year growth 78.6%, continuous 7 months large growth. Qiu Bei summarizes this play as No Overseas No Changan. Q06's 800V and 6C fast charging in global market are hard currency, overseas pricing space than domestic wider, matrix overseas is this system next chapter.

Back to initial question. Origin Q06 surface is a new car presale, actually is Changan's central enterprise car making logic one time self reconstruction. Central enterprise lacks no technology, lacks always is send technology to mass production vehicle, let market test courage. This step walk correctly, Origin only then qualification talk Million target, Changan only then qualification talk system victory.

And Changan Origin Q06 presale release 2 hours, cumulative orders breakthrough 11,079 units, obviously first step is eye-catching.

At the Changan Mazda booth in Hall 3 of the Chengdu Auto Show, crowds were gathering. Mazda fans are focused on a "Mazda with LiDAR", and the MAZDA EZ-60 LiDAR Edition has officially started pre-sales.

As a brand with driving control genes deeply ingrained in people's hearts, Mazda still wants to be the "Driver's Car" in the smart driving era. Not competing for the best in smart driving, just doing what's right in smart driving, letting more people own good cars.

When competitors are competing on "count of cities opened for urban NOA" and "smart driving takeover rate", Mazda's approach appears somewhat "out of sync", but also exceptionally "Mazda-like".

Not Competing for the Best, Only Competing for the Right

"Now the whole industry is racing on smart driving parameters, computing power, and radar quantity, almost becoming standard equipment in the Chinese market." Facing this follow-up from "Auto Talk", Minoru Fujihashi, Vice President of Auto Marketing & Sales and General Manager of the Sales Branch of Changan Mazda, answered straight to the point.

Minoru Fujihashi pointed to the MX-5 on the booth and said: "It condenses Mazda's brand core: pursuit of driving pleasure, beauty of design, handling texture, riding comfort, and globally unified quality and safety standards." In his view, whether it is EZ-60 or EZ-6, both are models that integrate this brand DNA. "Users generally recognize their driving comfort, handling texture, and reassuring safety performance."

"For Mazda, the driving fun of 'Human-Machine Integration', driving pleasure and safety, is the unchanged fundamental." Fujihashi emphasized, "Smart driving is not a replacement for driving, but an upgrade and empowerment based on this."

Behind this statement is Changan Mazda's calm review of the industry's trend of "stacking computing power, competing radars, racing on parameters". Fujihashi believes: "Whether it is smart driving or human driving, the most primary thing for a car is still safety. Every decision of smart driving ultimately relies on excellent mechanical quality, a good chassis, good handling, to be executed safely. Good smart driving is not letting smart driving drive for you, but letting smart driving make driving safer for you."

The core logic of this smart driving philosophy is clear and restrained: not competing for the "best" in parameters, but competing for the "right" in user experience.

Double Experience Without Discount

What is the core positioning of the EZ-60 LiDAR Edition? The answer given by Fujihashi is "Double Experience Without Discount". "When users drive themselves, they can feel handling fun comparable to fuel cars, the car moves as they wish; in scenarios like high-speed long-distance, urban commuting congestion, the LiDAR smart driving system can provide reliable assistance, reducing driving burden."

This is exactly the core difference between Mazda and other brands. "Many brands' smart driving ideas turn the car into a simple commuter tool, turning users from 'drivers' into 'passengers'; but Mazda's idea is, whether personally controlling or enabling smart driving assistance, users can always feel smooth, controllable driving texture."

Since the launch of EZ-60 in September 2025, it has successively won the sales champion of joint venture new energy medium SUVs for 7 consecutive months. In terms of design, its signature 9 air duct aerodynamic design deeply integrates "Kodo" aesthetics and aerodynamics, successively winning German iF, Red Dot, American IDA and other 8 global top design awards. In terms of handling, after undergoing road tests in 9 countries globally, totaling 9 million kilometers, it was evaluated by owners as "The EV that feels most like a gas car when driven".

In terms of safety, 7-horizontal 5-vertical cage body paired with 86.5% high-strength steel proportion, passed the industry's first full-vehicle collision, rollover, immersion triple limit challenge, winning TOP Safety Top Safety Certification.

The arrival of the EZ-60 LiDAR Edition is exactly to complete the puzzle of advanced intelligent driving assistance on this solid foundation.

LiDAR On Board But Not Showing Off Skills

The EZ-60 LiDAR Edition takes one LiDAR as the core perception base, paired with 11 HD cameras and 12 ultrasonic radars, achieving full-scenario capability upgrades from driving, parking, and active safety three dimensions.

In terms of driving assistance, the new car achieves full coverage of highway and urban pilot navigation. Highway pilot supports autonomous lane changing, obstacle avoidance, on/off ramps within 0-130km/h speed range; urban pilot covers 0-80km/h main road scenarios, benefiting from end-to-end technical architecture, system response is faster, decisions more coherent. Cutting-in scenarios recognized at millisecond level, smooth avoidance, construction sections and illegally parked vehicles can achieve continuous S-shaped avoidance, intersection green light 0.8 second quick start. Class-exclusive "Cruise Companion" function, select target vehicle can stably follow the car.

Parking scenarios are also comprehensively upgraded, covering over 300 types of parking spaces. New "Door Close Parking" function, narrow parking spaces can get off and automatically complete parking; supports memory parking.

In terms of active safety, EZ-60 LiDAR Edition carries 25 active safety functions. Front stationary vehicles can be braked to stop up to 110km/h speed, longitudinal pedestrians up to 90km/h braking stop, suddenly appearing pedestrians, crossing vehicles within 50km/h speed can be effectively handled. AEB and AES braking yielding integrated, emergency braking and steering avoidance can be triggered synchronously under dangerous conditions.

In terms of hardware configuration, the new car carries 3nm automotive grade flagship intelligent cockpit chip. Fujihashi specially emphasized a detail: "Smart driving status visualization real-time sync, transparent interaction without taking over driving, users can take control anytime." The system will tell you in advance what it wants to do, will not wrest the steering wheel from you.

A "Listening to Advice" Adjustment

This pre-sale, EZ-60 LiDAR Edition launched "10 yuan deposit, daily expansion 100 yuan, up to 3600 yuan deduction" pre-sale rights.

Talking about this welfare strength adjustment, Fujihashi frankly said: "Last year Shanghai pre-sale we also launched expansion money activity, user feedback was very good, but there are also many users saying 6-month waiting cycle is too long. This time we absorbed past experience, end of September new car will launch, pre-sale cycle about 1 month, so we took the daily expansion amount from 10 yuan to 100 yuan."

From 10 yuan to 100 yuan, rose 10 times; from 6 months to 1 month, cycle significantly shortened. This is a pragmatic adjustment based on user feedback. "Let early-ordered users truly enjoy the benefits." Fujihashi said.

As the strategic fulcrum and export center of Mazda's global electrification, Changan Mazda has become the first domestic joint venture new energy vehicle enterprise to simultaneously obtain EU, UK, Australia three major markets full-vehicle certification.

Fujihashi introduced, EZ-6 began exporting from last year, first landed European market, this year will expand to Australia, Thailand and other regions; EZ-60 export work is also progressing steadily, this year second half will successively land Australia, Southeast Asia and European market. Currently Mazda EZ-6 (Overseas version Mazda 6e) has been exported to over 20 countries and regions globally.

"These two models from R&D beginning were global car positioning, China is the core market, at the same time facing global sales." Fujihashi said, "Changan Mazda Nanjing Factory is Mazda global new energy model R&D and manufacturing base."

Conclusion:

Amid the noise of the Chengdu Auto Show, Changan Mazda's booth has a special temperament. When almost all brands are competing on parameters, stacking hardware, this century-old brand chose a "special" road – not competing for "Best", only competing for "Right".

This is not conservative, but a kind of sobriety. In the interview with Fujihashi, heard is not resistance to smart driving, but is "who smart driving serves" deep thinking. Smart driving is not making driver become passenger, but making driving safer, easier; Smart driving is not replacing control, but empowering control.

Some cars are for looking at parameters, while some cars, are for experiencing. EZ-60 LiDAR Edition is exactly belonging to the latter!

On August 11, Changan Qiyuan officially announced that its brand-new Q05 model has successfully crossed the 100,000-unit cumulative sales milestone. During July, the model's single-month delivery reached 18,871 units, not only stably sitting on the top of the compact SUV sales list for 4 consecutive months, but also winning the title of cumulative sales champion for compact pure electric SUVs in the first half of 2026. In this highly competitive "Red Ocean battlefield" of 100,000-level pure electric SUVs, a model with a starting price of only 79,900 yuan, what strength does it rely on to achieve explosive sales growth in a short period?

Sales Password: Price Anchor + Technology Equalization + Channel Penetration

The reason why Qiyuan Q05 achieved a sales explosion lies in its precise alignment with the core demand of family users "pursuing high cost-performance and balancing practicality". Its official guide price is set in the range of 79,900 to 99,900 yuan, precisely anchoring the commuter car consumption track with the largest scale. However, this is by no means relying solely on a low-price strategy to drive sales - all models in the series are equipped with CATL battery cells and Jinzhongzhao battery, and have 3C fast charging capability, requiring only 15 minutes to complete charging from 30% to 80%; while the top-level 405 Laser Ultra version priced at 99,900 yuan, has pioneered a new era, becoming the world's first model with a price controlled within 90,000 yuan, equipped with LiDAR, while also supporting highway pilot assist and automatic parking functions.

Especially highlighted is the core competitiveness at the channel level. Changan Automobile has built over 19,000 sales and service outlets globally. Relying on this grand layout, Qiyuan Q05 effectively penetrated into third and fourth-tier markets, precisely delivering "high cost-performance" to the largest consumer group. Focusing on the Thailand market, Q05 order volume broke through 3,000 vehicles strongly in less than half a month after launch; looking at Uzbekistan, it is planned to start the CKD local production process next year.

Same-Level Advantages: Range Not Falsely Stated, Smart Driving Willingly Provided

Compared to same-level competitors such as BYD Yuan UP, Leapmotor B10, Galaxy E5, the advantages of Qiyuan Q05 are very distinct.

First is "Range Equalization" - offering two CLTC range versions of 405km and 506km, actual range achievement rate in normal temperature cities is about 85%-90%, the reputation of exceeding stated ranges spreads quickly in the user community.

Second is "Smart Driving Willingly Given" - providing LiDAR + Highway NOA in the 90,000 yuan level, this is almost unique in the same level.

Third is "Big Factory Endorsement" - CATL Battery + Changan Manufacturing + Lifetime Warranty Commitment, dissipating consumers' concerns about "battery safety" of low-price electric cars.

How to Steadily Sit as Sales Champion: Fill Shortcomings, Defend Price

To make Q05 turn from "Hit" to "Sustained Popularity", Changan Qiyuan needs to continue to exert effort in three aspects.

First is chassis upgrade, ASAP downgrading multi-link independent suspension to mid and low trim models, eliminating user concerns "Low Price = Cheap Chassis".

Second is intelligence iteration, speeding up car machine OTA update frequency, enriching voice interaction and scenario-based applications, catching up with the software experience of top new EV forces.

Third is defending the price floor, in the background of competitors lowering prices to follow suit, Q05's 79,900 yuan entry price is the moat, once price increases or configuration decreases, sales advantage might quickly dissolve.

Sales Heat: Can It Continue to Sell Well?

Predicting Q05's sales cycle, CheguLuo believes at least it can maintain high heat for 6-12 months.

Reasons are three: First is 100,000-level pure electric SUV market demand is rigid, family commuting, ride-hailing, county market triple demand superposition, basic foundation is solid;

Second is Q05's "Price Anchor" effect has formed, competitors find it difficult in short term to provide equivalent configuration at equal price;

Third is In July, Changan Qiyuan's global delivery reached 39,841 units, AQ series year-on-year growth 103%, brand momentum is on an upward channel.

However, potential risks cannot be ignored. Leapmotor B10 with 99,800 yuan friendly starting price, powerfully equips 800V high voltage platform, LiDAR, and achieves 540km range; BYD Yuan Plus relies on deep brand influence, continuously exerting competitive pressure; at the same time, Galaxy E5, Neta X etc. competitors are also continuously upgrading configuration, adding effort. If Q05 cannot achieve continuous and efficient iteration upgrade, after 12 months, its sales are likely to fall into a decline dilemma.

Purchase Suggestion: 100,000 Yuan Commuting Blind Buy, Northern Users Need Caution

For family consumer groups with budget set around 100,000 yuan and car usage scenarios focusing on daily urban commuting, Qiyuan Q05 is undoubtedly a quality choice worth considering. Among them, 506Max version priced at 99,900 yuan, realized both long range capability and equipped with all-around smart driving configuration, can be called an example of cost-performance.

If budget is precisely controlled within 80,000 yuan, 405Air can fully fit the actual needs of basic commuting. However, consumers in northern severe cold areas need to pay more attention - Lithium Iron Phosphate battery range shrinkage in winter reaches 30%-35%, when temperature drops to -20°C, actual range ability is nearly halved, if there is long-distance travel planning, it is better to prioritize plug-in hybrid models or models equipped with ternary lithium batteries.

Concluding Remarks:

Changan Qiyuan Q05 successfully crossed the 100,000-unit sales threshold, powerfully verifying the unchanging law of China's new energy vehicle market "Where people's hearts lie, victory can be won" - the key to sales success does not lie in high price, but lies in precisely meeting user needs. 79,900 yuan starting friendly pricing, CATL battery built safety barrier, LiDAR technology popular application, jointly forged Q05's "National Benchmark" status in the 100,000-level pure electric SUV field.

Gasgoo Automotive News August 11, Changan Qiyuan announced, its new Q05 cumulative sales officially exceeded 100,000 units. In July, this model delivered 18,871 units in a single month, ranking first in compact SUV sales for 4 consecutive months, and also won the cumulative sales champion for compact pure electric SUVs in the first half of 2026.

As Changan Qiyuan's main model, the new Q05 is positioned in the 100,000-level pure electric SUV category, with an official starting price of 79,900 yuan. All trims are equipped with CATL battery cells and Golden Shield battery as standard, supporting 3C fast charging, allowing fast energy replenishment to be completed in 15 minutes. The high-spec version is equipped with LiDAR and features a 4nm automotive-grade smart cockpit.

Image source: Changan Qiyuan

In overseas markets, the new Q05 is also accelerating expansion. Previously, this model was launched in Thailand, with orders exceeding 3,000 units in less than half a month after launch. In June, the new car landed in Uzbekistan, completing market expansion from Southeast Asia to Central Asia. Changan will also continue to deepen cooperation with Uzbekistan's local partners, planning to achieve new Q05 CKD local production according to plan next year. At the same time, the car will subsequently enter the markets of Indonesia, South and Central America, and Europe.

Changan Automobile has currently established 79 subsidiaries, 76 factories, and over 19,000 sales and service outlets globally, with nearly 120,000 professional service personnel, and its products are exported to 115 countries and regions.

In July, Changan Qiyuan delivered 39,841 units globally, with the AQ series growing by 103% year-on-year. The new Q05 has become the landmark model for the Qiyuan brand moving from the "Product Launch Period" to the "Sales Realization Period".

In 2026, the automotive season is halfway through, and the Chinese auto market has completed the first half amidst price wars and weak demand. While most players are still calculating how to extricate themselves from the quagmire of "trading price for volume," Changan Automobile's revealed half-year performance report demonstrates the strategic resolve and tactical flexibility of a new central state-owned automotive enterprise.

The Real Rise of the Third Pole

Looking at Changan's performance in the first half of the year, the most exciting news is undoubtedly the "unrivaled" performance of the overseas market.

402,000 units delivered overseas, a year-on-year growth of 35.1%, accounting for a share of the overall sales jumping to 33.6%. Compared to the overseas target of 750,000 units for the full year, the 53.6% completion rate makes this performance report highly valuable. In the highly competitive stock market, the overseas sector proved the foresight of Changan's internationalization strategy with high growth, becoming the strongest engine pulling the overall market.

This is not simple product export, but the qualitative change of the "Inclusive Sea" Plan from 1.0 to 2.0. The Brazil Anapolis Factory completed construction and began production in March, with an initial annual production capacity of 90,000 units; the Thailand Rayong Factory is in production, and the Deepal S05 Right-Hand Drive version officially went off the line — Changan is upgrading its overseas map from "Trade Export" to "Industrial Overseas Expansion".

More importantly, the profit logic. When the domestic car market is deeply trapped in the price war, the profit structure of the overseas market is enough to make any rational investor excited. The value of overseas business is not only reflected in sales numbers, but more significantly in the substantial improvement of Changan's global brand value. In strategic areas such as Southeast Asia and South America, Changan is accelerating the transformation from a Chinese brand to a global brand with localized production + regional customized product combinations.

New Energy Structure Adjustment, Gathering Momentum to Wait

New energy deliveries reached 456,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%. Against the backdrop of the overall market contraction, this growth rate is remarkably solid.

In the sub-brand matrix, Changan Qiyuan's breakout and Deepal's stability are equally impressive. Qiyuan delivered 173,800 units cumulatively in the first half of the year, with the AQ series growing by 102.6% year-on-year, with the Q05 continuing to dominate the compact SUV market. On Deepal's performance report of 164,200 units, overseas deliveries of 35,800 units surged 141% year-on-year. Leading the industry in overseas growth rate is the best proof of Deepal's brand power.

Avatr's performance in the first half of the year was moderate, but the real highlight is in the second half. The Avatr 07L will be the first batch to be equipped with Huawei Qiankun ADS 5, and new flagship stores will cover more than 20 cities this year — for this premiumization card, Changan plays calmly and steadily.

Changan's new energy overall target completion rate for the first half of the year is 32.5%. Seemingly leaving room, it actually lays the groundwork for the technical explosion in the second half. The Blue Whale Super Engine Hybrid technology has achieved city fuel consumption of 2.98L per 100km, with thermal efficiency near 45%; the self-developed "Tianzhu Pilot" Advanced Driver Assistance System was officially launched at the Chongqing Auto Show. The accelerated transmission of technology from the R&D end to the product end will be concentrated in the second half.

Self-Developed is the Best Trump Card

If Changan's first half is broken down, technical breakthroughs are the most worthy of emphasis.

At the Beijing Auto Show in March, the "Tianzhu Intelligence" brand was officially launched, and the "Tianzhu Pilot" Advanced Driver Assistance System made a stunning debut. This is not simple feature stacking, but the concentrated embodiment of Changan's "Full-Stack Controllable" strategy in the core track of intelligence. Industry-leading features like Tire Blowout Stabilization prove the balance capability of the technical team between underlying algorithms and engineering implementation.

The mass production deployment of the Blue Whale Super Engine Hybrid is another trump card on the electrification track. The launch of the 4th Generation Eado and CS75 PLUS marks Changan's leap from following to leading in hybrid technology. In the current booming plug-in hybrid market, this system's balance between energy efficiency and performance will form sustained competitiveness in the terminal market.

In the Second Half, Others Endure the Harsh Winter, Changan Waits for the Wind

The structural optimization of the first half has laid a springboard for the strategic focus in the second half.

The product offensive is already clear. Changan Qiyuan Q06 will be the first to be equipped with the "Tianzhu Pilot" system for mass production — this will be a milestone event for Changan's self-developed smart driving technology to go to the market on a large scale. The dense launches of more than a dozen new and facelift models will form full coverage of the mainstream price range from the product end.

The overseas offensive continues to increase. Thailand and Brazil factories are ramping up capacity, and the "Inclusive Sea" 2.0 strategy's localized layout will move from planning to substantial operation. From "Going Out" to "Going In", Changan's deep cultivation in the overseas market is entering the harvest period.

The technical offensive is gathering momentum. The technical dividends of intelligence and electrification will be more fully released in new models in the second half. With the "Tianzhu" and "Blue Whale" dual-engine drive, Changan is completing the conversion from technical reserves to market momentum.

Auto Review: Some question the overall target completion rate, ignoring the industry scale's 23.8% decline; some amplify the slowdown in new energy growth, but didn't see the technical barriers behind Blue Whale Hybrid and "Tianzhu" Smart Driving.

The goal set by Changan Automobile Chairman Zhu Huarong of 5 million units by 2030 and Global TOP 10 is destined to be a marathon. The rhythm adjustment, structure optimization, overseas breakthrough, and technical accumulation of the first half — all these work that may not seem so "sexy" is actually accumulating energy for the sprint in the second half.

For the Chinese automotive market in 2026, the elimination rounds have begun. For Changan, this automotive new central SOE that has completed an identity shift, the value of the first half is never about how much it sprinted, but about finding the right direction and solidifying its internal foundation in a great transformation. The starting gun for the second half has fired, and the triple momentum of technology, products, and globalization is converting into real market momentum.

True masters are good at adjusting posture against headwinds and finding the optimal route amidst changes. Judging from the layout of the first half, Changan's second half of 2026 is even more worth looking forward to.

Changan's July performance report, which stabilized the baseline of 200,000 units, still fails to bring any sense of ease.

On August 2nd, Changan Automobile disclosed July delivery data.The group delivered 207,100 units that month, roughly flat compared to the same period last year.Among them, overseas deliveries reached 82,300 units, a significant year-on-year increase of 79.1%, with six consecutive months of positive growth; New energy deliveries hit 96,500 units, a year-on-year increase of 28.8%, with penetration rate approaching 47%. The remaining domestic fuel vehicle segment is quietly shrinking.

Looking back at the first half of the year, sales-wise, cumulative deliveries reached 1.1956 million units, with only 36.2% completion of the annual target of 3.3 million units. In the past three years, the proportion of first-half sales remained stable above 46%, but this year it is at least 10 percentage points lower. For the remaining 5 months, an average of 420,000 units must be sold monthly to meet the target. Compared to the peak season of the second half of 2025, Changan's single-month peak was only around 280,000 units. This means the monthly average target for the second half needs to be nearly 50% higher than the best-selling month of last year to meet the target.

On the profit side, the attributable net profit for shareholders in the first half is expected to be between 740 million and 970 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 58% to 68%; the net profit from the main business dropped significantly by 78% to 85%, remaining only between 230 million and 330 million yuan. Calculated by total sales volume, the non-deductible net profit per car sold is less than 30 yuan.

Changan officials attribute the reasons to exchange rate losses and raw material price hikes, but the structure is also dragging them down.

The signal on the profit side is even heavier. The earnings forecast shows that the attributable net profit for shareholders in the first half is expected to be between 740 million and 970 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 58% to 68%; the net profit from the main business dropped significantly by 78% to 85%, remaining only between 230 million and 330 million yuan. Calculated by total sales volume, the non-deductible net profit per car sold is less than 30 yuan. Changan officials attribute the reasons to exchange rate losses and raw material price hikes, but the structure is also dragging them down.

First, the new energy sector's growth rate is lower than the industry average.In the first half of the year, new energy deliveries were 456,000 units, a year-on-year increase of only 5.2%. During the same period, Geely Auto's new energy sales increased by 9.6% year-on-year, Chery Auto's new energy sales increased by 34.2% year-on-year, while Changan clearly lagged behind. Looking at the product structure, the Qiyuan brand relies heavily on the Q05 model, selling 72,000 units in half a year, while other models such as Q07, A07, E07, etc., saw declining sales with negligible contributions; Avatr accumulated deliveries of less than 28,000 units in the first half of the year, halving year-on-year, losing 13.2 billion yuan over the four years from 2022 to 2025, and in the first half of 2026 no car model achieved monthly sales over 10,000; Deepal relies on S05 and L06, with the high-end SUV Deepal S09 monthly sales dropping to over 200 units.

Secondly, there is pressure on the fuel vehicle side.The CS75 fuel version's sales in the first half of the year dropped by more than 30%. Although the Eado managed to maintain its position on the sedan list, it relied on continuous price cuts. Several older models saw sales drop to zero. Changan actively stopped production of the Lumin priced below 50,000 yuan, an entry and exit resulting in a gap of 70,000 units.

Fortunately, the overseas side was a bright spot in the first half of the year. The situation of domestic fuel vehicle contraction and weak new energy growth is difficult to fully support with overseas legs alone. Overseas deliveries in the first half of the year reached 402,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 35.1%. Compared to Changan's own announced 2026 overseas annual sales target, the completion rate has already exceeded 53%. However, the situation of domestic fuel vehicle contraction and weak new energy growth is difficult to support solely by overseas markets.

Currently, Changan has dispatched four vice-president level executives to lead the overseas expansion. Factories in Thailand and Brazil have been put into production successively. In the second half of the year, models such as Qiyuan Q05 and Deepal S05 will be launched in multiple locations in Southeast Asia and Europe. However, overseas markets are still in the investment phase of channels and capacity, short-term profit returns are limited, and exchange rate fluctuations continue to erode book data.

Facing multiple pressures such as weak domestic business and unbalanced multi-brand operations, Changan launched the most drastic reform in recent years in April. Deepal and Avatr backend integration aims to reduce R&D and supply chain costs by 20% to 30%. The overall product lineup was cut from 63 models to 36 models, no longer pursuing scale without profit.

As Tan Benhong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of China Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd., stated frankly at the mid-year communication meeting:"We have not yet fully mastered the operational capabilities of multiple brands."

The variables for the second half lie in the new vehicles.

Deepal S05 will be launched on August 6th, with a pre-sale price of 119,900 to 151,900 yuan, equipped with Tianshu Pilot + LiDAR; Changan Qiyuan Q06 comes standard with the Tianshu Pilot Intelligent Driving system across all trims, planned for launch in September, focusing on the 200,000 yuan class medium-large SUV market; Avatr 07L is positioned as a smart beauty family luxury SUV, expected to launch in the third quarter, providing both extended-range and pure electric dual power, the first batch equipped with Huawei Qiankun ADS 5 intelligent driving system, targeting the family market above 220,000 yuan.

A new vehicle list scheduled until the end of the year carries all of Changan's expectations for shifting from stability maintenance to an offensive push. Whether the integration can release system capabilities and whether the new vehicles can become blockbusters are the two key questions to break the stagnation in the second half of the year.

Source: Car Observation

Facing an increasingly competitive new energy market, Changan Qiyuan maintained a steady rhythm in July: delivered 39,841 vehicles in July, AQ series increased by 103% year-on-year, continuously holding the top sales position among new energy vehicle brands of central state-owned enterprises. Together with brands such as Geely Galaxy and Leapmotor, it forms the backbone of the mainstream camp in China's new energy market.

The steady growth of Changan Qiyuan in July is the result of both product strength and user reputation. From the continuous hot sales of the main models of the Changan Qiyuan AQ series, to the global debut of the Changan Qiyuan Q06, to the Changan Qiyuan new Q05 accelerating towards the overseas market, the label of "SOE New Energy" is transforming from brand endorsement to a tangible quality perception in users' minds.

Global Flagship Product Changan Qiyuan New Q05 Leads, Champion Matrix Collaborates

As the first global flagship product of Changan Qiyuan, Changan Qiyuan new Q05 leverages "CATL Batteries, Premium Frame, Ultra-Comfort" and other cross-class advantages, cumulative sales exceeded 100,000 units, continuously leading the compact SUV sub-market. In overseas markets, after launching in Thailand and Uzbekistan, Changan Qiyuan new Q05 further landed in Ethiopia, accelerating the formation of an overseas layout linking Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and African markets.

While Changan Qiyuan new Q05 exerts global momentum, the AQ series saw a 103% year-on-year increase in July, forming a synergistic growth "Champion Matrix". Among them, Changan Qiyuan A06 is positioned as the "King of Fully-Configured New Energy Family Sedans", with cross-class configurations such as 145° Electric Zero-Pressure Rear Seat, 800V 6C Fast Charging, etc., holding the sales champion of medium-to-large new energy sedans within 200,000 RMB; Changan Qiyuan Q07 satisfies family travel needs with "Space King" strength, cumulative sales have exceeded 100,000 units since launch, maintaining leading position in the mid-size plug-in hybrid SUV market.

Changan Qiyuan Q06 Global Debut, Defining New Standards for Mid-size SUVs with "Flowing Light Aesthetics"

On July 15, the all-new mid-size SUV Changan Qiyuan Q06 completed its global debut in Shanghai. This model, led by the world-class design master Klaus team, breaks the traditional mid-size SUV dull impression with its unique "Flowing Light Aesthetics" design. Inside the cabin, the "Flowing Light into Cabin" concept creates a high-quality immersive space, integrating technology and comfort.

In the field of intelligent driving, Changan Qiyuan Q06 is equipped with the Tianshu Pilot Ultra Intelligent Driving System, possessing end-to-end urban pilot capabilities, making vehicle control closer to the driving texture of veteran drivers. The chassis adopts luxury-grade chassis suspension with all-aluminum front double wishbones + rear multi-link and the only dual-motor rear-wheel drive layout in the class, balancing comfort and driving fun.

Conclusion 

Steady sales and a complete product matrix form the core foundation of growth. In the future, Changan Qiyuan will continue to rely on the strength of Changan Automobile's central state-owned enterprise system, with a more competitive product matrix and global layout, to continuously meet users' expectations for high-quality new energy travel.