BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua Silk Road) -- The Global New Energy Vehicle Cooperation and Development Forum (GNEV 2026) was recently held in Shanghai, at which industry experts called on Chinese automakers to coordinate their overseas expansion, bring auto parts suppliers along in their global push, and avoid destructive competition driven by product homogeneity.
The forum, with the theme of exploring new paths for global cooperation in the automotive industry, focused on two key areas: one was exploring how Chinese automakers can upgrade from exporting products to taking the entire industrial systems overseas, while the other examined how multinational companies can transform from simply operating in China to pursuing global coordination. The discussions shed light on the challenges facing the industry's globalization and potential paths for cooperation.
Zhang Yongwei, chief expert at China EV100, said at the forum that globalization of China's automotive industry has entered 2.0 phase, shifting from passive integration into global markets to proactively expanding overseas markets.
He called on the industry to make coordinated overseas expansion a priority, rationally manage overseas production capacity, bring auto parts suppliers into the global push, and avoid destructive competition caused by homogeneous products in overseas markets, so as to achieve mutual benefits for industrial development both at home and abroad.
After years of international business practices, Chinese automakers have increasingly recognized the limitations of simply exporting products. Di Zhirui, vice president of Changan Automobile, said domestic carmakers have completed the initial stage of "going global" and now they need to tackle three major weaknesses, namely brand premium, the balance between sales volume and profitability, and localization capabilities.
Participating representatives from industrial chain sectors agreed that suppliers can no longer limit themselves to providing hardware. Liang Rui, co-president of Sunwoda Electronic, said that power battery companies need to move beyond simply supplying products and upgrade to providing integrated, systematic solutions.
The forum also saw the signing of several agreements, including those on jointly developing international cooperation bases for the automotive industry. Participants reached a consensus that no company can independently compete across the entire industrial chain in the era of electrification and intelligence. Openness, coordination and two-way empowerment represent a viable path forward for the global automotive industry.
(Edited by Li Xueqing with Xinhua Silk Road, lixueqing@xinhua.org)
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