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From joint ventures to joint innovation: Why global autos look to China_我的网站

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    Newly produced vehicles fill a parking lot at a SAIC-GM industrial park in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province on July 10, 2022. Photo: VCG
Global automakers are forging deeper and longer-term ties with China, as the country's role evolves beyond a key market into an increasingly important hub for automotive research and development (R&D) and innovation.
SAIC Motor and General Motors (GM) signed an agreement on Wednesday to extend their joint venture partnership by 20 years to 2047. A month earlier, Honda Motor and GAC Group signed a strategic agreement to renew their joint venture (JV) partnership in GAC Honda, extending their cooperation to 2038 while keeping the existing equity structure unchanged.
The renewed commitments to China by global auto giants signal more than confidence in the long-term potential of the Chinese market. It reflects China's evolving role in the global auto industry, from a manufacturing base and sales market to an increasingly important source of innovation and technologies that shapes the future of mobility, Peng Bo, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Behind this shift is the rapid rise of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) and vehicle intelligence, as global competition increasingly centers on batteries, electric powertrains, intelligent driving, automation, software ecosystems and artificial intelligence (AI), Peng said.
From market to innovation
Chinese automakers have accelerated their expansion into global markets. According to the latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China exported 5.096 million vehicles in the first half of the year, up 65.3 percent year-on-year, including 2.355 million NEVs, up 120 percent. In just a few decades, China's auto industry has evolved from learning from and introducing advanced foreign technologies into a major global force in automobile production, exports and innovation.
Such a picture would have been almost unimaginable several decades ago. At the time, China's auto industry was still in its early stages and lagged considerably behind global leaders.
In the 1980s, China began integrating into the global auto industry through the establishment of joint ventures. In 1984, Beijing Jeep, China's first Sino-foreign joint venture automaker, began operations, while Chinese and German partners signed the agreement for Shanghai Volkswagen. More global automakers from countries such as Germany, the US, Japan and France followed, bringing capital, technology, equipment and management expertise that helped accelerate China's auto industry development.
From annual auto production and sales of just over 1 million units in the mid-1990s, China saw the corresponding figures surpass 30 million units in 2025, ranking first globally for the 17th consecutive year. Auto exports also surged from just several thousand units to a record 7.098 million in 2025. 
These figures illustrate the profound transformation of China's auto industry, which has evolved from a latecomer learning from global peers to a major manufacturing powerhouse and increasingly a source of innovation for the global auto industry, experts said.
Chinese experts attributed China's auto rise to its increasingly strong innovation capabilities. Sun Xiaohong, former secretary-general of the automotive branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, told the Global Times on Sunday that the close integration of R&D, manufacturing and market application has enabled new technologies to move rapidly from laboratories to mass production, while intense market competition has further accelerated innovation and product iteration.
Latest figures tell the story. China has led the world in automobile patent publications over the past decade, far ahead of the US, Japan and European countries. Patent publications in the NEV sector increased from more than 50,000 in 2016 to over 110,000 in 2025, with an annual growth rate of 17.1 percent. Intelligent connected vehicle patent publications rose from 44,000 to 93,000 over the same period, averaging annual growth of 11.6 percent.
In addition to the R&D capabilities, China's complete and highly efficient supply chain strengthens its industrial edge. The International Energy Agency estimates that battery electric car production costs are over 30 percent lower in China than in advanced economies, mainly attributed to lower battery cost and supply chain.
China's technology company Xiaomi only launched its first EV in 2024, but has quickly emerged as a major player in China's NEV market. Its strategy connects cars with smartphones, apps and smart home devices is creating a more integrated ecosystem. At Xiaomi's EV factory on the outskirts of Beijing, a new car rolls off the production line every 76 seconds on average.
Chinese automaker NIO's Hefei factory is known for its highly intelligent and automated manufacturing, using more than 700 robots and achieving an overall automation rate of 97.5 percent.
BYD's EVs can add 20 kilometers of range in just 10 seconds of charging and up to 400 kilometers in five minutes.
"These examples reflect a broader shift in China's auto industry, where strengths in advanced manufacturing, supply chains, software, AI and rapid technology commercialization are increasingly translating into a competitive edge," said Sun.
Cooperation not competition
The rapid transformation of China's auto industry has put growing pressure on some global auto giants. Honda CEO and President Toshihiro Mibe reportedly said after visiting an auto supplier factory in Shanghai, "We have no chance against this," Nikkei Asia reports.
Ola Kallenius, chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, told Chinese media that "In the world's most dynamic automotive market, you have to be here, and we're doubling down on China," People's Daily reported.
"Many major global automakers remain constrained by their long-standing reliance on traditional gasoline vehicles... Although they are pushing ahead with electrification, established technology systems, production networks and traditional development models have slowed," Jia Xinguang, an auto industry analyst, told the Global Times.
By contrast, China's auto industry has made a broad shift toward new technologies, building strengths across the industrial chain and establishing a mature and increasingly self-reliant core technology system, Jia said.
Against this backdrop, foreign automakers' approach to cooperation with China is changing. 
Toyota's evolving China strategy provides a telling example. At the 2026 Beijing auto show, Toyota unveiled its "with China, for China" localization strategy, giving Chinese teams a greater role in management, R&D and product development, the Global Times learned from the Japanese company.
Toyota has expanded its China chief engineer team from four to seven, covering gasoline, hybrid and EVs across different segments. It is also empowering local management and deepening co-creation with Chinese partners to make development faster, according to the company.
A similar shift can be seen at Tesla, whose Shanghai Gigafactory is not only a major global production base, but also a key part of its global supply chain and product development. In the first half of 2026, the factory delivered nearly 468,000 vehicles, up 28.4 percent year-on-year. The Model Y L, led by Tesla's China team in design and development and manufactured in China, is also being rolled out in markets including the US, UAE, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Australia, according to a press release that the company shared with the Global Times on Friday.
Foreign auto parts suppliers are also stepping up innovation in China. Bosch plans to invest more than 2.5 billion euros in AI development by the end of 2027, with much of its automotive-related AI work focused on China and Europe, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Amid mounting challenges, China-foreign auto joint ventures are taking a long-term approach and actively reshaping their product strategies, R&D models and cooperation frameworks, Xinhua reported, citing Bi Wenquan, an executive vice president of FAW Toyota Motor Co.
These developments point to a broader shift: China's role for global automakers is expanding from "Made in China" to "R&D in China" and "innovation in China," making win-win cooperation increasingly important, said Sun.
For global automakers seeking to stay competitive in the next wave of industry transformation, turning competition into greater opportunities for cooperation with Chinese companies is increasingly becoming an "imperative" rather than an "option," said Sun.
As John Roth, GM senior vice president and president of GM China, said the renewed partnership "reflects the shared confidence of GM and SAIC in SAIC-GM and its long-term growth potential."
"It is not only about continuing what we have built together. More importantly, it is about building a more competitive, resilient, and sustainable business for the future," Roth said.
。    　　8月24日，小鹏集团宣布，旗下人形机器人业务已与多家投资者签署股权融资协议。本轮为小鹏机器人业务首轮融资，融资金额超9亿美元，投后估值超63亿美元，刷新中国具身智能行业单轮私募股权融资纪录。　　本轮融资由IDG资本领投，高榕创投参投，同时获得腾讯和阿里巴巴两家战略投资者的支持。本轮融资交割完成后，小鹏集团将继续控股机器人业务，该业务仍纳入集团合并财务报表。　　本轮募集资金主要用于小鹏机器人业务的软硬件研发、物理 AI 模型训练迭代、高质量数据采集、全链条量产基地建设及全球商业化拓展。小鹏IRON计划在2026年底进入量产阶段，从小鹏的门店和园区开始落地商业场景应用，并于2027年面向中国及海外市场正式上市和交付。

二 | 　　同日，小鹏发布的二季度财报显示，公司总收入为人民币197.4亿元，环比增长51.5%，同比增长8.0%，其中汽车销售收入达人民币170.5亿元，服务及其他收入达人民币27.0亿元，同比增长93.9%。　　二季度，小鹏综合毛利率20.7%，汽车毛利率12.1%，综合毛利率较2025年同期提升3.4个百分点。截至2026年6月30日，公司现金储备为人民币404.8亿元。　　小鹏预计，第三季度汽车交付量将介于115,000台-121,000台，环比增加约11.33%至17.14%；总营收将介于人民币217亿元-234亿元，环比增加约9.91%至18.52%。　　在当晚的财报电话会上，小鹏集团董事长及CEO何小鹏表示，小鹏机器人首轮融资金额和估值即打破行业纪录，充分体现了资本市场对小鹏在物理AI领域的领先地位、技术路线、规模量产能力和长期商业价值的高度认可。　　何小鹏从今年6月开始亲自担任机器人业务CEO，据他介绍，小鹏研发人形机器人已有8年，随着时间推移，他越来越意识到，高阶人形机器人的技术挑战和创新难度远高于智能汽车，“至少相差20倍”。要做好创新，必须在设计和造型、硬件和芯片、软件和AI、数据和管控、品质和制造上，做到兼具广度和深度的正向研发和集成研发。

三 | 　　他还认为，高阶通用机器人的技术门槛极高，优质供给相当稀缺，因此每一台IRON在全生命周期的收入和毛利贡献，包含硬件销售和软件AI模型能力升级带来的持续性收入，将会大幅高于当前汽车业务的单车均价和毛利。　　值得注意的是，就在小鹏机器人官宣融资的同一天，另一大造车新势力零跑汽车也透露相关业务的动向。在零跑汽车026年中期业绩电话会上，公司副总裁李腾飞回应机器人业务传闻称，新能源汽车企业、尤其是具备全域自研能力的新能源汽车企业，是最具备条件做机器人的企业之一，零跑确实在这方面有我们自己的规划，具体信息将很快通过正式公告发布。　　此前工商信息显示，零跑旗下浙江凌昇动力科技有限公司于2026年7月全资设立湖州凌昇精密制造有限公司，注册资本2.1亿元，经营范围包含工业机器人制造、智能机器人研发。　　零跑最新发布的2026年半年度财报显示，上半年实现营业收入381.1亿元，创同期历史新高；净利润2.1亿元，连续三个半年度实现盈利；二季度毛利率环比提升至12.6%。

四 | （文章来源：界面新闻）。

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