China Economics reporter Chen Yannan reports from Beijing

Recently, China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released the latest statistics. In the first two months of 2026, my country's automobile exports continued to grow strongly, with a total of 1.352 million vehicles exported, a significant increase of 48.4% year-on-year. Among them, 672,000 vehicles were exported in a single month in February, a year-on-year increase of 52.4%, and still maintained a high level. New energy vehicles performed particularly well. In the first two months, 583,000 vehicles were exported, a year-on-year increase of 1.1 times, accounting for more than 40% of the total exports, becoming the core driving force for the growth of automobile exports.

But at the same time, trade protectionism is on the rise, and new issues are facing China's journey of globalization of electric vehicles.

In response to the current opportunities and challenges in going to sea, at the recently held China International New Energy Vehicle Supply Chain Conference and Going to Sea Forum, a reporter from "China Business News" learned through interviews that the current sea trip of China's new energy vehicles has shifted from a single product export to a stage of localization and deep cultivation. Enterprises are not only facing multiple challenges such as global compliance, regional differences, and competitive transformation, but are also accelerating the exploration of win-win cooperation and ecological roots. High-quality sea path.

Scale leap and change intertwined

Relying on the advantages of the entire industrial chain, China's automobile exports have become the core growth point of the industry in the past two years. The export scale has continued to expand, and the sea-going model has also quietly transformed. Simple product export can no longer meet the needs of globalization. Driven by the global industrial layout, China's automobiles are transforming from simple exports to localized operations, deep branding, and high-quality sea trips, and towards a higher level and more sustainable. Moving towards internationalization, we will fully promote the transformation of the industry from a major exporter to a global leader.

The positive signals from the market also confirm the global competitiveness of China's new energy vehicles. An industry insider told reporters: "Despite various uncertainties, it is certain that European users are increasingly interested in China's high-quality products."

The global layout of China's automobiles has long become the core focus of the transformation of the global automobile industry. Zhang Yongwei, chairman of the Chebaihui Research Institute, said that one of the most iconic events in the global automobile industry in the next five years will be the deep connection between China's automobile industry and the global market.

This judgment is not groundless, but is based on the actual scale of the industry. Data shows that China's automobile exports will reach approximately 7 million units in 2023. The industry predicts that the export scale is expected to exceed 10 million units in the next few years, and form a global market with a scale of several trillion yuan. There is very broad space for global growth.

However, behind the rapid increase in scale, the challenges have also intensified. China's cars are entering more complex and difficult deep water areas when going out to sea, and various new contradictions and problems are constantly emerging.

Focusing on the pain points of enterprises going abroad, some industry insiders bluntly said that enterprises are currently facing three core contradictions when going abroad: first, how to balance the relationship between trade exports and overseas investment and factories, second, how to ensure their own technical security in technical cooperation, and third, how to avoid domestic "Involutional" competition spills over to maintain the overall brand image of China's automobiles. These three major contradictions are also common problems that the entire industry must solve at present.

From a macro perspective, the essential changes in the global economy and geographical environment have completely rewritten the rules for going to sea. A corporate executive pointed out that the current sea trip of China companies has undergone a fundamental change compared with before 2023. The core is reflected in four dimensions: the strategic goal has been upgraded from the earlier trade-oriented sea trip, which was mainly based on selling goods, to building a global operation capability covering production layout; core competitiveness has shifted from relying solely on cost advantages to multi-dimensional comprehensive strengths such as supply chain and compliance; The regulatory environment has expanded from traditional basic access requirements such as collision safety and performance to all-round supervision such as OTA upgrades, network security, data compliance, and carbon footprint; the competition model has also been upgraded from a single price competition to a full-chain and full-system. Systematic competition.

In addition to macro rules and internal contradictions, the differentiated characteristics of regional markets have also brought unique challenges to China's supply chain companies, and the demand rhythm of different markets is in sharp contrast.

During the interview, the reporter learned that the current global automobile market shows obvious regional differences: the development of electrification in Europe is more rational, with higher requirements for safety, reliability, and compliance. The market rhythm is stable. Once it enters the supply chain, it can supply goods for a long time. However, the period for re-entry after losing an opportunity is longer; while the China market is faster, pursuing rapid response, ultimate experience and adapting diversified needs, and the opportunity iteration speed is also faster. This difference brings core challenges to China supply chain companies, that is, how to meet both Europe's high standards and stable pace and China's efficient and fast iteration needs.

Yang Yong, executive vice president of Desai Sev, also believes that there are obvious differences in the pace of development of new energy vehicles between China and European markets: Europe pays more attention to safety and compliance, while the China market emphasizes technology iteration speed and user experience, and suppliers must Find a precise balance between different markets.

Build a solid foundation for globalization through collaboration and innovation

Faced with the dual challenges brought by regional differences, the industry is exploring solutions. Only by both internal and external training and two-way efforts can we adapt to the needs of different markets around the world.

A relevant person in charge of the company pointed out that to deal with this challenge, we need to work simultaneously from internal capabilities and external ecology: internally, we must optimize the organizational structure and business processes, and not only give full play to the advantages of rapid response and controllable costs of China's supply chain, but also adapt to Europe's strict requirements on quality, process and efficiency, and make up for the coordination shortcomings of China-EU headquarters and branches; Externally, it is necessary to speed up the construction of European local service capabilities and open cooperation ecosystem, transform China's advantages in intelligence and user experience into global competitiveness, and use the process of gradual popularization of education in the European market to achieve a stable and sustainable global layout.

The acceleration of industrial technology iteration also forces companies to adjust their globalization strategies and balance technological innovation with stable operations in order to gain a firm foothold in the fierce competition.

Johann Wieland, former CEO of BMW Brilliance and independent automotive expert, said that compared with the era of traditional fuel vehicles, the pace of technological iteration and market competition in the new energy vehicle industry has accelerated significantly. Enterprises not only have to cope with electrification transformation, but also need to continuously adjust strategies in software, intelligence and global supply chain restructuring.

Technology investment is the core driving force for industrial development, but blindly chasing new products is not advisable. Sustainable profits are the long-term solution. An automotive expert admitted that many companies have reduced their investment in strategic transformation and adjustment and focused more on new technologies rather than hardware. Technology investment is important, but investing in new technologies does not mean they can survive competition. Companies must have profitability and let Investment generates returns, and a business model without positive cash flow will ultimately be unsustainable.

Looking at global industrial collaboration, only by openness and inclusiveness can we achieve stability and long-term progress. Xie Yu, chairman of the New Energy Vehicle Industry Branch of China Equipment Management Association, proposed the industrial cooperation concept of "borderless, win-win results." He believes that the development of the new energy automobile industry is not only product competition, but also the result of global supply chain system coordination. Future industrial development needs to take "openness, connectivity, and trust" as the core to promote the formation of a global cooperation network.

Based on industrial security and long-term development, industry associations have also provided targeted guidance. Wei Jinglin, vice president of China Equipment Management Association, put forward three suggestions: adhere to the bottom line of industrial safety and improve the independent controllability of core technologies and the resilience of supply chains; strengthen collaborative innovation of industry, academia and application, and promote industrial upgrading with new quality productivity; Promote mutual recognition of technical standards on the basis of complying with international rules and promote high-quality sea travel for the new energy vehicle industry.

AI technology empowers automotive supply chains

The wave of digitalization has swept across, and AI technology has become a key starting point for empowering supply chains and improving global operational efficiency, injecting new momentum into going out to sea.

Under the wave of intelligence and digitalization, AI technology is gradually becoming an important tool to improve supply chain efficiency. Chen Yuxiao, CEO of Yaqi Group, pointed out that there are five core strategic reasons for China car companies to go to Europe: China's domestic auto market is gradually saturated, and companies need to explore new markets to maintain growth; Overseas markets provide global branding opportunities and can be recognized by the capital market; Hedging the risk of geopolitical conflicts through diversified layout to ensure the stability of the supply chain; The global market can absorb production capacity and R & D investment to maximize economic benefits; Europe's new energy policy provides strategic opportunities, especially for new energy vehicle companies. He also proposed that China's automobile and supply chain strategy should shift from product to ecological root, emphasizing long-term deep cultivation of European market.

Digital tools continue to expand and the industrial globalization model is being reshaped in an all-round way. Ding Yaqi, director of smart travel at Tencent, said that large-scale model technology is changing the way the automobile industry collaborates in R & D, manufacturing and supply chain, and digitalization and AI will become important driving forces for the efficiency improvement of the new energy vehicle industry in the future.

Global competition is no longer a one-point competition, but a full-ecosystem competition. Supporting coordination such as logistics, finance, and digital platforms is crucial. Focusing on overseas logistics and industrial collaboration, some industry insiders have proposed that the future competition in the mobile travel industry lies not only in production capabilities, but also in ecosystem capabilities. Enterprises need to integrate multiple links such as manufacturing, logistics, finance and digital platforms to build a complete industrial ecosystem.

The boundaries of innovation are also constantly breaking, and cross-industry technology integration provides more possibilities for industries to go abroad. The reporter learned that innovation in the automotive industry often comes from cross-industry technologies, such as the application of AI visual recognition technology in the sports field, and can also be migrated to the automotive industry for target detection in severe weather environments.

Combined with years of practical experience and industry exploration, the industry has also summarized a systematic and implementable methodology for sailing to sea, providing clear action guidelines for enterprises. An industry insider told reporters that the going out of the automobile industry and supply chain can be summarized as "one strategy, three pillars, and four deployments": strategically, the shift from product going out to ecological roots, from "nomadic" trade to "farming" Deep cultivation; the three pillars focus on production, R & D, and ecology, production is deeply integrated into the local area, R & D has shifted from China definition to European definition, and ecology and local partners are integrated; The four specific deployments include the supply chain going to sea first, rational layout of overseas production capacity, leveraging joint venture partner channels and production capacity, and reshaping the brand through certification adaptation, service upgrades and local public welfare.

At the same time, the sailing process should also follow a step-by-step three-stage path to build a solid foundation for long-term development: planning and research, product localization definitions, compliance pre-emptive and local team building before going out; strictly abide by compliance requirements during the sailing process, do a good job in ESG disclosure, and actively integrate into local communities; in the long run, adhere to long-term doctrine, uphold the concept of cooperation over confrontation, and fully integrate into the local supply chain system to achieve sustainable development.

(Editor: Zhang Shuo Reviewed: Tong Haihua Proofread: Zhai Jun)

Source: China Business News

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