From August 19 to 21, the Global New Energy Vehicle Cooperation and Development Forum (GNEV2026) was held in Shanghai. As the core session of the forum, the Plenary Session, themed "New Pathways for Global Cooperation in the Automotive Industry," focused on two major directions — the international development of Chinese automotive enterprises and the development of multinational automotive enterprises in China. The session brought together representatives from government agencies, industry organizations, domestic and international vehicle manufacturers, component suppliers, and upstream and downstream industry chain stakeholders to engage in in-depth discussions on innovative cooperation models, industrial and supply chain synergy, and pathways for enterprise internationalization against the backdrop of global automotive industry transformation.
At the session, Zhang Yongwei, Chief Expert of China EV100, stated that the globalization of China's automotive industry is moving from "China Opportunity 1.0" to "China Opportunity 2.0" — shifting from passively integrating into the world to more proactively shaping global engagement. He suggested that the industry should abandon individual efforts and make collaborative overseas expansion a binding principle, avoiding overcrowded market entry and unhealthy competition overseas. He also recommended that automakers rationalize production capacity planning, bring component suppliers along in their overseas expansion, and empower industrial upgrading in host countries. Countries can seek strategic convergence points across four dimensions — market, industrial chain, hub, and manufacturing — to tap into China's industrial resource pool, share the dividends of the electrification and intelligentization transition, and achieve mutual benefits.
Plenary Session (Morning Session)
China Automotive Enterprises Going Global Forum: From Product Exports to Systematic Global Expansion
The morning session, themed "New Pathways for Global Cooperation in the Automotive Industry," was moderated by Liu Xiaoshi, President of China EV100, and attended by Pan Xiaohong, Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of Shanghai International Automobile City.
In his opening address, Liu Jiafeng, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Mayor of Jiading District, Shanghai, noted that Jiading has established a complete automotive industry chain covering vehicle manufacturing and software and hardware R&D. In 2025, the output value of automotive enterprises above designated size exceeded RMB 300 billion for the first time. He noted that 2026 marks the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and Jiading will continue to advance the NEV industry ecosystem and deepen the development of its high-level autonomous driving pilot zone.
In the keynote address, Jiang Yaoping, former Vice Minister of Commerce, proposed that exploring new pathways for global cooperation requires focusing on three directions: first, co-construction — from product exports to ecosystem cobuilding; second, mutual recognition — from adapting to rules to mutual recognition of standards; third, winwin outcomes — from oneway output to twoway empowerment. Jiang emphasized that innovative cooperation is an inevitable choice for overcoming global growth challenges, and that no single country or enterprise can address all challenges in the new round of technological and industrial revolution.
In the keynote speeches, several enterprise representatives shared their insights on globalization practices. Di Zhirui, Vice President of Changan Automobile, observed that over the past decade, Chinese automakers have leveraged supply chain advantages and cost efficiency to address the question of "being able to go global," and have entered a phase of "selling well" over the past three years. In the next five to ten years, Chinese automakers must achieve "entry and stable footing" by addressing three major challenges: brand premium, volumeprofit imbalance, and localization foundations. He proposed new pathways for global cooperation in the automotive industry: localization as the root, collaboration as the wings, and rules as the bridge.
Wang Lang, Vice President of Chery Automobile, suggested that the globalization of China's automotive industry has entered a new phase of "longterm operations," where the quality of globalization is measured not by how many countries one has entered, but by the ability to sustain value creation locally. The core elements are threefold: whether user value has been enhanced, whether industrial integration has been deepened, and whether longterm operations are feasible.
Lu Fang, Chairman and Party Secretary of Voyah Automobile, further proposed that the globalization of China's automotive industry is deepening from "going global" to "moving up" and "integrating in." "Going global" requires opening markets with highquality products and localized adaptation; "moving up" means shifting from scale advantages to value advantages; and "integrating in" means transitioning from pure product exports to ecosystem cobuilding.
Liang Linhe, Director of Sany Group and Chairman of Sany Heavy Truck, noted that China's new energy heavytruck exports are still in their early stages, with global electric heavytruck penetration below 2%, yet the market potential is vast. He emphasized that "staying out means losing out," and that the industry should pursue highquality overseas expansion through collaborative, industrial, standardbased, and fullfactor approaches.
Kang Pinglu, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of DST, shared insights from commercial vehicle overseas expansion: commercial vehicle expansion is not simply about product exports but about ecosystem going global. Commercial vehicles overseas are essentially an operations market, requiring a global assetcycle perspective to match vehicles with different regions and customers at each lifecycle stage, maximizing fulllifecycle value.
Zhu Yongqing, Deputy General Manager of the Technology Center at Great Wall Motor, proposed that globalization is not a simple replication of "one model sold worldwide," but rather scenariobased vehicle development rooted in and serving local markets. Global cooperation in the automotive industry is not about individual efforts but should rely on a technology and ecosystem foundation to achieve technological symbiosis, ecosystem symbiosis, and value symbiosis.
Shalini Palmer, ADI Corporate Vice President, Automotive Business, similarly noted that globalization is not a simple replication and scaling of domestic success. The two are fundamentally different. Regulations, trade policies, market access rules, and supplier systems vary by region and must be built or integrated from scratch.
Looking to future ecosystem cobuilding, Lin Guangqiu, Senior Vice President of Desay SV, suggested that OEMs can flexibly choose among three pathways for overseas expansion: first, bringing their own supply chains and building local systems from scratch; second, partnering with Chinese Tier 1 suppliers with mature global capabilities, or with local international component suppliers; and third, promoting synergy between domestic and international OEMs and component suppliers to empower local industrial upgrading rather than replacing existing ecosystems.
As automakers transition from product exports to ecosystem exports, Liang Rui, CoPresident of Sunwoda, stated that power battery companies must also shift from singleproduct services to systemcapability services. Over the next two years, the leap in systematic capabilities will be key to global competitiveness, and the data foundation, localization capabilities, and standardsalignment capabilities will together form the moat for battery companies' global development.
During the forum, the signing ceremony for the "Automotive Industry International Cooperation Base" was held. China EV100 Think Tank and Shanghai International Automobile City will leverage their respective strengths to deepen cooperation in areas such as international technology cooperation and industrial synergy, jointly building an international cooperation platform for the automotive industry.
Shi Jianhua, Vice Chairman of China EV100 Think Tank and Dean of China EV100 Think Tank (first from left), and Pan Xiaohong, Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of Shanghai International Automobile City (first from right), signed the agreement as representatives, witnessed by Jiang Yaoping, former Vice Minister of Commerce (third from left), Liu Jiafeng, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Mayor of Jiading District, Shanghai (second from right), and Zhang Yongwei, Chief Expert of China EV100 (second from left).
Subsequently, the onboarding of the first group of partner institutions and the signing of the "ChinaThailand NEV Service Talent Certification and Training" project further infused the base with strong momentum for international cooperation.
Plenary Session (Afternoon Session)
HighLevel Forum on Multinational Automotive Enterprises in China: From "Operating in China" to "Global Synergy"
The afternoon session, themed "In China, For China; In China, For the World," was moderated by Shi Jianhua, Vice Chairman of China EV100 Think Tank and Dean of China EV100 Think Tank.
Zhang Lin, Chief Representative and General Manager of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) China, outlined future trends in SinoGerman cooperation: first, a shift in cooperation models — from German technology + the Chinese market to Chinese innovation + global sharing; second, dimensional upgrading — extending from joint product manufacturing to standards cobuilding and ecosystem synergy; third, spatial expansion — moving from "In China, For China" to "In China, For the World."
Addressing the development of multinational automakers in China, Wu Yanyan, Vice President of BMW Group and Head of Government and External Affairs, Greater China, identified three key challenges: first, how to accelerate adaptation to China's electrification, digitalization, intelligentization, and decarbonization transformation; second, how to fully leverage China's innovation outcomes, accelerate integration with the global technology system, and promote innovations to global markets; and third, how to balance global supply chain deployment amid a complex geopolitical environment.
Li Yaxu (Kevin Li), President of Magna China, described China as the most dynamic and fiercely competitive market in the world. He noted that the automotive industry does not lack good ideas — the real challenge lies in turning innovation into largescale, deliverable products while meeting customer requirements for regulations, quality, cost, efficiency, and reliability. This requires strong engineering capabilities, excellence in manufacturing, resilient supply chains, and disciplined lean operations execution.
Yang Xiaoming, President of Aptiv China and Asia Pacific, candidly stated that in the face of rapid growth in Chinese automotive exports and pressure on the domestic market, foreigninvested enterprises must shift from "In China, For China" to "In China, For the World." This requires integrating into China's supply chain, strengthening local R&D and innovation, promoting Chinese technology and supply chain capabilities globally, and exploring new growth opportunities in emerging fields such as AI, embodied robotics, energy storage, and data centers.
Mathew Vachaparampil, CEO of Caresoft Global, noted that the global automotive industry currently faces challenges including rising trade barriers, supply chain regionalization, rising cost pressures, and shortened innovation cycles. He emphasized that the key to improving competitiveness lies in cost optimization. He introduced the "Do It Right the First Time" philosophy — most OEMs and suppliers often identify cost issues late in the engineering cycle, whereas benchmarking can establish optimal design solutions from the outset and reduce R&D waste.
Xu Jie, President of the Global Passenger Vehicle Business Unit and China President of MANN+HUMMEL, argued that to achieve "In China, For the World," foreigninvested enterprises must fully integrate into China's strategy, making China's national and industrial strategies a key component of their global strategic planning.
Li Xiaohe, Executive Vice President of NXP Semiconductors and General Manager of NXP China, stated that in pursuing global deployment, enterprises must balance domestic and overseas cycles, which operate on distinctly different logics: the domestic market emphasizes rapid iteration, flexible supply chains, and localized responsiveness; overseas markets prioritize longterm reliability, fulllifecycle cost, and supply chain resilience.
Gu Jianmin, CTO of Valeo China, noted that amid the rapid growth of Chinese automotive exports, enterprises must look beyond opportunities and prepare across four dimensions: innovation capability, brand reputation, global resource deployment, and localized compliance practices.
Zhong Xiaolong, Vice President of Infineon Technologies, stated that the development of softwaredefined vehicles places higher demands on the flexible adaptability of chip architectures. RISCV, with its flexible adaptability, scalability, and customizability, can cover MCU applications at various levels and is poised to become an important architectural choice for the automotive industry.
During the forum, the M100 Multinational Automotive Enterprises HighQuality Development Partnership in China certification ceremony was held, further empowering multinational enterprises to integrate into China's automotive industry and achieve mutually beneficial development, while injecting new momentum into the globalization of China's automotive industry.
The Plenary Session addressed both the practical challenges facing Chinese automotive enterprises in their international development and the new opportunities for multinational enterprises in China, further consolidating consensus on open cooperation in the global automotive industry. Looking ahead, as the automotive industry continues to deepen its electrification, intelligentization, and green transformation, the global automotive industry will require more open cooperation mechanisms, closer industrial synergy, and more diverse ecosystem connections to jointly explore new pathways for global cooperation in the automotive industry.
