From March 28 to 30, the 2025 China EV100 Forum convened in Beijing, where industry leaders from BYD, Xiaomi, and Li Auto shared pivotal insights. This elite gathering of political, industrial, academic, and research figures not only painted a future picture of China's burgeoning new energy industry but also shed light on the intricate dynamics of automakers' competitive survival in technological innovation, ecological strategy, and global positioning.

Wang Chuanfu

China's New Energy Vehicles Lead the World by 3-5 Years

In his keynote address, Wang Chuanfu, Chairman of BYD Group, emphasized that while the first half of the electrification journey was an improvement, the second half's intelligentization marks a revolution. He believes that China's new energy vehicles have established a significant lead in technology, products, and the industrial chain, approximately 3 to 5 years ahead of global competitors. This fleeting advantage must be capitalized upon through open innovation, fostering green technology research, and product upgrades. BYD aims to expand globally by leveraging mutual strengths and fostering collaborations. He added that after over a decade of development, China's electric vehicle industry chain is now the most comprehensive, leading, and mature in the world.

Lei Jun

Expected Investments to Surpass 30 Billion Yuan This Year

Making his debut at the EV100 Forum, Lei Jun of Xiaomi remarked, "Xiaomi is a newcomer to the automotive industry. When we embarked on this journey, many deemed us late. Looking back, perhaps it was just the right time. This is a testament to the industry's collective progress. By the time we started, the technology, user consumption habits, and supply chain were already mature." He highlighted Xiaomi's commitment to high-end positioning and technological breakthroughs, underpinned by substantial investments. Xiaomi has invested approximately 105 billion yuan, with this year's projected investment exceeding 30 billion yuan. Such substantial investments are crucial for achieving excellence in technology and products.

Yin Tongyue

Striving for "Intelligent Driving Equality"

Yin Tongyue, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Chery Holding Group, spoke at the China EV100 Forum (2025), expressing Chery's ambition to utilize Chinese technological solutions and innovation to access higher standards and more challenging markets. Regarding intelligentization, Chery aims to achieve "intelligent driving equality." Yin emphasized Chery's dual focus on both domestic and international markets, actively pursuing both "going out" strategies and international cooperation. These efforts underscore Chery's belief that China can empower its automakers to truly go global, evolving from exporting complete vehicles to conducting R&D and manufacturing overseas, fully integrating into the global environment and fostering deep integration and collaboration with global peers. He also urged relevant laws and regulations to keep pace with the electrification era, hoping to leverage the system's potential as soon as possible.

Li Xiang

China's New Energy Vehicles Lead the World by 3-5 Years

Li Xiang, Chairman and CEO of Li Auto, asserted, "Li Auto will understand how to develop large-scale software better than all traditional automakers and how to make a car better than all internet companies." He showcased Li Auto's open-source operating system, emphasizing that it can fully replace AutoSar's functions. The open-source system encompasses vehicle control OS, intelligent driving OS, and communication middleware, with user ownership across the chip, application, tool, and user account ecosystems. Li Xiang also revealed the Xinghuan OS's enhanced performance, boasting a full-domain system architecture, optimized synchronous tasks, and consistent time bases across upstream, midstream, and downstream modules. Compared to AutoSar, the response time is twice as fast, and stability is improved by five times. He illustrated this with an example: "At 120 km/h, AEB braking distance can be shortened by approximately 7 meters, ensuring enhanced passenger safety."

Li Bin

Allocation of 60 Billion Yuan in Funds

At this year's forum, Li Bin, Chairman of NIO, addressed the company's high capital investment. He explained that funds are allocated to R&D, management and operations, battery swapping networks, and charging infrastructure. Since inception, NIO has invested approximately 60 billion yuan in R&D, with 13.037 billion yuan in 2024 and 3.64 billion yuan in the fourth quarter. These investments drive technological innovation and product upgrades, enhancing user experience and product competitiveness. Li acknowledged management and operational challenges, admitting some fund wastage, but assured that the company is continuously optimizing processes and improving efficiency. Additionally, NIO has heavily invested in battery swapping networks and charging piles, deploying them in both urban and remote areas to enhance charging convenience.

He Xiaopeng

Investing 3 Billion Yuan in Flying Cars This Year

He Xiaopeng revealed that Xiaopeng's ecological enterprise, Xiaopeng Huitian, has invested over 10 billion yuan in flying cars over the past decade, employing 1,400 R&D personnel. In 2025, Xiaopeng Huitian plans to invest an additional 3 billion yuan for the flying car project's continued development. He Xiaopeng mentioned promoting flying license training, expecting over 200 flying camps by year-end and over 500 in 2026. Construction has commenced on a factory in Guangzhou, aiming for an annual production capacity of 10,000 units—the world's first flying car factory with mass production on an assembly line scale. He Xiaopeng is confident in flying cars' commercialization prospects, predicting they will become a daily commuting tool within five years.

Deng Chenghao

Future Voice for Nearly 20 Brands in the Chinese Market

Deng Chenghao, CEO of Deep Blue Automobile, observed diverging sales among major groups. Amid this electrification and intelligentization transformation, competition has intensified, with distinct tiers emerging at 300,000, 150,000, and 80,000 units, alongside numerous negligible brands. He believes that China's vast and culturally rich market can support more than just 3-5 dominant brands. "My perspective is broader. Many brands will likely disappear during reshaping, but ultimately, no more than 20 brands will have a significant voice," he said. In this multi-dimensional game of technology, capital, and ecology, Chinese automakers are transitioning from "followers" to "rule makers." Whether it's BYD's global aspirations, Xiaomi's ecological disruption, Li Auto's open-source revolution, or Xiaopeng's exploration of three-dimensional travel, they are all redefining the trillion-yuan industry's value chain. As Wang Chuanfu noted, "Seizing this 3-5-year technological window is seizing future discourse power." The outcome of this high-stakes race will determine China's transition from a "big automotive country" to an "automotive powerhouse".