China's carmakers looking forward to 2025

China’s biggest automakers, including SAIC Motor, FAW, Dongfeng and GAC, have released their outlooks for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), as a move to further enhance their product and technological innovation strength.

The nation’s auto industry is entering a critical period of transformation and industrial upgrade, and automakers have made their plans to clarify the goals and key tasks in the new round of development.

Zhang Xiaofeng, an independent market analyst, said: ”The goal of automobile companies took their own actual conditions into consideration. In general, most of Chinese carmakers aim to accelerate research and development levels and bring consumers better products. Auto giants' business conditions and domestic and overseas market performance continue to improve by 2025, which will also be a good thing for car buyers."

Xu Liuping, chairman of leading automaker FAW Group, said the company aims to achieve sales of more than 6 million vehicles, with an average annual growth rate of 8 percent by 2025. The auto giant, headquartered in northeastern China's city of Changchun in Jilin Province, plans to achieve trillion-level operating income by that time.

FAW will improve its operating efficiency, enhance core competitiveness and promote innovation-driven, high-quality development. First, the carmaker will enhance its brands, including Hongqi and Bestune. Hongqi strives to achieve sales of over 1 million and a new brand strategy for Bestune in the second quarter of this year. Secondly, FAW hopes to focus on technological innovation and transformation to actual results. Thirdly, it will deepen collaboration with Volkswagen and Toyota, explore the overseas market and promote Changchun's industrial development.

Shanghai-based SAIC Motor, China’s largest automaker, aims to be one of the world's top five automobile companies during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and become a trillion-level group with global industrial competitiveness and brand influence.

SAIC Motor's plan emphasizes both domestic and overseas markets. By 2025, the automaker hopes its annual overseas sales will reach 1.5 million vehicles, accounting for about 15 percent of its overall sales, and expects average annual compound growth rate reaching 30 percent. 

By 2025, the automaker said it hopes that European market sales will reach 300,000 vehicles, with new-energy vehicles accounting for 70 to 80 percent. The European market has become a focus of development in the following time period. SAIC’s goal is to achieve profitability in key overseas regional markets such as Europe during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

Dongfeng Motor, headquartered in Wuhan, Hubei Province, aims to adopt the development paths of commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle simultaneously, and focus on the development of new-energy vehicles.

Dongfeng has great advantages in commercial vehicle production and sales, and the automaker hopes to become one of the leading global commercial vehicle companies. In the passenger car sector, the company also hopes it can do a better job.

Dongfeng said it will launch more than 20 new models on the market during the 14th Five-Year Plan. More than 50 percent will be new-energy vehicle models. Dongfeng has launched its high-end new-energy brand named Voyah and hopes its annual sales will reach 150,000 units by 2025.

GAC Motor, headquartered in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong Province, said by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, its auto production and sales are set to reach 3.5 million units, with a market share of over 12 percent. 

The auto group will focus on the research and development of new-energy vehicle as well as intelligent and connected vehicle, it said.