Industry

• He Xiaopeng says autonomous driving should skip L3 and go straight to L4, since L3 adds no safety or better experience

  Speaking at the 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference, XPeng chairman He Xiaopeng said autonomous driving should jump from L2 straight to L4, arguing that L3 only shifts responsibility

• 6.711 million charging sessions! China's highways drew 163 million kWh over the 7-day National Day holiday, up over 51 percent

  China's National Energy Administration said 62,700 monitored highway charging facilities completed 6.711 million charging sessions from October 1 to 7, with 163 million kWh of electricity delivered an

• China takes the world car factory title from Japan! Exports hit 7.153 million in January-August, over 33,000 vehicles shipped daily

  China exported 7.153 million vehicles in January-August 2026, up 66.7% year on year, surpassing Japan's roughly 2.4 million and its own full-year 2025 total. New-energy vehicles reached 3.435 million

• China suspends auto certification body CCAP for a month over improper CCC certificates

  China's certification authority has ordered CCAP, a major issuer of mandatory CCC certificates for vehicles, to suspend operations for a month after it certified products outside the mandatory certifi

• Japan's big three keep sinking in China, with Nissan and Honda halving in August

  Toyota, Nissan and Honda all fell in China for a fifth straight month in August, with Nissan down 51.9 percent and Honda down 49.9 percent, as Japanese brands' market share has halved in five years.

• Japanese and Korean Firms Cornered! Chinese Companies Hold 7 of Top 10 Spots in Global Battery Installation Ranking for January-July

  SNE Research data shows global EV battery installations reached 725.2 GWh in January-July 2026, up 20.4% year-over-year, with Chinese companies holding 7 of the top 10 spots and 72.8% combined market

• Tesla China dropped Model Y prices by 10,000 yuan with zero warning, and buyers who just took delivery are furious.

  Tesla China dropped Model Y prices by 10,000 yuan with zero warning, and buyers who just took delivery are furious.

• China Becomes the World’s Car Factory as July Exports Hit 1.09 Million vs Just 43,000 Imports

  China exported 1.09 million vehicles in July while importing only 43,000, a 25-to-1 ratio that marks a complete reversal of the country’s auto trade landscape.

• BMW recalls over 150,000 vehicles in China over starter-motor fire risk

  BMW's China import arm and its Brilliance joint venture filed recall plans covering more than 150,000 vehicles, with three separate campaigns tied to starter-motor defects that can overheat and pose a

• Russia targets 80% domestic car share by 2035, but Chinese brands already take 54.6%

  Russia approved a new automotive strategy targeting 2.8 million vehicles of annual output and an 80% domestic share by 2035, yet Chinese brands already hold 54.6% of its market, far above the 30% held

• Momenta's adjusted loss shrinks 97% to $2.1M, leaving breakeven one step away

  Momenta published its first post-IPO interim results, posting 1.602 billion yuan in first-half revenue while its adjusted net loss narrowed 97% to 14.1 million yuan, leaving breakeven within reach.

• BYD's H1 2026: Profit Fell 20%, but Margins Hit a One-Year High as Exports Jumped 68%

  BYD reported H1 2026 revenue of $51.2 billion, down 7.1%, and net profit of $1.83 billion, down 20.5%, while gross margin rose to a one-year high of 18.85% and overseas sales surged 67.9% to 789,000 v

• Honda Says Its 2027 China Gas Car Phase-Out Is Old News, and the Plan Is Already Softening

  Honda China dismissed viral claims that it will stop launching gasoline cars in China from 2027 as a 2023 statement, while admitting it is now reviewing its strategy, and its own recent moves suggest

• Chinese Brands Will Build 1.5 Million Cars a Year in Europe by 2035, and Brussels Is Worried About Screwdriver Plants

  Global Mobility forecasts Chinese-brand production in Europe will hit 1.5 million vehicles annually by 2035, up from about 90,000 this year, while the EU's proposed Industrial Accelerator Act demands

• BYD's Yangwang U7 Just Drove 18,641 Miles in Under 9 Days, a Production-Car Record

  BYD's Yangwang U7 completed a 30,000 km endurance run in 8 days, 19 hours and 58 minutes, the fastest ever for a production car, sustaining a 149 mph cruise in brutal heat and finishing with 98.7% bat

• China Now Has 23.68 Million EV Charging Points, Adding Over 20,000 Every Day

  China's National Energy Administration says the country had 23.683 million EV charging points by the end of July, up 41.9% year on year, with 626,000 added in July alone, a pace of more than 20,000 ne

• Tesla FSD Nearly Drove Off a Six-Story Parking Garage, Then Tried Again

  A Tesla owner in Texas says FSD v14.3.7 failed to recognize a wire mesh fence at a parking garage's edge and kept driving toward a six-story drop at 4 mph, and after he took over and re-engaged the sy

• Nissan's Server Went Down in China, and Owners Got Locked Out of Their Own Cars

  power failure at a Dongfeng Nissan server room knocked out the brand's owner app and remote control features in China on August 23, stranding drivers who rely on their phones as keys, while owners car

• Toyota, Honda and Nissan All Crashed in China in July, Nissan Down 58.7%

  Japan's three biggest automakers all posted steep China sales declines in July 2026, with Nissan nearly halved, Honda down for a 30th straight month, and the drop landing in the same month that EVs cr

• Tesla's Fix for a 3-Million-Car Recall in China: an OTA Update and a Sticker With a 3-Year Window

  After China ordered recalls of over 4 million vehicles from nine brands over hard-to-spot emergency door releases, Tesla says most of its 2.98 million affected cars only need an OTA update, and warnin

• CATL Mall Launches: the World's Biggest Battery Maker Now Sells Cells Like Amazon

  storage integrators buy factory-direct cells with a minimum order of just three boxes, roughly 600 kWh, with registered business customers already topping 1,800.

• China Orders Fix for Hard-to-Find Emergency Door Handles: Tesla Recalls Near 3 Million

  China's market regulator issued a batch of recalls on August 21 over emergency interior door releases that blend into the trim, with Tesla accounting for nearly 3 million vehicles，alongside Xiaomi, Le

• Your Next Volvo Might Actually Be a Geely, Built in a Volvo Factory From 2028

  Geely Holding CEO An Conghui said at Geely Auto's interim results conference on August 17 that Volvo's European plants will become the base for building Geely's premium models from 2028, as the group

• Geely's H1 revenue hits record $25.7 billion, per-car profit up 45 percent

  Geely reported record first-half revenue of 173.6 billion yuan ($25.7 billion), up 15 percent, with core net profit jumping 46 percent to 9.68 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) even as China's price war rag

• Fresh Off Beating Yamaha and Ducati in WorldSBK, China's ZXMOTO Gets EU Approval to Sell Bikes in Europe

  Chinese motorcycle maker ZXMOTO has received its first EU Whole Vehicle Type Approval for the 500RR sportbike, certified by Luxembourg's transport ministry and announced by TÜV Rheinland on August 13,

• China Exported 1.04 Million Cars in July, Taking Over From Japan as the World's Top Auto Exporter

  China exported 1.043 million vehicles in July, a second straight month above one million, with NEVs accounting for more than half of exports for two consecutive months and NEV share of new car sales t

• Porsche Ditches the VW Emissions Pool and Pays China's Xpeng for CO2 Credits

  An August 5 filing with the European Commission shows Porsche has exited the Volkswagen Group CO2 pool and formed an open pool with Xpeng for 2026 and 2027, paying the Chinese EV maker for emission cr

• China July Wholesale Top 10, BYD ATTO 2 Takes First and Tesla Model Y Settles for Third

  China's best-selling passenger car in July was a small BYD electric SUV that costs a third of a Model Y, the Tesla Model Y managed only third place, and a record export wave is quietly rewriting the l

• GM and SAIC Renew China JV for 20 More Years, but This Time China Is Calling the Shots

  General Motors and SAIC Motor signed a 20-year extension of their SAIC-GM joint venture in Shanghai on August 5, locking the partnership in through 2047 with product development and exports now led by

• China's EV startups just got their first 100,000-unit month: Leapmotor tops July sales, Huawei's HIMA brand follows

  Leapmotor delivered 101,267 vehicles in July — the first Chinese EV startup to break 100,000 in a single month — while Huawei-backed HarmonyOS Auto shipped 45,046. XPeng, NIO, Zeekr, Li Auto and Xiaom

• China Publishes Mandatory Safety Standard for Autonomous Driving, Effective July 2027

  China has issued its first mandatory safety standard for L3/L4 autonomous driving systems, taking effect on July 1, 2027 and setting a unified safety baseline for the industry.

• Toyota Banks About $1 Billion a Day: Q1 Net Profit of ~$9.4B Beats a Full Year of Earnings for Every Chinese Automaker

  Toyota earned about $9.4 billion in a single quarter — more than any major Chinese automaker makes in a full year — while China's carmakers are trapped in price wars, growing revenue without growing p