Global Times: 'Three 30-million' milestones in auto industry show China's economic potential: People's Daily article

BEIJING, Dec. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- China's economy is vast in scale and full of promise.

The Central Economic Work Conference summarized the key principles of conducting economic work under new circumstances with "five imperatives," with "it is necessary to fully tap economic potential" ranked first.

Recently, the "three 30-million milestones" in the automotive industry have drawn attention. These milestones offer a clearer view of China's economic potential.

At the end of October, FAW-Volkswagen celebrated the rollout of its 30 millionth vehicle. Over 34 years, the company has made a leap into high-end intelligent manufacturing and demonstrated the immense potential of the Chinese market for open, win-win cooperation.

On December 10, Changan Automobile marked the production of its 30 millionth Chinese-brand vehicle. It took 30 years to produce the first 10 million units, but only 4.5 years for the third 10 million. This achievement is the fruit of solid efforts to drive quality, efficiency, and dynamic transformations, showcasing the innovation capacity and brand strength of Chinese manufacturing.

On December 11, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released data showing that from January to November this year, China's automobile production and sales both exceeded 31 million units. From leading the world in whole-vehicle exports to new-energy vehicles (NEVs) accounting for over half of new car sales, the rapid acceleration of the automotive industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) highlights the advantages of China's supersized market and its comprehensive industrial system.

"The Chinese economy is like a vast ocean, big, resilient and promising, and that we have the confidence and capability to navigate all kinds of risks and challenges."

As we advance toward the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), by further harnessing the strengths of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the advantages of an ultra-large-scale market, a comprehensive industrial system, and abundant talent resources, we will seize the initiative in development amid challenges and storms, and moreover, we will pioneer new prospects and shape the future.

Innovation: A powerful engine

To tap the economic potential, we must first accurately identify where that potential lies. As the world's second-largest consumer market, China boasts the world's largest middle-income group and the most comprehensive industrial system. Its economic potential is released through transformation toward innovation and excellence.

From traditional fuel vehicles to NEVs, from electrification to intelligentization, innovation is the powerful engine driving the leapfrog development of the automotive industry.

Changan Automobile has established over 200 laboratories, while BYD and Leapmotor are each leading the way in the NEV sector... The deep integration of the automotive innovation and industrial chains creates new market advantages and enhances developmental autonomy.

The "takeoff" of the low-altitude economy, the empowering role of artificial intelligence (AI), and the "dual improvement in quantity and quality" of innovative drugs... In the first 11 months of this year, sales revenue in China's high-tech industries increased by 14.7 percent year-on-year. Industries across the board are continuously creating surprises for the market.

Over the past five years, approximately 15 million new-energy vehicles have been sold in rural areas, while over the past three years, China Post has cumulatively delivered more than 10 billion parcels to villages... These vivid figures reflect the vast space for industrial prosperity, consumption upgrading, and infrastructure investment, as well as the vigorous potential of the lower-tier markets in China.

Imbalanced and inadequate development are shortcomings but also contain potential. From promoting high-quality development of county-level economies to strengthening coordinated development among major city clusters, fostering urban-rural integration and regional connectivity broadens new market space and creates new economic growth points.

A strong domestic market is a strategic foundation for Chinese modernization. By tapping potential through industrial depth, seeking opportunities in geographic space, and nurturing new growth from human development, the trend of China's economy moving toward innovation and excellence becomes more pronounced.

Policy supports

To translate economic potential into development momentum, it is essential to combine policy support with reform and innovation.

The Central Economic Work Conference noted that "many old and new challenges remain in China's economic development, the impact of external environmental changes is deepening, the contradiction between strong supply and weak demand domestically is prominent, and there are many risk hazards in key areas." It also emphasized that "most of these are problems of development and transformation, which can be resolved through effort."

The process of solving problems is the process of unleashing potential.

Take the automotive industry as an example. "Rat race" competition once intensified, with the profit margin of China's automotive industry falling to 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2025, lower than the average level of the manufacturing sector.

From launching special campaigns to rectify chaos in the online environment of the automotive industry to releasing the Price Compliance Guidelines for the Automotive Industry (Draft for Comments), these measures have contributed to an improvement in profitability, with the industry achieving a 4.4 percent year-on-year growth in profits during the first 10 months of the year.

How China pulled ahead to become a global leader in electric vehicles? An article on the website of The Washington Post in March of this year argued that for China's leadership, success in EVs is primarily a triumph of industrial planning.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, ultra-long-term special treasury bonds supported equipment upgrades, spurring social investment; re-lending for technological innovation and technical transformation guided enterprises toward greener, more innovative, and smarter practices; talent cultivation and international cooperation promoted industrial upgrading... Leveraging the value-driven and strategic guiding roles of institutions and policies is a crucial method for stimulating economic potential.

Since the new era, from the world-leading research and application of AI to the leapfrog development of NEVs, these impressive innovative achievements have deepened our understanding of the profound judgment that "attempts to contain us will not succeed" and the strategic consideration of "fully leveraging the strengths of the new national system."

Tailor-made measures

China is a vast country with significant differences in local conditions. Guided by the principle of "coordinating the whole as one chessboard," it is essential to tailor measures to local conditions to unleash the comparative advantages and developmental potential of each region, pooling them into a powerful driving force for China's economic development.

To unleash economic potential, we must skillfully apply dialectical thinking and adhere to the principle of "using the right key for the right lock."

Balancing the part and the whole is key to identifying strategic positioning and avoiding a "one-size-fits-all" approach.

Anhui Province in East China, "closely focusing on the two keywords of integration and high quality," leveraged its geographical advantages and industrial chain coordination to become the "leading province in automobiles." Mohe in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province "took developing the ice and snow economy as a new growth point," turning cold weather into a thriving cold-region vehicle testing industry.

Balancing strengths and weaknesses enables the leveraging of comparative advantages and avoids homogeneous competition.

In the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, innovative clusters are vibrant and collaborative, demonstrating unity and joint efforts. In border regions, port economies and cross-border trade are booming, transforming inland frontiers into open frontiers... By proceeding from reality and pursuing development through positioning, differentiation, and leveraging unique strengths, regions can better achieve coordinated development.

Balancing the domestic and international spheres by adhering to opening-up development avoids isolation.

Building the Asia-Europe Golden Corridor, Xinjiang's total foreign trade value has successively surpassed three 100-billion-yuan ($14.2 billion) thresholds. Relying on the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, the number of new foreign-invested enterprises in Hainan has grown at an average annual rate of 43.7 percent over the past five years.

Today's potential gives birth to tomorrow's momentum; today's efforts shape future power.

By grasping developmental trends, strengthening confidence in development, and focusing on managing our own affairs well, we can surely transform boundless economic potential into surging developmental momentum. A strong start in 2026 will help achieve new leaps during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

SOURCE Global Times