CONNECT WITH US
Jun 17
Li Auto's new automotive chip and what it says about China's EV market

Li Auto announced details of its new Mach M100 chip, a self-developed 5nm chip focused on autonomous driving, on June 15. This development marks the latest entry among Chinese automakers into designing in-house chips as they compete on cost and smart-driving features.

Nio founder and chairman William Li warned at the 2026 China Auto Chongqing Summit that China's auto industry has entered its "most brutal final stage," saying 2026 passenger-vehicle retail sales in China could fall 15% to 20% from last year. He urged the industry to prepare early as the Chinese new energy vehicle market enters a more severe phase of competition.
Although BMW's Neue Klasse BEV lineup is receiving strong market feedback and demand, it is also facing challenges due to weakness in the Chinese auto market and the conflict in the Middle East. It has lowered its financial outlook, cutting its automotive business margin forecast from the original 4-6% range to 1-3%.

As the global electric vehicle (EV) market enters a correction phase, automakers are demanding more from both cost and efficiency. Fukuta has been steadily extending the design, integration, and manufacturing capabilities it built in automotive multi-in-one power systems into smaller power module applications.

Xiaomi Auto is putting manufacturing and supply chain control at the centre of its electric vehicle strategy, with former Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory head Song Gang saying Tesla's real competitive moat lies not in branding alone, but in manufacturing execution.

Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are accelerating strategy shifts as Chinese automakers rise rapidly, global EV competition intensifies, and software-defined vehicles (SDV) and AI advance, according to DIGITIMES Research. The research firm noted that Japanese automakers are moving away from scale expansion and toward profitability and smart-vehicle development, with hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) remaining the near-term growth anchor.

Volkswagen Group announced expanded layoffs and production cuts as it sought to secure net annual savings of ?6 billion by 2030, citing persistent pressure from geopolitical tensions, war, energy costs and inflation that have undermined earlier cost reductions. The company disclosed the move ahead of its annual general meeting and said savings from prior workforce and output cuts had been fully offset by adverse market conditions.
Western Europe's auto industry is facing a deeper relocation shock, with passenger car and light commercial vehicle production projected to shrink by about one-third between 2015 and 2030 under pressure from slower-than-expected automotive electronics and electrification progress, geopolitics, trade tensions, and the shift toward localized manufacturing.

Tesla Taiwan announced on June 16 that it formally submitted application documents for its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system to Taiwan's Vehicle Safety Certification Center and said it will work with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to begin the regulatory review process. The filing covers an assisted-driving package that Tesla emphasized requires active driver supervision and remains classified as a Level 2 driver-assistance system.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. announced it would soon begin production at its new Hungary lithium battery plant, a facility with an annual capacity of up to 100 GWh that executives said will be the largest battery factory in Europe. The announcement highlighted a widening gap between Europe's domestic cell output and rising imports, as automakers and specialist makers lack enough local mass-production capacity to meet regional electric vehicle demand.

The European Commission proposed an Industrial Acceleration Act to curb foreign direct investment that it says could threaten domestic industry and jobs, and the draft rule prompted Chinese electric vehicle and battery makers to accelerate plans to secure plants in Europe before the law takes effect. The framework would require regulatory approval for investments by firms with more than 40% global market share and for deals above EUR100 million (US$112.10 million), and it set conditions including joint ventures, foreign ownership caps, intellectual property licensing to EU entities, and prioritizing local supply chains.

US automakers are shifting major battery investment away from electric vehicle traction packs and into stationary battery energy storage systems as policy changes and grid needs have altered market incentives, executives said. The move has accelerated in recent months as the expanding US BESS market and federal and local "Made in the US" subsidies have made large-scale stationary storage a more immediate commercial opportunity than some EV segments.