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Jun 18
NIO founder warns China's auto market could shrink by 20% this year
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.

The European Union has rushed through a US-EU tariff agreement after US President Donald Trump demanded that Brussels complete the deal by July 4, the 250th anniversary of US independence, or face higher 25% tariffs on auto and auto parts imports. According to media reports, the European Parliament recently held an emergency vote to approve the agreement, while the EU simultaneously added three safeguards to guard against the risk of renewed tariff hikes.

China's assisted-driving chip market is becoming more concentrated, with Nvidia leading in assisted-driving domain controller chip installations and Horizon Robotics emerging as the strongest domestic supplier, according to April 2026 passenger-vehicle data.

As global EV market growth slows, motor makers that once relied on EV power systems are moving faster to find new growth engines. Fukuta has extended its accumulated design, integration, and manufacturing capabilities in automotive all-in-one power systems into miniaturized power module applications such as drones and quadruped robot dogs, reflecting a broader shift in resource allocation amid cooling EV growth.

Lithium carbonate prices are beginning to recover as demand from China's power batteries and the global energy storage market strengthens. For readers worldwide, the shift could lift battery costs, reshape supply chains, and accelerate interest in sodium-ion technology as companies seek alternatives to lithium-heavy systems.

Semiconductor manufacturers, market analysts, and engineering departments have long tracked the clean energy transition through siloed vertical markets. For example, they will calculate individual EV sales on one spreadsheet while tracking hyperscale data center deployments on another. However, during PCIM Europe 2026 in Nuremberg, Germany, industry leaders and experts discussed and dismantled this flawed strategy.

Poland is seeking major Taiwanese investment to strengthen its manufacturing base, a shift that could reshape Europe's supply chains and technology capacity. The plan spans electric vehicles, semiconductors, and industrial policy, and reflects how governments are adapting to geopolitical pressure and shortages in key global sectors.

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.