Anhui province "counterattacks", china's top automobile province changes hands! in the first half of this year, anhui surpasses guangdong to lead in automobile production

Anhui Province "counterattacks", becoming China's top automobile province!

In the first half of this year, Anhui surpassed Guangdong to become the number one province in the nation for automobile production. The total automobile production reached 1.4995 million vehicles, with new energy vehicle production at 730,900 vehicles, and automobile exports amounted to 461,000 vehicles (including exported chassis). It truly holds the top position in three areas: the number one province for national automobile production, new energy vehicle production, and automobile exports.

Image source: Chery Automobile

This achievement signifies that Anhui's automotive industry has successfully risen and entered the fast track of development.

Anhui Province's "counterattack" is backed by a series of strategic decisions. From betting on NIO, to introducing Volkswagen, and then to BYD and Huawei entering Anhui, each has been a "venture capital" style attempt, which has also propelled Anhui to become a leader in automotive manufacturing transformation.

Of course, we cannot attribute Anhui's achievements solely to bold experimentation. Behind Anhui's rise is the impressive 60-year history of its automobile manufacturing industry, its consistent determination to advance the upgrading of the automotive sector, and the daring and enterprising "Huai Army" of the automotive industry.

However, we may also have doubts about whether Anhui can maintain its position as the "number one automobile province" after its automobile production peaks.

To reach the top, what does it rely on?

As a coastal economic powerhouse, Guangdong's GDP has consistently led the nation for 36 consecutive years. The automotive industry is undoubtedly the economic pillar of Guangdong Province.

Since 2016, Guangdong Province has consistently maintained the highest automobile production in the country, with production continuously increasing. To date, Guangdong has held the top position in automobile production for nearly 10 consecutive years. In 2024, Guangdong's annual automobile production reached 5.7074 million units, ranking first and more than double the production of the second place.

In contrast, Anhui, as one of the central provinces, has always been regarded as an "agricultural powerhouse," with its automobile production being incomparable to that of Guangdong. Who would have thought that by 2025, Anhui might replace Guangdong as the top automobile producer?

At the 2025 Anhui Business Conference held not long ago, Yin Tongyue, Chairman of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., stated: "Today, Anhui has become a significant industrial province, an innovative province, a major import and export province, and a major automotive province in China."

In the first half of the year, Anhui became the "number one automobile province," a result of multiple factors working together.

According to statistical rules, in 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics will change the standard for counting automobile production from "the location of the enterprise's legal entity" to "production location statistics," which will have a significant impact on Anhui's automobile production data. The biggest variable in this change comes from BYD.

Previously, the car production of BYD's Hefei factory was always counted under Guangdong Province. According to the new rules, the new production data is now attributed to Anhui Province. The data shows that in 2024, BYD's Hefei factory surpassed 950,000 vehicles, which, based on this data base, has significantly increased the data volume for Anhui Province.

At the same time, the export volume of Chery Automobile is also accounted for in Anhui, further consolidating its advantageous position. Taking 2024 as an example, Chery's total export volume reached 1.1446 million units, a year-on-year increase of 21.4%, maintaining its position at the top of the export list for Chinese brand passenger cars for 22 consecutive years. In the first half of this year, Anhui's automobile export volume reached 460,000 units (including exported chassis), and the growth of this figure is closely related to the export volumes accounted for by car companies like Chery.

From the industry perspective,The rise of Anhui's automotive industry was not achieved overnight; it has undergone a long period of accumulation and development.

As early as 2022, Anhui Province released the "14th Five-Year Plan for High-Quality Development of the Automotive Industry in Anhui Province," which clearly set a target of exceeding 3 million vehicles in production scale by 2025, with the output of new energy vehicles accounting for more than 40%. From the results of the first half of 2025, this goal is becoming a reality.

Anhui Province's policy support for the automotive industry goes without saying. The most important factor is that it has effectively seized the historical opportunity of new energy vehicle development.

In 2016, Anhui keenly captured the emerging trend of the new energy vehicle industry and began to strategize and plan. Around 2020, it became a critical juncture for the development of Anhui's automotive industry. In that same year, Volkswagen Anhui was established, and NIO China settled in. As a globally renowned automotive brand, Volkswagen's strong capabilities in new energy technology, research and development, and funding injected significant momentum into Anhui's automotive industry.

In 2020, NIO was on the verge of delisting due to a financial crisis, and Anhui decisively intervened by investing 7 billion yuan through a "government-guided fund + industrial chain support" model to bring NIO's headquarters and core R&D and manufacturing base to Hefei. It is worth noting that this move not only saved NIO but also attracted more than 200 supporting enterprises, forming a complete new energy industry chain.

A year later, BYD's entry into Anhui further strengthened the province's automotive industry. BYD's extensive experience in battery technology and new energy vehicle manufacturing, combined with Anhui's local industrial resources, accelerated the rise of Anhui's new energy vehicle industry.

From 2020 to 2024, in just four years, the production of new energy vehicles in Anhui soared from 105,000 units to 1,684,000 units, an increase of 15 times, and its ranking jumped from 4th to 2nd place nationwide.

Currently, Anhui has gathered seven complete vehicle enterprises, including Chery Group, NIO, Volkswagen Anhui, Hefei BYD, JAC Group, Hefei Changan, and Hanma Technology, covering a full range of products such as passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and special-purpose vehicles. The agglomeration effect of these leading enterprises is significant, as it not only brings advanced technology, management experience, and substantial capital but also drives the coordinated development of related industry chains.

As of 2024, in terms of component support, there are over 2,700 auto parts enterprises in Anhui, accounting for 60% of the total number of enterprises in the industry chain. The revenue of the parts industry accounts for 48%, forming a complete ecosystem from core components to aftermarket services.

Additionally, under the unified planning of Anhui, various cities and counties actively "joined the chain," forming distinctive industrial clusters. This further solidified the foundation of Anhui's automotive industry and accelerated the formation of a development pattern characterized by "core leadership and multi-point support."

"Staying Steady on the 'Throne,' What Are the Challenges?"

Anhui's achievements in the automotive field are evident. Although Anhui has become the number one province in the automotive industry, maintaining this leading position in the long term may not be that easy.

From an external competition perspective, traditional automobile strong provinces will not easily relinquish their market share. Although Guangdong was surpassed by Anhui in the first half of the year, it is accelerating its transition to new energy vehicles, leveraging its comprehensive automotive industry ecosystem and deep technological foundation. Notably, GAC Aion continues to expand its production capacity, Huawei's collaboration with car manufacturers is deepening, and foreign brands are increasing their investment in electrification.

In addition, Shanghai and Jiangsu, which are also located in the Yangtze River Delta region, are making continuous moves. Jiangsu has a strong foundation in the automotive industry and a robust capability in component supporting; Shanghai, on the other hand, has a clear advantage in the field of intelligent connected vehicles, with the production capacity of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory continuously increasing, and SAIC Group is also actively transforming. Meanwhile, Chongqing, home to new central enterprises like Changan and Seres, is accelerating its pace in the transition to new energy.

Depth of Technological Innovation ", is the challenge faced by the Anhui automotive industry."The Unignorable Shortcomings。Currently, the automotive industry is accelerating towards intelligence and connectivity. Technologies such as intelligent driving and smart cockpits have become important considerations for consumers when purchasing a car.

As BYD Group Chairman Wang Chuanfu said, "If the first half of electrification is about improvement, then the second half of intelligence is about disruption."

Although Anhui has achieved remarkable results in the automotive manufacturing sector, there is still room for improvement in the field of intelligent technology compared to some leading regions. For instance, in the area of intelligent driving technology, Anhui lacks component companies with industry-leading status. Its independent supply capacity in core technologies such as sensors, chips, and algorithms is insufficient, which limits the development speed of local car companies in the intelligent driving field.

The revenue of Anhui Province's automotive industry accounts for an increasing share of GDP, yet the R&D intensity in the automotive sector is not prominent. The relative lack of R&D investment may lead to a lack of momentum in technological innovation for Anhui's automotive companies. In the automotive industry, continuous R&D investment is key to maintaining technological leadership and launching innovative products. If Anhui's automotive companies want to achieve technological catch-up, they must increase their R&D investment intensity and enhance their independent innovation capabilities.

Currently, the reliance on foreign sources for key components in Anhui Province is relatively high. For instance, in areas such as core chips for intelligent connected vehicles (especially high-computing-power AI chips and functional safety MCUs), basic software (operating systems), advanced sensors, and even further upstream in EDA tools, semiconductor equipment and materials, there is room for improvement not only in Anhui Province but throughout the entire domestic industry.

Anhui faces an even more urgent situation. Data shows that the comprehensive external dependency (including outside the province) of materials and equipment in Anhui's integrated circuit industry exceeds 99.5%. Although this data does not specifically refer to the automotive industry, it reflects its challenges in high-tech and advanced fundamental areas.

In the context of global industrial chain instability, it is foreseeable that any issues with external supply will impact Anhui's automotive industry. Previously, during the chip supply shortage, some Anhui car companies faced production limitations due to insufficient chip supply. What is more noteworthy is that the reliance on external supply for key components may also lead to Anhui car companies lacking sufficient bargaining power in cost control and product pricing.

Image source: Chery Automobile

How to continue leading in the future?

The success of Anhui's automotive industry is largely attributed to the strategic "Hefei-Wuhu dual-core drive" layout.

In Hefei, a 15-kilometer supporting circle for key components such as batteries, motors, and electronic controls has been formed around BYD. In Wuhu, Chery has driven the formation of an industrial cluster with over 500 parts companies, with a local supporting rate exceeding 48%, covering key aspects of the entire industry chain from power batteries (Gotion High-Tech) and sealing components (Anhui Zhongding Sealing Parts Co., Ltd.) to intelligent network systems.

This dual-core linkage and mutually reinforcing integrated innovation industry chain model has become an important support for the development of Anhui's automotive industry.

This also highlights the importance of the automotive industry ecosystem. Anhui needs to further strengthen the collaborative innovation between vehicle manufacturers and parts companies, and improve the supporting system of the industry chain. Vehicle manufacturers should play a leading role in driving parts companies to jointly carry out technological research and development, enhancing product quality and performance.

As the automobile industry in Anhui expands in scale, it has also recognized the importance of research and innovation. For example, JAC Motors invested 1.763 billion yuan in research and development, a year-on-year increase of 10.56%. Since the beginning of this year, JAC Motors has obtained 83 new patent authorizations, which is sufficient to demonstrate the company's significant investment in research and development.

With Anhui taking the lead in automobile production, the higher authorities have given clear instructions: "Respect market and industry laws, adhere to long-term technological principles, continuously increase the intensity of R&D investment, and maintain a competitive advantage in the new energy vehicle sector through innovation-driven strategies."

It is evident that Anhui has recognized the importance of intelligence and is actively addressing the shortcomings in core technologies and key components in cutting-edge fields such as advanced chips and basic software for intelligent connected vehicles, in order to tackle these critical issues on the path to becoming a truly strong automotive province.

Anhui becoming the number one automobile province is an important milestone in its automotive industry development. In the future, Anhui's automotive industry will need to face challenges and continuously innovate and break through.

The summary of Gai Shi

Anhui has become China's "number one automobile province" as a result of the combined effects of forward-looking industrial planning, the driving effect of leading enterprises, and strong government support. From accurately betting on the new energy vehicle track, building a full industrial chain ecosystem, to the strong breakthrough of leading enterprises driving the development of industrial clusters, and further to the strong support from the government, Anhui's path to the rise of the automobile industry is worth learning from for the whole country.

Certainly, the ultimate goal of Anhui Province is to create an influential "Anhui Automobile" IP. Whether this IP can stand firm will require continuous progress and facing more tests as production reaches new heights. The future of the Anhui automobile industry is still full of hope.