Munich Auto Show, Second Wave of Technology Export from China Is on the Way!

Auto-FirstSamal

This world is too crazy. Who still remembers the past three years, when major multinational car manufacturers teamed up with emerging Chinese players to achieve the first wave of Chinese automotive technology export? Now, the second wave has arrived, with a broader scope, more brands involved, and including more traditional domestic automakers and multinational giants. It can be said that the second wave of Chinese technology export is on its way.

The story needs to be told from the beginning.

This topic first originated from a social media post. On September 8, veteran automotive blogger Wu Pei shared some recent industry secrets, stating: "The Italians are studying the three-electric system of a new Chinese EV startup; the Germans have purchased Changan’s electric drive system; a British supercar manufacturer is looking at Chinese V8 engines; the French are choosing between Dongfeng and Changan for rebranding; German and French engines are being developed in Hangzhou Bay; the Koreans have chosen a Chinese intelligent driving company..."

Yes, Germany, Italy, the UK, France, and South Korea are all eyeing Chinese technology.

Based on the above information, Chery, Changan, Great Wall, Dongfeng, Geely, Leapmotor, etc., are all potential technology exporters. For example, it is quite clear from the text mentioning "the Germans' and Frenchmen's engines being developed in Hangzhou Bay," which likely refers to the cooperation between Mercedes-Benz, Renault, and Geely.

British supercar manufacturers are eyeing Chinese V8 engines, likely to develop the next generation of hybrid supercars. Major British supercar makers include McLaren, Aston Martin, and Lotus. Among them, Lotus has close ties with Geely, McLaren has already partnered with NIO, and Aston Martin is a more probable candidate. Currently, this V8 engine is exclusively available from Great Wall Motors.

In July this year, Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motors, released a new model covered with a black cloth on social media, which is suspected to be the rumored supercar. This car is expected to directly compete with the Ferrari SF90 and will feature a self-developed 4.0T V8 twin-turbo engine combined with an electric motor hybrid system.

It can be expected that a large number of Chinese automakers will continue to export technology to overseas car companies.

From the perspective of Qishe Auto-First, the intense competition and rapid iteration in China's smart three-electric (intelligent electric) sector, along with Chinese automakers' technological strength and cost control capabilities in intelligent driving, form the foundation for this kind of "technology feedback." It also signifies that the Chinese automotive industry has officially entered a new era of "technology export."

In addition, an increasing number of [technology monetization] methods have been realized.

NIO Chairman Li Bin recently confirmed for the first time the cooperation between NIO and the British supercar brand McLaren. Since the first quarter of this year, the two parties have had deep technical cooperation, with some revenue already accounted for, but it is currently unstable.

On the evening of September 2, NIO released its financial report for the second quarter of 2025, showing that other sales reached 2.8726 billion yuan, up 62.6% year-on-year and 37.1% quarter-on-quarter, mainly benefiting from increased revenue from technology research and development services.

XPeng Motors and Volkswagen collaborate to achieve "technology monetization."

XPeng Motors’ 2024 financial report shows that its “services and other income” became a new growth driver for the year, with revenue from this segment surging 89% to 5.04 billion yuan. The gross margin reached 57.2%, up 23.5 percentage points from the previous year.

Xpeng Motors stated that the increase in income was mainly due to the technical R&D services related to strategic cooperation with the Volkswagen Group on platform and software strategies as well as electronic and electrical architecture technology.

The collaboration between Leapmotor and Stellantis Group is also a model of technology export. In addition to Stellantis, the number of international automakers involved is expected to increase by one or two. Previously, in response to media inquiries, Leapmotor CEO Zhu Jiangming confirmed the company's plan to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with foreign automakers, and revealed that two companies are currently in negotiations. One of them may adopt a cooperation model based on complete vehicle technology licensing, while the other may focus on licensing the underbody architecture.

At the ongoing Munich Motor Show, BBA is going all out by collectively launching electric vehicles in their home turf. The new-generation iX3, which will be produced in China next year, is adapted to more Chinese ecosystems and technologies. To achieve this, BMW has partnered with leading domestic suppliers including Alibaba, HarmonyOS ecosystem, Momenta, CATL, EVE Energy, and Envision Power.

During this year's Munich Motor Show, Horizon officially announced the establishment of its European headquarters in Munich, building localized operational capabilities aimed at the global market.

The recently launched FAW Audi A5L is the world’s first fuel vehicle equipped with Huawei’s Qiankun technology. The first product from the SAIC joint venture’s letter-branded AUDI, the E5 Sportback, collaborates with Momenta to build an end-to-end large model assisted driving solution.

Earlier, Geely and the world's third-largest automotive alliance, Renault, upgraded their collaboration by establishing a new powertrain company, with each party holding a 50% stake. They aim to develop next-generation efficient and energy-saving hybrid power system solutions to meet global market demands. Implicitly, in the future, Renault, as the world's third-largest automotive alliance, will carry Chinese automotive technology across the globe.

It can be said that there have been significant changes in the fields of chassis architecture and intelligent assisted driving. Chinese automakers are now exporting advanced technologies such as the three electrics, intelligent assisted driving, and hybrid systems, reversing the long-standing situation over the past decades where the market was exchanged for technology.

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association, the global market share of new energy passenger vehicles in China will reach 68.7% in July 2025. From January to July 2025, China's share of the global pure electric vehicle market was 64.3%, and during the same period, China's share of the global plug-in hybrid market reached an extremely high level of 74%.

This also means that in the new energy vehicle sector, Chinese technology is becoming increasingly valuable, and a second wave of Chinese technology export involving more brands and a broader range of both multinational and Chinese automakers is underway.