Der Wettbewerb unter neuen Energie - Automobilherstellern erstreckt sich auf die obere Wertschöpfungskette: Welche Zulieferunternehmen sind durch den Aufstieg von Li Auto, Xpeng und anderen Unternehmen gewachsen?
Leapmotor sold 222,000 vehicles, Li Auto 204,000 vehicles, XPeng 197,000 vehicles, and Xiaomi Auto sold over 150,000 vehicles... In the first half of 2025, while the automobile sales reached a new high for the same period, new - force car manufacturers are becoming an important part of the automotive supply chain.
Photo source: Photographed by a reporter from Time Weekly
For automotive supply - chain giants such as CATL (300750.SZ), Bosch, and Fuyao Glass (600660.SH), new - force car manufacturers have become their esteemed guests. A large number of products such as battery cells, brakes, sensors, and window glass produced by these enterprises are reaching thousands of households through new - force car manufacturers. New - force car manufacturers have also enhanced their competitiveness by relying on the products of excellent supply - chain companies.
However, the traditional supply - demand relationship can no longer meet the development pace of new - force car manufacturers. To cope with the rapid transformation of the industry, the relationship between car manufacturers and supply - chain companies is undergoing profound changes, shifting from a basic upstream - downstream relationship to all - around cooperation. Many new - force car manufacturers are building more competitive supply - chain systems for themselves through forms such as self - building systems, investment, technical cooperation, or order binding.
New - force car manufacturers have multiple considerations for delving into the supply - chain system, including but not limited to ensuring product quality, creating personalized components, guaranteeing the stability of the supply - chain system, and reducing costs. In terms of specific business, it is mainly reflected in the following dimensions: three - electric systems, intelligent components, and body parts.
According to incomplete statistics by reporters from Time Weekly, the tentacles of new - force car manufacturers such as Li Auto, XPeng, NIO, and Xiaomi Auto have all extended to the supply - chain level. Among the supply - chain enterprises they cooperate with or invest in, many are new players in the industry, such as Sunwoda, Horizon Robotics, CALB, Inovance Technology, and Hesai Technology.
New - force car manufacturers are starting to gain a firm foothold, and these supply - chain enterprises are also emerging.
Competing to Invest in Upstream Enterprises
Batteries, motors, and electric drive systems are the three major components of electric vehicles.
In terms of power batteries, in addition to using products from the two giants, CATL and BYD Fudi Battery, new - force car manufacturers also cooperate with second - tier brands. For example, Li Auto uses Sunwoda's batteries in its L series and the upcoming i8; most of Leapmotor's batteries come from CALB and Guoxuan High - Tech; NIO's batteries come from Weiran (Nanjing), etc.
Li Auto, NIO, etc. have also invested in some power - battery enterprises. For instance, Li Auto invested 400 million yuan in Sunwoda. "Li Auto is both our strategic customer and our shareholder," said Chen Hui, the general manager of Sunwoda's Li Auto Business Unit. Weiran (Nanjing) Energy Storage was established with NIO's investment.
Beyond supply - demand cooperation and investment, some new - force brands and supply - chain enterprises even work collaboratively in business. For example, in April 2023, Sunwoda co - established the Li Auto Business Unit with Li Auto to jointly develop the power - battery products required by the latter. Currently, the team has reached 1,700 people, and the cooperation projects cover most models under Li Auto.
The cooperation between new - force car manufacturers and power - system companies is not limited to the upstream - downstream relationship. In April 2021, Li Auto and Suzhou Inovance United Power established a joint - venture company, Changzhou Huixiang. It is a company that produces front - drive five - in - one assemblies (motors and drive systems), and its address is in Changzhou, where Li Auto's factory is located. Li Auto holds 87.3% of the shares, and Suzhou Inovance United Power holds 12.7%.
In 2016, before the establishment of the joint - venture company, Suzhou Inovance United Power was officially established. In its first year of establishment, Li Auto approached Suzhou Inovance United Power and installed the motors it produced in its first car, the Li ONE.
"In 2016, we were still new players. At that time, there was no extended - range technology route in China. We thought this might be a direction, so we were willing to accompany Li Auto forward," said Zhang Pingjian, the deputy general manager of the domestic sales department of Suzhou Inovance United Power's passenger - car division, in a recent interview. "We are very grateful to the first - batch of customers, including Li Auto, for Inovance United Power to reach its current scale."
In June this year, Suzhou Inovance United Power submitted a prospectus on the Growth Enterprise Market. The prospectus shows that from 2022 to 2024, Li Auto was the first, second, and first - largest customer respectively, contributing revenues of 1.458 billion yuan, 1.866 billion yuan, and 5.613 billion yuan respectively. New - force car manufacturers such as Xiaomi Auto and XPeng have also joined the ranks of this company's top customers.
Especially after the launch of the Xiaomi SU7 in March 2024, due to the excellent performance of the motor, Suzhou Inovance United Power has attracted high attention in the industry. Power - system companies such as United Automotive Electronic Systems, CRRC Times Electric, and Weiran (Nanjing) Power have also come into the public view with the rise of new - force car manufacturers.
"Co - creating" with Suppliers
Intelligence is a distinct label for new - force car manufacturers, and autonomous driving technology is the core manifestation of industry intelligence.
New - force car manufacturers have a particularly in - depth layout in the autonomous driving industry chain, such as Horizon Robotics (09660.HK), a self - driving company, Hesai Technology (HSAI.US), a lidar manufacturer, and NavInfo (002405.SZ), a high - precision map provider.
Take Horizon Robotics as an example: Horizon Robotics was established in 2015 and is an autonomous driving solution provider. Since 2019, Horizon Robotics has started to cooperate with Li Auto. During the six - year cooperation, Horizon Robotics' Journey series of autonomous driving chips and solutions were mass - produced and launched first by Li Auto and have been recognized by the market.
"Thanks to the cooperation with Li Auto and the fact that models such as the 2021 Li ONE and Li L series have become phenomenal blockbusters, Horizon Robotics' products have been fully verified and affirmed by the market, which has also driven the development and progress of Horizon Robotics, including a significant increase in its shipment volume," Horizon Robotics revealed.
Reporters from Time Weekly learned that in addition to the early mutual support, Li Auto also provided a lot of feedback when using Horizon Robotics' products, helping Horizon Robotics improve the development and implementation efficiency of mass - production projects. As an "external support" for Li Auto, the employees of Horizon Robotics dispatched to work at Li Auto even have Li Auto's employee cards.
Horizon Robotics also told reporters that with the market recognition of the Journey series of products, the cumulative shipment volume of this series of products is expected to reach 10 million sets this year. Meanwhile, new - force car manufacturers such as NIO have also become its customers.
Lidar enterprises such as Hesai Technology and RoboSense (02498.HK) also play important roles in autonomous driving technology.
Take Hesai Technology as an example: This company was established in 2014 and focuses on researching and manufacturing lidars required in autonomous driving solutions. In 2020, Hesai Technology started to discuss cooperation with Li Auto, and in 2022, its lidar products were installed in the Li L9.
Liang Feng, the vice - president of R & D at Hesai Technology, believes that on the one hand, Li Auto helps Hesai Technology improve product performance, and on the other hand, Hesai Technology has also learned a lot of concepts about product definition and user value from Li Auto. He believes that as a supplier, Hesai Technology needs the drive of vehicle manufacturers to promote its technological progress.
"We hope that other car manufacturers can also continuously provide us with feedback on user value and product use, and define with us how to make the next - generation lidar," Liang Feng said. "With a large amount of feedback from car manufacturers, the iteration of our lidars will be more targeted and accurate." He also revealed that Hesai Technology has become the enterprise with the highest lidar shipment volume globally.
In addition, enterprises in the autonomous driving industry chain such as NavInfo and Black Sesame Intelligence (02533.HK) have also carried out all - around cooperation with new - force car manufacturers, such as high - precision maps and autonomous driving chips. Many supply - chain enterprises have successfully listed on major domestic and foreign stock exchanges.
Traditional Component Enterprises Also Encounter New Opportunities
The rise of new - force car manufacturers has also driven the redevelopment of a group of traditional body - component enterprises.
Air suspension enterprises are one of the typical representatives. As the core component for adjusting the bumping and undulation of the vehicle body, air suspension was previously only installed in million - level luxury cars. However, more and more new - force car manufacturers are starting to equip air suspension on products at the 300,000 - yuan level, which has greatly promoted the development of air suspension enterprises.
Data from the Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute shows that from January to December 2024, the sales volume of new cars with standard - equipped air suspension in China was about 816,000 vehicles, with a penetration rate of 3.6%. In the same period of 2023, the sales volume of new cars with standard - equipped air suspension was 564,000 vehicles, with a penetration rate of 2.7%, and the installation volume increased by 44.7% year - on - year.
Photo source: Baolong Technology's 2024 annual report
Among them, Konghui Technology and Baolong Technology (603197.SH) are the two leading air suspension enterprises. The two air suspension enterprises cooperate with Voyah, Li Auto, NIO, etc. respectively, achieving a significant increase in air suspension shipments. Taking the data of listed company Baolong Technology as an example: In 2024, Baolong Technology's air suspension sales reached 1.8093 million units, a year - on - year increase of 21.71%.
New - force car manufacturers also attach great importance to the acoustic and optical components of vehicles.
For example, NIO told reporters from Time Weekly that the NOMI jointly developed with Wuhan Haiwei is the industry's first in - vehicle irregular - shaped screen robot, transforming the in - vehicle voice control function into in - vehicle artificial intelligence hardware. NIO has also cooperated with Wuhan Haiwei to develop the first domestic in - vehicle miniLED screen, which has excellent display effects, high reliability, and durability.
In addition, the main suppliers of new - force car manufacturers for acoustic and optical components also include Shang Sheng Electronics and Xingyu Co., Ltd. The former's main business income mainly comes from in - vehicle speakers, and its automotive customers include NIO, Leapmotor, Li Auto, etc.; the latter focuses on vehicle lights, including front lights, rear lights, and interior and exterior lights of vehicles, and its customers include Li Auto, NIO, XPeng, Seres, etc.
Many component - enterprise personnel said that the rise of new - force car manufacturers has brought development opportunities to themselves, which is not only reflected in the growth of product sales and revenue but also in the improvement of enterprise capital and development concepts. "There are new forces among car manufacturers, and there is also new energy in the industrial chain," an industry insider commented.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Time Weekly" (ID: timeweekly), author: Wu Kai, editor: Liu Xue, published by 36Kr with authorization.