Why has Henan Province suddenly emerged as a major automobile - manufacturing province?
In addition to the good reputations brought to Henan Province by popular enterprises such as Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, Fat Donglai, and Pop Mart, Henan Province has recently emerged as a "major automobile - manufacturing province".
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the top ten provinces in automobile production from January to February this year are: Anhui, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Chongqing, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Henan, and Beijing. This is the first time Henan has entered the top ten in national automobile production, surpassing Beijing to rank ninth. Among them, the production of new - energy vehicles reached 101,900 units, accounting for half of the provincial output.
On the map of China's automobile industry, a traditional agricultural province is rewriting its industrial identity at an astonishing speed. In 2025, Henan Province first made it into the top ten in national automobile production, ranking ninth and surpassing the capital Beijing. The proportion of new - energy vehicle production exceeded 50%. Even more remarkable is that in 2024, the automobile production in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, exceeded 1.12 million units, ranking ninth among cities in the country, surpassing Liuzhou, a traditional automobile - industrial hub, and approaching Beijing's 1.145 million units.
From January to April this year, Henan's automobile production soared by 489.25% year - on - year, with the second - highest growth rate in the country. Behind these series of data is how a province seized the opportunity of the new - energy vehicle industry transformation and achieved a magnificent transformation from an "agricultural province" to a "major automobile - manufacturing province".
The Settlement of BYD and the Birth of "Henan Speed"
Henan's connection with cars can be traced back more than 2,400 years to the ancient city of Zheng and Han, where an incredibly large number and scale of chariot and horse pits were unearthed. However, in the era of fuel - powered vehicles, although Henan had commercial - vehicle giants like Yutong Bus, it never managed to become a leading province in passenger - car manufacturing. The turning point came on September 9, 2021 - on this day, the Henan provincial government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with BYD, marking a "watershed moment" in Henan's automobile - industrial history.
The implementation speed of the BYD project created the "Henan Speed" that shocked the industry: it only took 37 days from signing the agreement to starting construction, and only 17 months from breaking ground to official operation. In April 2023, BYD's super - factory in Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone was put into operation, and that year it achieved an output value of 33.47 billion yuan and produced over 200,000 complete vehicles. This is BYD's largest integrated vehicle - production base in the world, with a production - line automation rate of up to 98%. A power - battery cell comes off the production line every 30 seconds, and a new - energy vehicle can be produced in less than a minute. In 2024, the production of Zhengzhou BYD soared to 545,000 units, a year - on - year increase of 169.8%, accounting for nearly 80% of the province's new - energy vehicle production.
"One car awakens a city" - the arrival of BYD seems to have cast a spell on this "automobile - manufacturing hometown" dating back to the Eastern Zhou period. On June 30, 2024, the Zhengzhou International Land Port was launched, and the first train loaded with more than 260 BYD new - energy vehicles made in Henan set off for Uzbekistan. In the future, through this channel, new - energy vehicles made in Henan can reach Europe in 15 days. With BYD as the leading enterprise, the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone has planned an airport automobile city covering an area of 31.4 square kilometers, which has attracted 40 enterprises such as Fudi Battery and French Eaton, forming a vertically integrated ecological system covering complete vehicles, batteries, motors, electronic controls, and intelligent connected vehicles.
Chen Shihua, the deputy secretary - general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, commented: "In the previous 'golden decade' of the automobile industry, Henan missed the high - speed growth period of the passenger - car market; in today's 'golden decade' of new - energy vehicles, Henan didn't miss it again." Data shows that in 2024, Henan's new - energy vehicle production reached 681,000 units, a year - on - year increase of 117.3%, much higher than the national average growth rate of 34.4%; the export value of electric vehicles reached 8.85 billion yuan, a growth of 91.4%. Three years ago, Henan's annual new - energy vehicle production was only 60,000 units, and now it has increased by more than ten times, achieving an astonishing leap from "following" to "running side by side" and then to "leading" in some fields.
Why did Henan's automobile industry suddenly boom?
The explosive growth of Henan's automobile industry is largely due to the strong impetus of the "chain - leading enterprises". As the world's largest electric - vehicle manufacturer, the capacity release of BYD's Zhengzhou base has directly rewritten Henan's position in the national automobile - industrial pattern. In 2024, the production of new - energy vehicles in Zhengzhou reached 626,000 units, a year - on - year increase of 901.9%, driving the city's annual automobile production to exceed one million units for the first time. This "leading - enterprise effect" has a precedent in Shaanxi - in 2022, BYD's production in Shaanxi reached 1.008 million units, boosting the province's automobile production from 547,000 units to 1.3379 million units within three years. Henan clearly understands this principle and has rapidly expanded its industrial scale by introducing industrial giants like BYD.
In addition to BYD, Henan also has Yutong, the world's largest new - energy bus manufacturer. This local enterprise started to layout hydrogen - fuel commercial vehicles as early as 2009, and its new - energy products have served the Beijing Winter Olympics and been exported to more than 40 countries such as Norway. In 2024, Yutong Bus's export sales increased by 37.73% year - on - year, and the sales of new - energy buses in high - end markets such as Europe increased by 84.6%. Yutong aims to build a 100 - billion - level new - energy commercial - vehicle industrial cluster by 2030, which will further consolidate Henan's global leading position in the commercial - vehicle field.
The Zhengzhou base of SAIC Passenger Vehicle is the main force of Henan's automobile exports. In 2024, the MG - brand cars produced at this base were exported over 310,000 units, accounting for 70% of China's total automobile exports to Europe. Zhengzhou has become SAIC Group's largest passenger - car production base, data base, and export base in the country, and this year it will mass - produce the high - end intelligent electric model "IM". This model of "one complete - vehicle factory driving the entire industrial chain" has enabled Henan to quickly form a complete industrial ecosystem from raw materials to core components, and then to complete vehicles, supporting equipment, and the Internet of Things.
The "magnetic effect" of the industrial chain is becoming increasingly apparent. The Zhongzhou Times New - Energy Production Base built by CATL in Luoyang, its "lighthouse factory" can produce a battery cell in one second and a battery pack in 2.5 minutes, "linking" a new - energy industrial cluster worth 100 billion yuan for Henan. Chery has set up its only R & D and production base for passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and KD exports outside its headquarters in Kaifeng. On average, a Chery car leaves Kaifeng and goes to the world every 15 minutes. Currently, there are more than 600 above - designated - size automobile and auto - parts enterprises in Henan, covering more than 90% of vehicle models and products, with a complete - vehicle production capacity of over 2 million units.
This development model of "leading - enterprise guidance + cluster symbiosis" is promoting a qualitative leap in Henan's new - energy vehicle industry through the optimal allocation of all factors and in - depth coordination of the industrial chain. In 2024, the "7 + 28+N" key industrial - chain clusters in Henan contributed 72.4% to the growth of above - designated - size industries, among which the added value of the new - energy vehicle industrial chain increased by 46.1% year - on - year. The automobile and auto - parts industry, along with the electronic information and equipment - manufacturing industries, has become the three engines driving Henan's industrial growth, each contributing a growth rate of 1.3 percentage points.
Is the rise of Henan's automobile industry accidental?
The rise of Henan's automobile industry is by no means accidental, but the result of the resonance between precise policy implementation and market vitality. In recent years, with the strategic determination of "grinding a sword for ten years", the Henan provincial Party committee and government have built a systematic support system for the development of the new - energy vehicle industry. In May 2022, the "Guiding Opinions on Further Accelerating the Development of the New - Energy Vehicle Industry" proposed the goal of exceeding 1.5 million units in annual new - energy vehicle production and building a 300 - billion - level industrial cluster by 2025. With the industry's development exceeding expectations, this goal has been adjusted to "2 million units of complete vehicles and 1.4 million units of new - energy vehicles in 2025", showing the government's full confidence in the industry's prospects.
In March 2025, Henan stepped up and launched the "Implementation Plan for Large - scale Equipment Upgrading and Trade - in of Consumer Goods", forming a "combination punch" of policies. This policy provides scrapping subsidies for operating trucks with a national - four or lower emission standard, increases the subsidy for each new - energy bus from 60,000 yuan to 80,000 yuan, and provides an additional subsidy of up to 150,000 yuan for each hydrogen - fuel heavy - duty truck. In the passenger - car market, the policy offers "scrapping + trade - in" double subsidies: a 20,000 - yuan subsidy for scrapping an old car and buying a new - energy vehicle, and a maximum subsidy of 15,000 yuan for trading in a new - energy vehicle, which is expected to drive the replacement of 500,000 passenger vehicles. These measures have had immediate effects - in 2024, the trade - in of cars in Henan exceeded 400,000 units, and the retail sales of new - energy vehicles of above - designated - size units increased by 30.8% year - on - year.
In the construction of the industrial ecosystem, Henan has shown forward - looking planning. The Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone has planned an international land port covering an area of 50 square kilometers to provide logistics support for new - energy vehicle exports. The province has built a total of 3,967 public charging stations and 72,000 charging piles, and XJ Electric has built the country's largest highway charging network and bus charging and swapping network. For the key links of the industrial chain, Henan has set up a 15 - billion - yuan new - energy vehicle fund and established a provincial automobile - industry investment group with a registered capital of 3 billion yuan to promote industrial upgrading through capital power.
Of particular note is Henan's forward - looking layout in the hydrogen - energy track. As one of the five national hydrogen - fuel - cell vehicle demonstration clusters, Henan has initially formed a complete industrial chain from hydrogen production, storage, and refueling to fuel cells, key equipment, and components. The "Medium - and Long - Term Development Plan for the Hydrogen - Energy Industry in Henan Province (2022 - 2035)" proposes that the total output value of the hydrogen - energy industry will exceed 100 billion yuan by 2025. Yutong's technological accumulation in the field of hydrogen - fuel commercial vehicles has enabled Henan to occupy a favorable position in this future track.
The in - depth integration of industry and innovation is also a characteristic advantage of Henan. Do - fluoride has overcome the key technology for manufacturing crystalline lithium hexafluorophosphate, and one out of every four lithium - ion batteries in the world uses its products. The vehicle - grade safety chip of Xinjie An has become the industry standard, with a loading volume of more than 3 million units. Henan promotes leading enterprises such as BYD and Yutong to jointly build technology - innovation alliances with Zhengzhou University and Henan University to tackle "bottleneck" problems such as solid - state batteries and vehicle - grade chips. In 2024, the added value of Henan's high - tech manufacturing industry increased by 12%, and the strategic emerging industries increased by 9.2%, far exceeding the average growth of 7% in above - designated - size industries.
Looking back from the node of 2025, the "rapid development" of Henan's automobile industry continues. From the chariot and horse pits in the ancient city of Zheng and Han to modern intelligent factories, from an agricultural province to a high - ground for new - energy vehicles, Henan is completing a cross - time - space dialogue between ancient transportation civilization and modern industrial civilization through the creative transformation of its industrial genes.
As a reporter from Henan Daily said in "The New Henan on Wheels": "True leadership is not on the well - trodden track, but on the new path opened up in the depth of cultural inheritance." A trillion - level new - energy vehicle industrial map is unfolding on the Central Plains, injecting strong impetus into Henan's high - quality development.