The New Path for Unicorn of Jingxi Zhixing: Product, Supply Chain and Organizational Change

As the global automotive industry accelerates its reshuffle in the wave of electrification and intelligence, a Chinese enterprise with a global layout is quietly influencing the industry ecosystem and continuously attracting the attention of capital.

The "Hurun Global Unicorn List 2025" released in June shows that Jingxi Zhixing has been listed again with a valuation of 13 billion yuan, becoming the only unicorn enterprise in the intelligent vehicle chassis supply chain and setting a Chinese benchmark in the chassis track dominated by traditional European and American giants.

Over 10 billion yuan in new orders, a 500 million yuan Series B+ financing, the first mass production of the MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension system in China, and the successful export of the iDBC1 brake-by-wire system (1-Box) to Europe together constitute the solid report card for Jingxi Zhixing to be included in the Hurun Unicorn List for two consecutive years.

As of now, Jingxi Zhixing has provided dozens of products for more than 50 global automotive brands, with an annual global sales volume of approximately 8 billion yuan, which doesn't seem like a small enterprise. However, the continuously slowing global market growth in recent years has forced Jingxi Zhixing to reevaluate its strategy in the Chinese market.

In the past few months, Jingxi Zhixing has carried out a strategic transformation in three dimensions: product management upgrade, organizational structure adjustment, and supply chain strategy innovation. Jingxi Zhixing suffered financial losses last year. This year, Jingxi Zhixing has only one ultimate goal - to reverse the operating losses and return to the profit track.

Single Product Strategy to Strengthen Product Advantages

Jingxi Zhixing used to focus more on achieving a relatively high profit margin. However, in the fastest-growing automotive market in China, some automotive enterprises brought very low sales to Jingxi Zhixing last year, with many customers contributing only 20 to 30 million yuan in annual sales. The low cooperation amount made it difficult for both sides to attach importance to each other and achieve strategic synergy.

In sharp contrast, other emerging Chinese automotive parts suppliers have only a few products participating in the ecosystem of domestic new energy automotive enterprises, encroaching on the market share of multinational suppliers including Jingxi Zhixing like a conquering army.

For this reason, Jingxi Zhixing is committed to creating single products with extreme performance and cost. The company has established a product planning committee to cut products with low strategic relevance and unclear profit prospects; it has clearly focused on product tracks with stronger certainty and higher implementation ability - the MagneRide® magnetorheological active suspension system and the electro-mechanical brake system (EMB).

Jingxi Zhixing's globally exclusive mass-produced magnetorheological suspension system adjusts in real-time at a frequency of 1000 times per second.

The single product in the suspension field - the MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension system - has already had its product performance and reputation verified by the market. Since its birth in the United States in 2002, super-luxury and luxury brands such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, Audi, Cadillac, and Mustang have been using this suspension system for many years.

The fourth-generation MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension system of Jingxi contributed more than 60% of the amount in the new orders. The first domestic model in the Chinese market to apply the MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension system will come from a leading Chinese new energy brand. Its technological advancement and product characteristics have transformed Jingxi Zhixing from a traditional supplier into a technology co-builder and value co-creator.

Compared with traditional solenoid valve shock absorbers, the fourth-generation MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension can adjust the damping in real-time at a frequency of 1000 times per second, dynamically adjusting the shock absorption effect according to road conditions and driving needs, perfectly balancing handling and comfort.

Its damping adjustment range is several times that of solenoid valve shock absorbers, and through scientific and digital tuning by software, the tuning of the suspension system is no longer a mystery. The MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension system can be adapted to different models on the vehicle platform, greatly shortening the vehicle R & D cycle. Vehicle manufacturers can not only reduce R & D costs but also optimize the chassis performance through OTA remote upgrades, bringing a more intelligent and flexible driving experience to users.

Although Jingxi Zhixing has shrunk its product line in the short term through the strategy of focusing on single products, long-term R & D investment and product development remain the cornerstone and foundation of its development. The company will still maintain high investment in the R & D and product innovation of strategic products such as the R-SARC stability control system, EMB, and 1-Box brake-by-wire system.

The future single product in the braking field - the EMB system - can provide a full-redundancy hardware solution with dual redundancy for the controller, dual redundancy for the power supply, full redundancy for the sensors, and wheel-side control for the actuator, ensuring the highest level of vehicle safety and providing a more cost-effective solution for L3 and higher-level autonomous driving vehicles, directly facing future high-level autonomous driving.

Jingxi's EMB system achieves higher execution efficiency and faster response speed with its unique non-linear ball-disc design.

Jingxi's predecessor verified the concept of the electronic caliper as early as 2000. With nearly 20 years of experience in brake-by-wire systems and nearly 40 years of experience in caliper braking systems, and starting a strong alliance with ThyssenKrupp in 2024, it has now iterated to the third generation, far exceeding the current fault mode redundancy requirements.

Jingxi's EMB system achieves higher execution efficiency and faster response speed with its unique non-linear ball-disc design. The wheel locking time is significantly shortened to 75 to 100 milliseconds. It uses a minimalist architecture without a servo mechanism or ESC module, reducing the space requirement. In addition, the plug-and-play electronic structure interface significantly simplifies the assembly process for customers and improves the vehicle assembly efficiency.

Supply Chain Integration and Optimization for Systematic Cost Reconstruction

Jingxi Zhixing's transformation is also a surgery centered around industrial chain efficiency and cost control.

The MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension system, one of Jingxi's single products, was first produced at the Shenshan factory in Guangdong Province in March this year, and the price supplied to customers is already lower than that of the solenoid valve suspension. Among them, the effect brought by the supply chain innovation is the most prominent.

Jingxi Zhixing's MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension system was mass-produced in China for the first time in March this year.

Jingxi Zhixing's fourth-generation MagneRide magnetorheological suspension system adjusts 1000 times per second, and full-software digital tuning helps vehicle manufacturers popularize high-end active suspensions.

In terms of cost control, Jingxi Zhixing already has significant advantages. The proportion of its raw materials is only about 52%, far lower than the 70% - 80% in the general reports of the automotive industry. Now, through the localization strategy, it has further reduced the cost of core components.

Jingxi Zhixing first broke the global unified procurement model. The Chinese supply chain is responsible for domestic products in China, solving the problems of redundant organizations and cumbersome processes. In this way, the breakthrough of the local supply chain in the Chinese region drives the improvement of decision-making efficiency and the reduction of costs.

On the other hand, the company actively promotes the localization process and has reached strategic cooperation with multiple suppliers. In order to lay a good foundation for the localization of the fourth-generation MagneRide® magnetorheological suspension, maximize the compression of processes and achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement, it has introduced key component suppliers in the factory-within-a-factory model.

The innovative factory-within-a-factory model integrates the resources of multiple parties to settle in the Zhangjiakou production base. The parts supply from secondary suppliers is achieved in one step, not only building a strategic ecosystem for industrial chain technology sharing but also improving production efficiency and ensuring delivery ability.

As a secondary supplier, Shandong Taizhan Company's factory-within-a-factory in Jingxi Zhixing's Zhangjiakou factory will reduce the production cost of magnetic coils by more than 60% compared with its production in Shandong. The factory-within-a-factory of Shandong Taizhan Company's magnetic coil has recently entered the debugging stage and will enter full production in two months.

In March this year, Jingxi Zhixing also cooperated with three upstream suppliers, Nanyang Jiaolian, Jiangsu Liwan, and Bohai New Materials. It will also achieve efficient circulation from the secondary supplier production line directly to Jingxi Zhixing's assembly workshop. Qualified products will go directly to the assembly line, minimizing the supporting production cost.

The reformed Chinese supply chain of Jingxi Zhixing has been verified at multiple levels such as finance and market, and a new regional model has been successfully established. This successful new supply chain model will also be exported to the European and North American regions in the near future, achieving the same improvement in decision-making efficiency and reduction in costs, and finally realizing the unification of the global supply chain again.

Organizational Change and Reconstruction to Transform into the "Iron Triangle"

If an enterprise wants to remain invincible in the fierce competition, it not only needs to have solid technology and excellent cost control ability but also needs to have an agile and efficient organizational responsiveness.

Such cases are actually not rare, and Huawei is a representative enterprise among them. As an excellent company, Huawei has conducted a lot of research on the entire organization and systematically established a mechanism for product research and planning based on the first - principles. The goal is to produce products with the most leading performance and the lowest cost. The more flat and flexible "Iron Triangle" combat unit comes from Huawei's tactical design.

Jingxi Zhixing has introduced the "Iron Triangle" combat unit and formed a three - in - one cross - functional team of "sales + R & D + delivery", breaking down internal barriers and improving collaboration efficiency. It promotes the localized management mechanism and introduces local managers into the overseas teams to promote the integration of Chinese and Western cultures and improve operational flexibility and response speed.

Jingxi Zhixing has globally redefined the organizational boundaries - each "Iron Triangle" group has decision - making power and can, to a certain extent, break down departmental barriers and geographical barriers. The traditional multi - level approval chain has been compressed to a three - person group decision, realizing "letting those who hear the gunfire command the battle".

In the local market, Jingxi Zhixing forms a differentiated implementation ability through customer co - creation, organizational flattening, and project rhythm adaptation. At the global level, it adheres to a unified value orientation and maintains the same standards in hard indicators such as quality, performance, and safety.

Jingxi Zhixing has a forward - looking layout in Europe and America and a perfect global system.

Jingxi Zhixing is simultaneously promoting the localization reform of the management layer, laying off more than 400 employees globally, mainly management and senior R & D personnel. The management layer is gradually transitioning from foreign executives with an average age of 55 to younger, market - familiar local talents. By promoting talents who understand products and focus on product innovation, the implementation rhythm of cooperation projects with customers has been significantly accelerated.

This systematic change has not only improved organizational efficiency but also released the vitality of employees. Previously, the work rhythm of the whole company was slow, but now this situation has been largely reversed. The daily work rhythm and work efficiency have been greatly improved, and everyone's goal is focused on customers and products.

Under the new mechanism, talents in multiple fields such as technology, management, and sales have a smoother growth path and a stronger sense of participation. The internal driving force of the entire organization has been significantly enhanced, laying a solid foundation for the company's transformation into a technology - driven enterprise.

Conclusion

In the past, the key technologies of brake - by - wire and suspension - by - wire in the intelligent vehicle chassis were long monopolized by European and American enterprises. It was not until 2009 when Jingxi acquired the global suspension and braking business of Delphi that the Chinese chassis industry completely broke the technological barriers imposed by foreign capital.

On the basis of inheriting and digesting Delphi's technology, Jingxi Zhixing has established a perfect system for global R & D, production, and sales led by China. Its global R & D and innovation center will also be located in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

Today's Jingxi Zhixing not only retains the engineering heritage of the "old world" but also actively adapts to the rhythm and logic of the "new system". From core technology breakthroughs to organizational mechanism reconstruction, from global resource coordination to local rapid implementation, it has completed a systematic evolution.

As one of the few enterprises to achieve "domestic substitution" in the high - end intelligent chassis field, Jingxi Zhixing aims to achieve technological equality for the once high - end top - notch suspension technology, making it accessible to thousands of enterprises, vehicles, and households, and ultimately benefiting the world.

This intelligent chassis technology unicorn rooted in China and globally - deployed is using its systematic technology planning ability, local response ability, and global manufacturing ability as anchors to take the main stage of the leap - forward development of the Chinese intelligent vehicle industry and become a key fulcrum for the next golden decade.