With an equity investment of 8.55 billion yuan finalized, can FAW Besturn make a full transition to new energy vehicles and stage a comeback against the odds?

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According to the public notice of the Beijing Property Exchange, the capital increase project of FAW Bestune Automobile Co., Ltd. was completed on September 5.

Among them, the original shareholder, China FAW Group Co., Ltd., invested 5.24 billion yuan; Jiangsu Yueda Automobile Group Co., Ltd. invested 1.71 billion yuan. Strategic investors Nanjing Horizon Information Technology Co., Ltd. invested 100 million yuan; China Telecom Corporation Limited invested 500 million yuan; Agricultural Bank Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. invested 1 billion yuan.

After this capital increase, the shareholding of China FAW and FAW Equity Investment (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. in FAW Bestune decreased from 86.1568% to 79.0394%; the shareholding of Yueda Automobile Group increased from 1.9741% to 10.3358%; the new shareholders, Nanjing Horizon, Agricultural Bank Financial and China Telecom, hold 0.6044%, 6.0443% and 3.0222% respectively.

It is reported that this capital increase will be mainly used for new energy technology R & D, intelligent manufacturing upgrading and channel ecosystem construction, etc., to fully empower the implementation of key strategic initiatives.

Behind the capital increase, FAW Bestune is accelerating its layout in the new energy field. In 2024, the sales volume of FAW Bestune reached 151,000 vehicles, among which, the sales volume of new energy products was 83,000 vehicles, and the new energy penetration rate reached 55%. From January to August 2025, the sales volume of FAW Bestune reached 118,000 vehicles, and the sales volume of new energy vehicles reached 101,000 vehicles, with the new energy penetration rate exceeding 85%.

Can FAW Bestune, with more resources, gain a firm foothold in the new energy field and have its own place?

Capital increase to boost new energy

For FAW Bestune at present, the transformation to new energy is already an important way to increase its sales volume.

In 2006, based on the complete chassis and power system of Mazda 6, the first model of FAW Bestune, Bestune B70, was born. Data shows that from 2006 to 2010, the cumulative sales volume of Bestune B70 exceeded 150,000 vehicles.

After that, FAW Bestune successively launched new models such as B50 and X80. In 2014, the sales volume of FAW Bestune reached 185,600 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 46%, which became its highlight moment. But in the following years, the sales volume of FAW Bestune continued to decline. By 2018, the sales volume of FAW Bestune dropped below 100,000 vehicles, only 88,600 vehicles.

So far, Bestune B70 has been the main model of FAW Bestune. In 2024, the cumulative sales volume of Bestune B70 was 39,277 vehicles, accounting for about 26% of the total sales volume of FAW Bestune, and it was the fuel - powered vehicle with the highest sales volume. From January to July 2025, the cumulative sales volume of Bestune B70 was 12,444 vehicles.

Obviously, relying on Bestune B70 in the fuel - powered vehicle field, FAW Bestune has lost some product competitiveness. And the layout of new energy vehicles has become an opportunity for FAW Bestune to catch up with other automakers again.

In fact, FAW Bestune laid out new energy vehicles a few years ago. Information shows that in 2008, FAW Bestune launched the full - hybrid HEV sedan Bestune B70HEV; in the next year, it exhibited the B50 HEV hybrid sedan at the Shanghai Auto Show; in 2014, the pure - electric version and plug - in hybrid version of Bestune B50 appeared in the list announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

But FAW Bestune's attempt in the new energy field didn't get much response. Facing the increasingly severe competitive environment, FAW Bestune began to introduce strategic investors.

In September 2023, FAW Bestune signed an investment agreement with Jiangsu Yueda Automobile Group Co., Ltd. The capital increase amount of Yueda Automobile Group was 166.32 million yuan, and the shareholding ratio was 1.9741%. At the same time, FAW Group and FAW Equity Investment (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. jointly increased the capital of FAW Bestune, with a total capital increase amount of 5 billion yuan.

According to media reports, at that time, FAW Bestune said that all the raised funds would be mainly used for the R & D, production and market promotion of new energy products to accelerate the new energy transformation of FAW Bestune. According to official disclosure, from 2020 to 2022, the net profits of FAW Bestune were - 4.86 billion yuan, - 3.758 billion yuan and - 2.097 billion yuan respectively.

In March 2024, FAW Bestune officially completed the industrial and commercial registration change, changing its name from "FAW Bestune Car Co., Ltd." to "FAW Bestune Automobile Co., Ltd.", thus completing the joint - stock system reform.

In April 2025, FAW Bestune launched a new round of capital increase. The project announcement shows that if the capital increase is successful, the total shareholding ratio of the original shareholders of FAW Bestune will be no less than 73.5%, and the total shareholding ratio of the new shareholders will be no more than 26.5%. At the same time, the announcement disclosed that from 2022 to 2024, the net profits of FAW Bestune were - 2.097 billion yuan, - 2.958 billion yuan and - 4.347 billion yuan respectively.

After about four months, the capital increase project of FAW Bestune was successfully completed, raising a total of 8.55 billion yuan. After this capital increase, the shareholding of China FAW and FAW Equity Investment (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. in FAW Bestune decreased from 86.1568% to 79.0394%; the shareholding of Yueda Automobile Group increased from 1.9741% to 10.3358%; the new shareholders Nanjing Horizon, Agricultural Bank Financial and China Telecom hold 0.6044%, 6.0443% and 3.0222% respectively.

FAW Bestune said that the capital increase will be mainly used for new energy technology R & D, intelligent manufacturing upgrading and channel ecosystem construction, etc., to fully empower the implementation of key strategic initiatives.

It can be seen that FAW Bestune is determined to transform to new energy.

Still need more blockbuster models

In 2024, FAW Bestune launched the brand's "all - new" campaign, clarifying the strategic direction of going all - in on new energy. According to FAW Bestune's plan, it will launch more than six new products in the mainstream mass price range in the next three years, providing various options such as pure - electric and hybrid according to users' usage scenario needs.

In May 2024, FAW Bestune launched the pure - electric mini - car Bestune Xiaoma, with a total of three models, priced from 26,900 yuan to 31,900 yuan. In the month of its launch, its sales volume was only 1,277 vehicles. By the fourth quarter, its monthly sales volume exceeded 12,000 vehicles, and the annual sales volume in 2024 reached 57,863 vehicles.

At the same time, the overall sales volume of FAW Bestune in 2024 was 151,000 vehicles, among which, the sales volume of new energy vehicles was 83,000 vehicles. Calculated from this, Bestune Xiaoma brought nearly 40% of the overall sales volume and nearly 70% of the new energy sales volume to FAW Bestune.

In 2025, the average monthly sales volume of Bestune Xiaoma from January to May was about 6,700 vehicles; from June to July, the sales volume rebounded to more than 10,000 vehicles. It is worth mentioning that in February 2025, Bestune Xiaoma launched two new models, Lingli Xiaoma and Linglong Xiaoma, priced at 40,900 yuan and 43,900 yuan respectively; in August, the 2026 - model Bestune Xiaoma was launched, with 5 models priced from 24,900 yuan to 53,900 yuan. But according to Dongchedi, the dealer's quoted price is from 19,900 yuan to 48,900 yuan. Obviously, there are discounts in the sales channels.

But the competition in the mini - car market is fierce, with blockbuster models such as Wuling Hongguang MINI EV and Changan Lumin. From January to July 2025, the sales volume of Wuling Hongguang MINI EV was 198,401 vehicles; the sales volume of Changan Lumin was 86,566 vehicles, both higher than the 55,659 vehicles of Bestune Xiaoma. In addition, there are also QQ Ice Cream, Geely Panda, etc. competing for the market.

The profit of mini - cars is thin, and it is also not conducive to shaping the brand image. FAW Bestune must layout other models to complete the transformation to new energy. According to Dongchedi, the new energy models currently on sale by FAW Bestune are Bestune Xiaoma, Bestune NAT, Yueyi 03 and Yueyi 07.

Bestune NAT is an MPV model, mainly targeting the B - end market such as taxis and online car - hailing services. Its total sales volume from January to July 2025 was 3,840 vehicles; Yueyi 03 is a pure - electric SUV model launched in March 2025, with an official guide price of 79,800 - 122,900 yuan, and its total sales volume from January to July was 10,939 vehicles; Yueyi 07 is a medium - sized hybrid SUV launched in May, with an official guide price of 79,800 - 122,900 yuan, and the cumulative sales volume was 1,135 vehicles.

Information shows that the Yueyi series of Bestune is a new new - energy product series created by FAW Bestune. It will create 6 new new - energy products in 2 years, build three product matrices of E, P and R, covering A0 - class to B + - class, and various energy forms such as pure - electric, hybrid and extended - range, fully meeting consumers' diverse car - buying needs. But according to the current sales volume, FAW Bestune still needs to create more blockbuster models.

FAW Bestune is accelerating the layout of new energy products. After getting more resource support through the capital increase, whether it can return to its former peak is also worth looking forward to.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Visibility in the Auto Circle", author: Wei He. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.