Looking into "Quick-Developed Cars": A Pace the Industry Can't Bear

Putting the Brakes on "Quick-Developed Cars"

At the beginning of 2026, regulatory authorities tightened the requirements for automobile development once again. This relieved many "veteran automotive professionals".

The chief software engineer of a leading automaker told 36Kr that in his more than a decade of career, he had never experienced such a radical period as in the past few years:

A new architecture that originally needed two years of adaptation before being installed in vehicles now has to be installed in just 10 months. The two winter tests and two summer tests for mechanical verification in the past have been compressed into one winter test and one summer test.

The vehicle control software that originally needed four months of verification can now be installed in just two weeks.

There are also hidden concerns that only insiders know: Although the testing process seems to be in place, the compressed time is accompanied by high - intensity overtime. In actual operation, a project that needs to be tested 200 times may only be tested 30 times in the end; after testing 10 times, employees may say that they have tested 100 times.

"Some problems won't be detected, which may include high - safety - related issues. For example, after the cars are sold, there are often a bunch of Class B problems like the door handles not popping out."

Since it is common for intelligent electric vehicles to have over - the - air upgrades, when many cars are delivered, some software is not yet fully developed. Companies then pin their hopes on subsequent software updates, which naturally include using updates to fix problems caused by insufficient verification.

A person in charge of assisted driving at a leading car - making company said, "In order to improve the braking experience, a software version with a safety hazard of late braking timing was still pushed out."

"Since they thought they could do OTA (Over - the - Air remote online upgrade), the head of intelligent driving pushed out the new version under pressure. As a result, the number of car accidents increased immediately." According to 36Kr, due to several hasty OTAs that caused quality problems, the person in charge of intelligent driving had to resign.

In the mobile phone industry, the R & D cycle of Huawei's flagship Mate series and Xiaomi's digital series phones is about 12 - 18 months, and the lifecycle of a model is about two years.

Now, in the fierce competition in the automotive market, the development cycle of a whole vehicle in the automotive industry has generally been compressed from 3 - 5 years to one and a half years or even less. It has also become a consensus among mainstream automakers that car products are updated every two years and upgraded every year.

This "Chinese speed" is both a competitive weapon for China's new car - making industry and something to be proud of. On the other hand, the unrestrained competition has also brought about vehicle quality problems.

In August last year, regulatory authorities introduced OTA filing regulations to curb the software chaos caused by the speed competition.

At the beginning of this year, the supervision of "quick - developed cars" was tightened at the whole - vehicle level. On January 29, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revised and issued the "Review Requirements for the Access of Road Motor Vehicle Products". A core change is that traditional fuel vehicles are required to complete a 30,000 - kilometer reliability test, and new energy vehicles are required to complete a 15,000 - kilometer test. This is the first time that the state has included reliability tests in mandatory regulations.

If software verification is insufficient, it can be remedied through online upgrades. However, if hardware verification is insufficient and there are quality problems, automakers will have to pay a heavy price.

Taking the most critical component of new energy vehicles - the power battery as an example, 36Kr learned from a chief battery engineer that a few years ago, the method used by the enterprise he worked for to test the battery's cycle life was to let the battery's health decline to 70%, and then count the number of charge - discharge cycles in between. Only when the number of cycles passed the standard could mass production begin.

But now, on the one hand, due to the short vehicle development cycle, and on the other hand, because battery technology is maturing, "some battery manufacturers may start mass - producing when the battery's health declines to 80%, and some even at 90%." The battery engineer said that there have not been large - scale quality problems with these batteries yet, but "sometimes, battery problems take years to surface."

In October last year, the recall of Li Auto's MEGA was a typical case of "being careless" in verification. The explosion incident went viral across the internet. Li Auto spent 1.1 billion yuan to recall 11,400 MEGA vehicles. An even heavier price was that the sales of the Li Auto MEGA and the pure - electric vehicle i8 began to plummet afterwards.

The cause of this accident was the coolant, which is regarded as a mature technology and not particularly focused on by most automakers. Several engineers involved in the Li Auto MEGA project told 36Kr that neither Li Auto nor its supplier fully verified the corrosion problem between the newly adopted low - conductivity coolant and the cooling aluminum plate.

In September last year, XPeng launched a recall of some P7+ models due to steering wheel locking, which was a major recall case in the industry.

A person close to XPeng told 36Kr that poor wiring harness contact was one reason for the steering wheel locking. In addition, XPeng made some design changes to a sub - part of the steering system but did not conduct more sufficient wear - resistance tests.

"After a design change, the reliability verification test at the component end takes at least 1 - 2 months, and it also takes one month at the vehicle manufacturer's system level." An industry insider told 36Kr, "But now most companies can't conduct steering durability tests like before."

The new regulations at the beginning of 2026 targeted the whole - vehicle verification. A R & D person told 36Kr that the average annual mileage of a family car is usually about 20,000 kilometers, and the mainstream enterprise standards usually test at the 100,000 - kilometer level. So the new regulations have not yet put actual pressure on the industry.

However, the move by the regulatory authorities has sent a signal to the outside world: durability and reliability will surely become the focus of future supervision.

The Whip of Speed Lashing the Automotive Industry

The hunger for speed is a microcosm of the high - intensity competition in the Chinese automotive market.

Wang Chuanfu, the chairman of BYD, vividly compared the cruel nature of this industry in 2023: "In this industry, it's not the big fish eating the small fish, but the fast fish eating the slow fish."

BYD, which is well - versed in the industry's competition rules, naturally emphasizes "speed" in its product rhythm: Some models in BYD's Ocean Network have an annual facelift in about half a year and a major upgrade in about two years. The strategy of a large product portfolio and rapid iteration is one of the ways BYD's products dominate the new energy vehicle industry.

In addition to BYD, Geely, the former sales champion among private automakers, also clearly understands what "speed" means to itself.

A person from Geely told 36Kr that Geely's product strategy is to follow and benchmark. After a competitor launches a popular model, Geely has to follow up within half a year to avoid missing market opportunities. So Geely has hundreds of models every year, and the development cycle of many cars is 18 months or even shorter.

On the contrary, Li Auto suffered a big loss due to its slow speed in 2025.

Li Auto's extended - range series once led the large SUV market for new energy vehicles. However, after the company planned a major iteration every four years, it was quickly caught up by its competitors. It was the only new car - making company with declining sales in 2025.

"Over the past few years, our biggest lesson is that we didn't build up industrial barriers. The things we ordered from the supply chain, the suppliers would immediately sell to other automakers without even going through the ordering process," an executive of Li Auto told 36Kr. The catching - up cycle for a piece of hardware is generally only half a year to one year.

The cross - border entry of leading consumer electronics brands such as Huawei and Xiaomi into the automotive industry has continuously elevated this speed - based game.

Xiaomi Auto launched the SU7 model in April 2024. Within 24 hours of its launch, the number of firm orders exceeded 89,000. Driven by the popularity of the hit product, the SUV model YU7 launched by Xiaomi in June 2025 received 200,000 firm orders within three minutes of its launch.

A market insider told 36Kr that in the past, market competition was more like a friendly negotiation among a few leading brands on how to divide the market. "Take the 200,000 - 300,000 yuan price range as an example. Now Tesla and Xiaomi occupy half of the market. If you can't beat them, you can only share the remaining small piece of the cake with more than a dozen other brands. So we have to quickly follow their pace."

The whip of speed is lashing the entire industry. Even a brand as powerful as Tesla has to deal with such a competitive situation.

A person from a Tesla supplier recalled the development process of the new - style headlights for the Model Y to 36Kr.

When planning the facelift of the Model Y, Tesla didn't expect that through - type headlights would soon become the mainstream in the Chinese market. The project to facelift the Model Y was launched at the end of 2022. "After a year of development, Tesla suddenly required a change in the taillight style to a through - type diffuse - reflection taillight," the person told 36Kr. At that time, Tesla noticed that new cars from brands like BYD and Li Auto were all using through - type taillights.

From the initiation of the design change to the final mass production, the implementation cycle of the new - style headlights was less than 15 months.

"The appearance is the first thing to be determined in the vehicle development cycle. Now, both lighting technology and vehicle design in the Chinese market are changing rapidly. After a 3 - 5 - year development cycle, the determined design may become obsolete before mass production," an industry insider told 36Kr. "To keep the products up - to - date, automakers have to speed up the pace."

Automakers are caught in a "prisoner's dilemma" of pursuing speed: If the competitor is fast, they have to be faster; if the competitor lowers the reliability standard, it's hard for them to hold on. The "prisoner's dilemma" often ends in a lose - lose or multi - lose situation.

Can speed and safety be balanced? How can Chinese automakers avoid collective failure?

The Trend Is Irreversible, but the Bottom Line Cannot Be Compromised

"Speed" has become an irreversible trend in the Chinese automotive industry.

The obsession of veteran automotive industry players with "durability" has its specific historical background. Take the German market as an example. Due to high - speed driving, expensive car repairs, and a culture of old and second - hand cars, the average car replacement cycle in Germany is 14 - 15 years. In such a market, cars that are prone to break down and not durable simply won't sell. So German brands repeatedly promote their durability tests of up to one million kilometers.

However, the situation in the Chinese market is completely different. Data from the China Automobile Dealers Association shows that the average car replacement cycle for new energy vehicles has been shortened from 6 - 8 years for fuel vehicles to 3 - 5 years. Facing the technological wave of AI large - model applications in cars and the gradual implementation of L3 - level autonomous driving, it's uncertain whether consumers are still willing to use a car for up to 15 years.

"A 30,000 - kilometer durability test costs millions of yuan," the person said. "If consumers only need a car that can run 100,000 kilometers, who will bear the extra cost of a 5 - million - kilometer test by the enterprise?"

Braking verification also depends on regional characteristics. The maximum speed limit on Chinese roads is below 120 km/h, which is very different from the unrestricted - speed driving environment in Germany. So, when selling cars in Germany, it's necessary to ensure that the vehicle can brake at any time at a speed of 260 km/h. But in China, consumers usually drive at a maximum speed of 130 km/h.

A R & D person told 36Kr that some Chinese automakers have an internal control standard of only 140 km/h for braking performance. "This can significantly shorten the cycle. Anyway, the responsibility for speeding accidents mainly lies with the driver."

Therefore, the durability standards for Chinese new energy vehicles should not be compared with traditional standards.

Speed and reliability are not completely contradictory.

A "win - win" approach is to adopt an automotive architecture platform with standardized components and a high sharing rate in the supply chain. This is becoming the most mainstream means to accelerate product development.

A supply - chain insider told 36Kr that for a single - vehicle project under Geely, the shortest time from supplier selection to SOP is only six months. "Some chassis systems are even directly reused. The reuse rate of vehicle components should exceed 70%, which can save 3 - 6 months of development and verification time."

Enterprises' further pursuit of platformization is reflected in "front - end definition" and "technology pre - research".

Taking the most time - consuming chassis tuning as an example, a R & D person told 36Kr that currently, most enterprises tune each car separately. In the mule - car stage, two rounds of tuning take one month to determine the style; in the DV stage, fine - tuning takes three months, and in the PV stage, consistency adjustment takes one month. After trial production, another 1.5 months are needed for the final tuning. "Even a capable enterprise needs six months."

After platformization, the R & D department can conduct unified design for all models within the platform in the early stage. The chassis tuning cycle can be shortened by at least 50%, and the shortest time is two months. "The previous one - by - one tuning method was too time - consuming, and this new model is becoming the industry mainstream."

In the pursuit of speed, the work intensity of automotive industry employees has reached the limit.

An engineer from Geely recalled the period before the delivery of the flagship model Zeekr 9X. "There were thousands of people involved in the Zeekr 9X project. When rushing to meet the project deadline, the average daily working hours of each person in the thousands - strong team reached 12 - 13 hours, and many people couldn't go home until midnight."

A few months before the launch of the Zeekr 9X in the middle of last year, at the Meishan factory, people were working in two - or three - shift rotations for testing every day. One group of people worked specifically at night, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. "Since there were only a limited number of engineering vehicles for testing and the time was tight, we could only take turns using them."

In contrast, the working status of employees at foreign - funded brands with a vehicle development cycle still as long as 3 - 5 years is completely different. "The lights in BMW's Beijing office are usually off at night; the Mercedes - Benz German team can still work from home three days a week," an industry insider told 36Kr.

Under competitive pressure, foreign - funded brands are also accelerating their development cycles to survive in the Chinese market.

A R & D person from Mercedes - Benz told 36Kr that the localization development of the long - wheelbase pure - electric CLA launched in 2023 took more than two years in total. "For the long - wheelbase GLE to be launched in 2026, the current planned time from project launch to SOP is only 13 months."

The automotive industry is irreversibly moving towards intelligent terminals. Development tools are continuously evolving. Coupled with process optimization and maximizing the reduction of non - productive working hours, the shortening of the automotive development cycle has become an irreversible industrial trend.

However, automakers must not compromise on the quality bottom line in the speed competition.

In 2010, Toyota recalled more than 10 million vehicles globally due to the "brake - gate" incident. Akio Toyoda, the then - president of Toyota, admitted that Toyota had expanded too quickly, ignoring talent training and quality inspection, which laid hidden dangers for vehicle quality problems. After this incident, Toyota's reputation faced a trust crisis, and its sales declined for many years in many regions.

In 2013, Volkswagen's annual sales in China reached a historic 3.27 million vehicles. Behind the rapid sales growth, the company compressed the verification cycle, leading to the concentrated outbreak of transmission problems. Not only was it exposed at the 3.15 Gala that year, but it also had to recall nearly one million vehicles at the