Taking the lead with strength, Anhui secures the top spot in two categories.

On January 22nd, the National Bureau of Statistics released data showing that in 2025, Anhui's automobile production reached 3.6865 million vehicles, and the production of new energy vehicles reached 1.7941 million vehicles. Both figures ranked first in the country.

In addition, Anhui is also the first province in the country with annual automobile exports exceeding one million vehicles. In 2025, Anhui exported 1.228 million vehicles (including chassis), ranking first in the country in terms of export volume and showing a 28.7% increase. As a result, the automobile industry has become the first single industry in Anhui with annual export value exceeding 100 billion yuan.

Currently, Anhui is home to seven complete vehicle manufacturers, including Chery Group, NIO, Volkswagen Anhui, Hefei BYD, Jianghuai Automobile Group, Hefei Changan, and Hammar Technology, and there are over 3,000 above - scale supporting parts and components enterprises, covering the entire industrial chain of new energy vehicles, such as the "three - electric" systems, body parts, and intelligent connected vehicles.

An important factor contributing to Anhui becoming the province ranking first in both automobile production and new energy vehicle production is the adjustment of the statistical method.

Since 2025, the principle for counting automobile production has been changed from the long - used "location of the enterprise legal person" to the "production location". Also, since January 2025, Anhui's monthly automobile production has exceeded that of Guangdong, which ranks second, and has maintained this advantage throughout the year.

Of course, the deeper reason lies in Anhui's firm layout and continuous in - depth development in seizing the opportunity of the new energy vehicle industry.

To date, Anhui has completed the layout of the entire automobile industry chain. A typical example is that Anhui's parts and components industry is widely distributed in multiple fields such as power batteries, motor control, intelligent connected vehicles, lightweight materials, sales and maintenance, and recycling. Its revenue accounts for about 50% of the total revenue of the provincial automobile industry chain, achieving the goal of "building a complete new energy vehicle without leaving Anhui".

Behind this is the strong rise of Hefei and Wuhu, two core cities.

In the past few years, at the critical stage when the new energy vehicle industry was transitioning from the introduction period to the growth period, Hefei achieved the implementation of the NIO project through the "Hefei Model" of investment - led introduction. Subsequently, it successively built major complete vehicle projects such as Volkswagen Anhui and BYD Hefei Base, and cultivated more than 500 core parts and components enterprises such as Guoxuan High - tech, CALB, and Juyi Technology.

In 2024, Hefei's new energy vehicle production reached 1.376 million vehicles, ranking second in the country, only after Shenzhen. In 2025, Hefei achieved a key leap, with its new energy vehicle production rising to the top among Chinese cities, and the industrial scale exceeding 500 billion yuan.

Wuhu has continued to make efforts relying on Chery Group. In 2024, its automobile production accounted for 46.2% of the province's total, and its export volume accounted for nearly 80%, making it the core base for Anhui's automobile exports. From January to November 2025, Wuhu exported 839,000 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 27.4%.

It must be pointed out that in the fierce reshaping of China's automobile industry map, regional competition has evolved from a single production volume competition to a comprehensive competition of development models and industrial ecosystems. Next, how will Anhui "maintain its position" as the top province?

In Anhui's layout, on the one hand, it is necessary to accelerate the transformation to the intelligent track, and on the other hand, it is necessary to fully promote the internationalization process.

Previously, the suggestions for the 14th Five - Year Plan in Anhui proposed to focus on strategic emerging industries such as intelligent connected new energy vehicles, promote the construction of innovation facilities, technological research and development, and product iteration and upgrading in an integrated manner, and accelerate the cluster - based and large - scale development of emerging industries.

At the same time, it is necessary to deeply implement the "Anhui's Global Drive" overseas expansion initiative and the partnership plan, promote the open innovation of the entire industrial chain of intelligent connected vehicles in the China (Anhui) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and implement the initiative of "going global together" for advantageous industries.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Urban Evolution Theory". The author is Liu Yanmei. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.