‘Key pillar’: the 5-year powerhouse plan for China’s car industry
Por Emma Ma — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Electric & new energy vehicles Economy China Economy ‘Key pillar’: the 5-year powerhouse plan for China’s car industry
Beijing’s outline calls for boosting domestic market and innovation while controlling capacity to avoid involution effects
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Emma Ma in Shanghai Published: 9:00pm, 11 Sep 2026
China is set to secure its place among the global automotive powerhouses by 2030 through further efforts to boost domestic sales and foster technological innovation, while a capacity alert mechanism will be introduced to guard against disorderly competition.
The ambitious targets and actions are laid out in the country’s 15th five-year plan for the development of the intelligent connected new-energy-vehicle industry, unveiled on Thursday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and eight other ministries. The new-energy category comprises both battery-powered electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid models.
According to the plan, China would further shore up its complete industrial supply-chain strengths in the sector and prepare for the large-scale roll-out of vehicles equipped with automated driving functions.
“[By 2030] the automotive sector will solidify its standing as a key pillar of the national economy,” the plan stated.
“The timing for rolling out this five-year plan is well judged,” said Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). “The auto industry is undergoing structural transformation; total domestic sales are declining, as market leadership shifts from gasoline-powered passenger vehicles to electric cars.”
Data from the CPCA showed around 1 million electric passenger vehicles were sold domestically in August, down 10.1 per cent from a year earlier. Total sales in the January-August period fell 12.1 per cent year on year.
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