The Chinese automotive industry has become a serious player on the international stage as its cars have grown more sophisticated, but GWM chairman warned that “the industry is not to be cocky and complacent.”
“In reality, there is still a significant gap between Chinese automakers, including Great Wall Motors, and those excellent companies,” Wei Jianjun said in remarks at an annual meeting of the automaker, published on Chinese news site Yiche and translated to English.
“We must remember that the gap is not small, but very large.
It is a long road to car manufacturing, and we should learn from Europe, America, Japan and South Korea – learn hard, humbly and practically. ” , ‘I’m sure it is worth reading.
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More than 34.5 million vehicles were produced in China in 2025, making it the world leader in new-vehicle production.
Despite the fact that non-Chinese auto brands are experiencing Chinese market pressure, more and more Chinese automakers are growing their global presence.
Mr Wei has alleged that while Chinese automakers’ overseas expansion is impressive, the industry still relies on low prices to take market share – something which was unsustainable when in key markets such as Europe, Chinese vehicle imports are subject to tariffs.
That indicates profit margins for Chinese automakers are slimmer than other key global players.
There are also troubles at home. Chinese automakers’ global push is being partly driven by persistent overcapacity at home.
In 2024, according to the Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute, production capacity utilisation sat at just 49.5 per cent in an industry capable of making 55.5 million vehicles.
A lot of players, many of which have a number of brands in the Chinese market (e.g., GWM) are also playing vehicles under five brands at the world’s largest auto market.
In his address, Mr Wei reportedly encouraged customers to deliver feedback, and warned employees against ignoring this.
He reportedly said ‘An individual or an organisation can only make progress if they are able to criticise themselves and dare to take responsibility.
He cited Toyota as a specific example of an automaker to look up to.
It is one of the most iconic and best-quality companies in the world, according to “Toyota”. he said ‘Toyota has never stopped issuing recalls, large and small.
However, users praise it a lot because Toyota never shirks responsibility when problems arise. It takes responsibility, proactively responds and alert users before they even know the problem is being addressed. And this is a real duty for s. , ” and.
Also, the chairman of GWM said he warned against Chinese automakers taking on price wars to encourage short-term sales, calling it ‘slow suicide’.
Similarly, as Yiche notes, China’s focus on ‘new-energy vehicles’ – plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and electric vehicles(EVS) has allowed it to achieve independent control over motor battery and electronic control supply, much less prevalent in the age of combustion-powered cars.
GWM sold 1,323,672 vehicles in 2025, up 7.3 per cent year-on-year. Production was up 5.7 per cent to 1,311,329 units.
30 new-energy vehicles were. Despite its single-brand sale of EVs – Ora 5 per cent of its sales were its lowest-volume brand with 48,289 sales in 2025 less than half the second-last Wey sold.
GWM sold 506,066 cars worldwide in 2025, up 11. This produces cars at home and in Thailand and Brazil for sale, 7 per cent year-on-year; it sells vehicles across Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa to more than 170 countries.
It sold 52,809 cars in 2025 (up 23) in Australia. 1 Per cent – 4 per cent) . In Australia, it has been a top-10 brand with ninth in 2024 and seventh in 20025.
GWM is aiming to become a “sustainable top-five” brand by 2030 here. To reach that goal, it’s not only launching new products – including more hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles – but also investing in local tuning.
It’s not just a Chinese brand that has been in the top 10 and is looking for ever better results. BYD was the eighth-best selling brand last year and MG came in at 10th, Chery knocked on the door of the top 10 in 13th position.
All of these brands have announced their aspirations of becoming bigger players in our market.
BYD is aiming to finish “close to the top three” in 2026, MG wants to be in the top five by 2027 and the top three by 2030, and Chery wants to be in the top five by 2027 with sister brand Omoda Jaecoo also in the top 10.
GWM has adopted a single-brand strategy in Australia, unlike BYD and Chery; likes of Tank and Haval are now sub-branded. Thus, this means that GWM can not only provide an extensive range of vehicles in the same showroom and streamline marketing but also pool sales results of all its cars together.
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