JAC Group's Xiang Xingchu: Chinese Auto Industry Faces Historic Rise—Consensus Needed for High-Quality Growth

At the 4th Future Mobility Pioneers Conference held at the end of May 2025, Xiang Xingchu, Party Secretary, Chairman, and General Manager of JAC Group, delivered a keynote speech outlining four critical trends currently reshaping the automotive industry: First, technological innovation is accelerating rapidly, with convergence emerging across electrification, intelligent driving, and connected vehicle technologies—AI has become the core driver of industrial transformation. Second, while industry boundaries continue to expand, companies must sharpen their focus on core competencies. Third, traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) brands are being phased out at an accelerated pace, prompting a fundamental restructuring of relationships between OEMs and suppliers, and enabling the rapid formation of new ecosystems and divisions of labor. Fourth, Chinese automotive brands now face a historic opportunity for rise through intelligent and new-energy transformation, leveraging China’s institutional advantages, robust manufacturing base, engineering talent dividend, and innovative consumer environment. Xiang highlighted that JAC Group is driving its brand leap forward through the “Zunjie” project. Since its launch on May 30, 2025, the Zunjie S800 has achieved cumulative deliveries exceeding 18,500 units and has ranked No. 1 in luxury sedan sales above RMB 700,000 for eight consecutive months. High-end custom and MPV variants are progressing as scheduled. Developed through deep collaboration between JAC and Huawei, the project integrates the entire value chain—from product definition and R&D to manufacturing and quality control—under a unified “one-team, one-mission” collaborative model. Internally, JAC is simultaneously advancing comprehensive reforms by benchmarking Huawei’s management systems, implementing IPD (Integrated Product Development), ISC (Integrated Supply Chain), and IPMS (Integrated Project Management System), and deepening reforms in personnel, compensation, and organizational mechanisms to energize the enterprise. The company frames this transformation as its “Third Entrepreneurial Journey”—a strategic shift from an economy-focused brand to a premium luxury player. In ecosystem development, JAC has established an original “One Core, Two Wings” technology framework, co-founding joint research institutes and laboratories with partners including Huawei, CATL, and Schaeffler. The company has also built the Zunjie Super Factory, equipped with over 1,800 robots and featuring atomic-level quality monitoring across all production processes. Additionally, JAC has formed a “Quality Alliance” with more than 200 suppliers to drive holistic supply chain upgrades. The partnership with Huawei has now entered Phase 2.0, encompassing platform-based product portfolio development, joint R&D on cutting-edge technologies, co-development of key intelligent electric components, and planned deep integration at the capital level—with JAC intending to invest in Huawei’s subsidiary, Yinwang. Looking ahead to China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period (“15Wu”), JAC unveiled its “1248” strategy: - **One Goal**: Achieve one million annual vehicle sales and RMB 100 billion revenue, becoming a world-class smart mobility technology enterprise by 2035. - **Two Paths**: Pursue both independent development and open collaboration. - **Four Key Battlefields**: Lead with Zunjie, elevate passenger vehicles to premium tiers, strengthen light commercial vehicles, and advance internationalization. - **Eight Strategic Initiatives**: Cover technology-driven growth, brand building, marketing innovation, digital-intelligent transformation, and more. Xiang emphasized that China’s auto industry stands at a pivotal juncture—transitioning from size to strength. He stressed that isolated efforts will not suffice; only through shared values, aligned vision, and symbiotic collaboration can the industry achieve high-quality development and ascend the global value chain.