On March 13th, the 2026 Automotive Supply Chain Ecological Partner Conference was held in Beijing. The conference was guided by China Energy Vehicle Communication Group, hosted by China Automotive News, and co organized by Yasen International. It gathered core forces from upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to explore new paths for high-quality development of the automotive supply chain.
The conference focuses on the core theme of "harmony, ecology, win-win coexistence", and builds a high-end communication platform for the industry. Representatives from domestic and foreign vehicle companies, component suppliers, senior industry experts, and scholars gather together to focus on the current critical period of automotive industry transformation. It conducts in-depth discussions and collision of ideas around core issues such as supply chain transformation and upgrading, upstream and downstream collaborative win-win, green and low-carbon development, and challenges, providing suggestions and recommendations to accelerate the upgrading of the automotive supply chain towards green, intelligent, and collaborative directions, and consolidating consensus on industrial development.
Decoding the New Transformation of the Automotive Supply Chain
The strategic layout of the 15th Five Year Plan has been fully implemented, and the global automotive supply chain is undergoing unprecedented deep restructuring. New trends and opportunities are intertwined, and new challenges and missions coexist. Chinese supply chain enterprises are standing at the historical juncture of "breaking through the situation, upgrading, and breaking through globally", facing new development propositions and era tests.
Regarding this, Xie Rongbin, Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman, and Editor in Chief of China Energy Communication Group, President of China Automotive News, and Editor in Chief of China Energy News, pointed out that from the perspective of industry development trends, the three core changes are reshaping the competitive logic and development pattern of the automotive supply chain. Technological integration and innovation have become the core track, and the product form and supporting mode have been comprehensively upgraded; The global layout has been upgraded from "product going global" to "ecological going global", and the global discourse power of China's supply chain continues to increase; Green low-carbon and ESG have become hard indicators, accelerating the green transformation of the entire supply chain lifecycle. At the same time, China's automotive supply chain still faces three major practical challenges in its journey towards high-quality development. The bottleneck problem in the core technology field has not been fully resolved, and technological breakthroughs still need to be continuously strengthened; Under the global supply chain restructuring, balancing "safety" and "efficiency" has become a new challenge; There is still room for improvement in the depth and breadth of whole zero collaboration, and the industrial pattern of ecological symbiosis has not yet fully taken shape. How to build a healthy competition, mutually beneficial and win-win whole ecosystem has become the key to promoting the high-quality development of the automotive supply chain.
The trend of the new four modernizations in the automotive industry will reconstruct value distribution, and the supply chain structure will undergo profound changes, gradually shifting from a pyramid chain structure to a network structure. The trends of short chain and technological transformation will become increasingly evident. Yang Xianglu, Senior Director of Industrial Operation Research at the Industry Policy and Internationalization Research Department of China Automotive Industry Corporation, pointed out that technological innovation is the most fundamental link for component enterprises to establish themselves and compete, and it is also the core competitive highland of the automotive industry. The requirements for technological innovation, quality performance, reliability, etc. are very high. In response to the industry's increasing demand for electrification and intelligence in the future, technological innovation is the hard truth. The current trend of vertical integration among vehicle manufacturers is further accelerating, and component companies need to accelerate innovation and research and development to build their own core competitiveness. Not only should we have stronger technology, better cost, better quality, and better service than our competitors, but we should also be more professional than our customers, and be able to participate in and cooperate with their early-stage research and development, demonstrate our own technical solutions and strength, and maintain our bargaining power and sustainable development ability. The trend of electrification and intelligence development in China's automotive industry will not reverse, and components need to accelerate their transformation towards intelligence and control in order for intelligent control to have a future.
Chen Chundong, Project Director of Roland Berger Enterprise Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., pointed out that with the changing market demand and the new trend of self research and development by host manufacturers, new demands have been put forward for the "zero integration collaboration relationship", which is reflected in the overall shortening of development cycles, flexible cooperation models, ultimate cost-effectiveness, and innovative business models. For component companies, in order to adapt to the profound transformation trend of the automotive industry and meet the future demand for whole machine relationships from OEMs, the structure of the component industry will inevitably undergo reshuffle and reshaping. In addition, as Chinese automakers deepen their overseas operations, component companies also need to match the pace and requirements of their overseas expansion, continuously improving their international business expansion and global operational capabilities. With the increasing number of Chinese car companies going global, policy requirements, especially localization and supply chain requirements, are becoming increasingly strict. In this regard, component companies can seize the opportunity of local procurement by providing localized supply for overseas Chinese car manufacturers.
Zhang Ke, Deputy General Manager of Marketing Company of Beiqi Foton Ouman Business Unit, said that in the face of changes in the market situation, only strategic binding, deep synchronization, and comprehensive layout can overcome the cycle. Actively establish deep strategic partnerships with leading host manufacturers; Forward looking layout to respond to changes in market demand, especially in the areas of new energy and intelligence; Actively promote innovation in component technology and establish its own advantages; To adopt a global perspective, fully layout domestic and overseas markets, and strive to enhance market coverage as much as possible; Heavy trucks entering the stock market stage should pay attention to aftermarket orders and open up diversified profit points.
Multi party discussion on changes in the automotive supply chain
At the same time, strengthening collaboration and cooperation among enterprises, achieving mutual benefit and win-win results, and enhancing the comprehensive competitiveness of the entire supply chain have become industry consensus and inevitable choices. However, in practice, deep collaboration still faces many practical obstacles due to factors such as different corporate interests and poor information exchange.
How to effectively break down barriers and promote higher levels of collaborative development between upstream and downstream of the supply chain is an important issue that urgently needs to be addressed in the current industry. A heavyweight roundtable interactive session was specially set up at the conference site, focusing on the core topic of "jointly building a healthy competitive ecosystem and building a high-quality development path for the automotive industry" for in-depth dialogue. This roundtable is hosted by Wang Pu, Chief Reporter of the All Media Interview Production Center of China Automotive News, and industry guests are specially invited to participate in the exchange.
Xu Haidong, Deputy Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, believes that the focus of a healthy industrial ecosystem should be on brands, products, and services, rather than just emphasizing prices. Only by truly valuing their own brand, product strength, and service system can enterprises have the necessary ecology for sustainable development in the future. The future supply chain must be cooperation and integration. OEMs and suppliers should jointly develop and control quality, suppliers should maintain professionalism and possess core technologies, and OEMs should focus on products and brands instead of blindly lowering prices. Internal competition is a phased phenomenon in the development of an industry, originating from the inertia of long-term low price competition. With the improvement of industry and enterprise awareness, it will gradually improve in the future.
Song Yang, Vice President of Zhongke Chuangda Intelligent Automotive, stated that suppliers and OEMs have a long-term symbiotic and value win-win relationship, and should focus on the long-term development of the industry rather than short-term benefits. In recent years, supply chain enterprises have continued to increase their R&D investment, using technological innovation to help host factories enhance product competitiveness and jointly promote industry upgrading. Faced with challenges such as homogenization, repeated investment, and high costs in the current industry, the industrial chain needs to strengthen collaboration, concentrate resources, and form a joint force. In the future, Zhongke Chuangda is willing to work together with all parties to build an open and efficient automotive intelligent supply chain ecosystem, face global competition, and create the core advantages of China's automotive industry.
Zhao Zicong, an expert in future black technology market insights, said that to judge whether the industry chain is healthy, on the one hand, it depends on whether the upstream and downstream can share the dividends of technological development, and on the other hand, it depends on whether joint definition and research and development can be carried out, focusing on improving product quality. The key to the true growth of China's automotive industry chain lies in whose product quality is better, not whose price is lower. In the context of internal competition, what enterprises should do the most is to always prioritize product quality, adhere to innovation, and rely on product strength. This is also the most practical contribution that enterprises can make to building a healthy industrial chain. Regarding the overseas expansion of Chinese enterprises, only by establishing a common development pattern of 'you in me, I in you' and promoting globalization with the concept of openness and collaboration can we move forward more steadily and smoothly.
Throughout the conference, guests combined their practical experience in their respective fields, analyzed industry pain points, shared innovative ideas, and jointly explored feasible paths to build a healthy and sustainable industrial ecosystem, injecting new momentum into the coordinated development of the entire automotive industry chain.
During the conference, the "White Paper on the Competitiveness of Global Automotive Supply Chain Core Enterprises (2026)" was launched, aiming to help more enterprises actively embrace change and jointly promote the development of the automotive supply chain towards higher quality, higher efficiency, and more sustainable direction.
The successful holding of the conference provides suggestions and recommendations for accelerating the upgrading of the automotive supply chain towards green, intelligent, and collaborative directions, and consolidates consensus on industrial development. Guided by the concept of "harmony, ecology, win-win coexistence", the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain will further deepen mutual trust, strengthen collaboration, and work together to break through the situation, continuously consolidate the resilience and core competitiveness of the supply chain, and jointly build a new ecology of open, inclusive, efficient, stable, and sustainable development in the automotive industry, helping China's automotive industry to steadily move forward in the global wave of change.