The Chinese automotive industry has entered a fierce elimination period, with some car companies lacking product competitiveness resorting to “trading price for quantity” to maintain scale growth. This competitive approach not only plunges them into capital chain crises but also drags the entire industry into a vicious price-centered competition.
The ongoing price war has pushed profit levels in China’s automotive industry to historical lows. National Bureau of Statistics data shows the profit margin of China’s automotive manufacturing industry dropped from 7.8% to 5.0% , further declining to 4.4% in. Meanwhile, total industry profits fell from 683.3 billion yuan to 508.6 billion yuan .
Major automotive companies have disclosed declining profitability and consecutive quarterly losses in financial reports. Caught between high investment and low returns, most enterprises face pressures to optimize profit models, reduce R&D expenditures, and control personnel costs. A number of start-up EV brands failing to secure capital market support have filed for bankruptcy or fallen into operational difficulties.
“Currently, the Evergrande brand exists in the automotive industry, but it hasn’t launched products yet,” Wei Jianjun stated in an interview. He noted most pure EVs are suffering heavy losses, struggling to form a commercial closed loop. “Any business needs to make profits, generate funds, and continuously invest to develop,” he emphasized.
During the critical transition to electrification and intelligence, automakers need a sound financial situation to heavily invest in related technologies. Great Wall Motors, with excellent financial data, demonstrates stronger risk resistance than peers.
Great Wall Motors’ annual report shows revenue reached 202.195 billion yuan, up 16.73% year-on-year; net profit was 12.692 billion yuan, up 80.73% year-on-year; and gross profit margin was 19.51%, up 1.36 percentage points.
Driven by increased sales of high-margin models, Great Wall’s revenue per vehicle in 2024 was 163,800 yuan, up 23,000 yuan from the previous year; net profit per vehicle was 10,300 yuan, up 4,600 yuan; and operating cash flow reached 27.783 billion yuan, up 56.49%.
From a small factory with 60 employees to a large enterprise with 82,000 employees and annual sales exceeding one million vehicles, Great Wall’s transformation stems from 35 years of pursuit of high-quality operations. Wei Jianjun adheres to long-termism and bottom-line thinking, focusing on technological R&D and high-quality manufacturing, striving to advance in intelligent, off-road, and globalization fields for quality market share.
Data shows Great Wall’s R&D investment was 10.4 billion yuan, accounting for 5.2% of sales revenue, breaking the 10-billion-yuan mark for three consecutive years. In new energy vehicles, its patent publication volume reached 1,838 and authorizations 1,375, both ranking first among Chinese automakers for three years; in intelligence, patent count was 1,131, top among private automotive groups.
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