Automotive

China’s automotive market is witnessing public spats between executives amid intense competition. Analysts suggest this shift reflects unsustainable price wars and squeezed margins. Car manufacturers are publicly criticizing rivals to shape perception, protect brand image, and maintain consumer interest. An industry expert underscores the importance of maintaining at least 20% gross profit margins for ethical and long-term business viability, crucial in the current cutthroat environment.

Xiaomi’s SU7 Ultra features a premium carbon fiber hood, showcasing meticulous engineering and quality. Crafted with aviation-grade materials and a complex layering process, the hood enhances aerodynamics and withstands high speeds. The dual-channel hood upgrade, priced at approximately $5,800 USD, includes performance gains combined with weight reduction. This demonstrates Xiaomi’s capability to compete in the premium EV market.

NXP Semiconductors and Rimac Technology are collaborating to accelerate software-defined vehicle (SDV) architectures. Rimac will integrate NXP’s S32E2 processors into its next-gen ECU platform, consolidating functionalities and reducing ECUs. This enables improved safety, efficiency, and agile development for vehicle applications. The solution leverages the S32E2’s real-time processing capabilities, meeting the demands of modern SDVs, and includes comprehensive system support from NXP. Rimac will launch this platform via a hypercar program with expansion planned for other sectors.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun stated the company will avoid a price war, focusing on sustainable growth in the automotive sector. Xiaomi aims for a long-term hardware profit margin capped at 5% and plans to produce its own automotive chips. The YU7 standard edition pricing will be decided just before launch. The company projects its automotive, chip, and other new ventures will achieve profitability in Q3 or Q4, supported by strong Q1 performance and significant investment in intelligent driving system R&D.

Huawei’s Richard Yu revealed internal struggles behind the HarmonyOS-powered Smart Car initiative at the 2025 Future Automotive Pioneers Conference. He discussed challenges including external policy hurdles and internal misunderstandings. Yu highlighted the evolution of the project and drew parallels to Huawei’s earlier brand-building efforts, expressing optimism that the effort will ultimately succeed and contribute significantly to the Chinese automotive market.

At the 2025 Future Automotive Pioneers Conference, Huawei’s Richard Yu outlined the company’s automotive vision. Key takeaways include Huawei’s strong brand appeal, leading autonomous driving tech, premium AITO brand positioning, and advances in smart cockpits. Yu also emphasized Huawei’s compliance with national standards, cautioned against flawed industry practices, and criticized relying on the lowest performing benchmarks. He highlighted the need for true innovation over hype.