The 2025 financial reports of China's major listed automakers are nearly fully disclosed. Over the past year, while industry competition intensified, leading companies demonstrated robust performance growth and operational resilience.
In terms of revenue, the scale advantage of top automakers became more pronounced. Byd Company Limited secured the top position with revenue reaching 804 billion yuan, followed by SAIC, Geely, Changan, and Chery ranking second to fifth. This achievement was underpinned by steady sales growth. In 2025, Byd Company Limited sold 4.602 million vehicles, maintaining high growth for consecutive years. SAIC Group, Geely Auto, Changan Automobile, and Chery Automobile followed with sales of 4.508 million, 3.025 million, 2.913 million, and 2.806 million vehicles respectively.
Globally, 2025 marked a historic breakthrough for Chinese automakers. Both Byd Company Limited and Geely Holding entered the global top ten by sales volume. Notably, Byd Company Limited surpassed General Motors and Ford, historically breaking into the global top five. This signifies the first substantive disruption of the decades-long tripartite dominance by European, American, and Japanese brands by a Chinese automaker.
Regarding profitability, leading domestic automakers showed overall stable earnings quality, contrasting sharply with the widespread significant declines among overseas giants. Byd Company Limited led the industry with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 32.6 billion yuan, maintaining leadership in both profit scale and profitability. Chery, Geely, SAIC, and Great Wall followed with profits of 19 billion yuan, 16.9 billion yuan, 10.1 billion yuan, and 9.9 billion yuan respectively.
The gap in R&D investment has become a key differentiator for the competitiveness of leading automakers. In 2025, Byd Company Limited's R&D expenditure reached 63.4 billion yuan, a 17% year-on-year increase. Geely, SAIC, Great Wall, and Chery ranked second to fifth with R&D investments of 21.9 billion yuan, 21.7 billion yuan, 14.9 billion yuan, and 14.7 billion yuan respectively. It is noteworthy that the R&D investment of Byd Company Limited alone exceeded the combined R&D spending of Geely, Great Wall, and Chery.
Analysis suggests that while traditional overseas giants普遍face challenges in their transition to electrification, Chinese automakers are demonstrating distinct operational resilience. Byd Company Limited ranks first domestically across four core dimensions: revenue, sales, profit, and R&D. Its comprehensive advantages build significant barriers, making it the most competitively versatile representative in the current industry cycle. This标志着 that Chinese automakers, leveraging first-mover advantages accumulated in electrification and intelligentization, have joined the global top tier through systematic capability.
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