At the Intelligent Electric Vehicle Development High-Level Forum (2026) held from April 11th to 12th at the Beijing National Convention Center Phase II, Lian Yubo, Chief Scientist, Chief Automotive Engineer, and President of the Automotive Engineering Research Institute at BYD Group, delivered a speech. The forum's theme centered on advancing the intelligent, green, integrated, and international development of new energy vehicles.
Lian Yubo stated that the new energy vehicle market has entered a phase of intense competition. Essentially, each company possesses its own advantages, and the overall competitive landscape is not yet firmly established. Firstly, the growth rate of new energy vehicles has slowed, shifting the market competition from incremental expansion to a focus on existing market share, including replacement purchases and overseas growth. Secondly, from a supply-demand perspective, the continuous emergence of new products has significantly expanded consumer choices, accelerating the transfer of market dominance towards consumers. Thirdly, consumer decision-making has become more rational. Coupled with policies like the halving of purchase taxes and the implementation of new standards, consumer attitudes are shifting from simply "having a car" to placing greater emphasis on technological safety and overall experience.
From an industrial perspective, Lian Yubo believes the sector has progressed to a new stage characterized by a shift from linear supply chains to a networked symbiotic ecosystem. In the past, the focus was on the automaker's ability to integrate and negotiate with the supply chain, where roles across the upstream and downstream segments were clearly defined. Today, industry boundaries are blurring, presenting characteristics of multi-party co-creation, complementary human resources, and shared value creation. Consequently, the relationship between automakers and component suppliers is being reconfigured, with suppliers now playing a more empowering role for car companies. Simultaneously, the total value within the industrial chain is increasing. Value is no longer transmitted unidirectionally along the chain but flows bidirectionally between R&D, manufacturing, services, and users. This value is amplified through cycles of technological upgrades, experience iteration, and brand enhancement.
Lian Yubo pointed out that innovation in new energy vehicle technology is now shifting towards the meticulous refinement of various functional performances. Automakers must still rely on technological innovation to enhance the consumer experience and provide emotional value. Fundamentally, technological innovation needs to deeply connect with product requirements, moving beyond mere parameter stacking to focus on tangible experience upgrades, making technology a perceptible and trustworthy reality for consumers.
Given the new characteristics emerging in market competition, industrial ecology, and technological iteration, Lian Yubo believes the core focus of industry competition is transitioning from scale expansion to value creation, and from achieving single-point breakthroughs to enhancing comprehensive systemic capabilities. During this period of industry transformation, technological innovation will increasingly play a decisive role.
He subsequently shared two key observations. The first concerns the uncertainty of technological inflection points. For cutting-edge automotive technologies like next-generation power batteries and intelligent chassis, the general focus is on their obvious advantages, such as performance improvements and space optimization. However, Lian Yubo believes their deeper impact lies in potentially transforming the traditional rigid coupling of powertrain, chassis, and vehicle body. In the future, there will be a greater need to rely on deep insights into user behavior, habits, and spatial requirements, moving beyond the traditional component-based approach to space planning in vehicles and weakening conventional engineering boundaries. This implies that future vehicle design will not be a result of engineering compromises but will instead prioritize the human experience as the fundamental basis for model development.
The second observation relates to the uncertainty of industrial boundaries. Lian Ybo stated that automobiles are evolving from being mere transportation tools with mobility attributes to becoming intelligent entities with multiple integrated attributes. For instance, in terms of energy integration, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology will enrich the energy attributes of vehicles, positioning them not just as energy consumers but also as potential mobile energy storage units. Regarding AI integration, both the hardware and algorithms for intelligent assisted driving are iterating rapidly. If fully realized, the primary agent in driving could shift from the human to the intelligent driving system, leading to a comprehensive transformation in human-machine interaction paradigms. Combined with the vehicle's energy attributes, cars have the potential to develop into distributed computing units for AI. This evolution will place greater demands on the comprehensive improvement of system reliability, social acceptance, and regulatory adaptation.
Lian Yubo firmly believes that true competitiveness stems from long-term commitment to technology. Only by adhering to a long-term philosophy can companies position themselves successfully for the future.
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