On the second day of the 2025 China Automotive Chongqing Forum, Yang Xueliang, senior vice president of Geely Holding Group, delivered a speech on the self-discipline of the automotive industry, once again emphasizing the key significance of industry self-discipline to the healthy development of China's automotive industry, and called on automakers to jointly resist vicious competition.
Yang Xueliang recalled that the debate on "involution" at the Chongqing Auto Forum last year had attracted widespread attention from both inside and outside the industry. In the past year, the involution trend of China's new energy vehicle industry has become increasingly severe, from price wars to vicious competition, from verbal wars to personal attacks, and the market is in chaos, making it difficult for the public to distinguish right from wrong. He pointed out that the automotive industry should uphold the principle of fair and transparent competition, and there should be no ambiguity on core issues such as safety and environmental protection. The spirit of the rule of law must be fully demonstrated in the automotive industry.
In his speech, he elaborated on several points of his views on industry self-discipline. He pointed out that industry self-discipline is the guardian of the healthy development of the industry. Although most companies in the automotive industry have signed the "Automotive Industry Commitment to Maintain Fair Competition Market Order", promising to abide by industry rules and regulations, standardize marketing, ensure product quality, and fulfill social responsibilities, the implementation of the commitment is uneven. Yang Xueliang emphasized that this commitment should not be just a piece of paper, and companies must actually fulfill it to ensure the healthy development of the industry.
Secondly, he proposed that enterprises are the subject of self-discipline, and human nature determines the effectiveness of self-discipline. As the subject of industry self-discipline, the degree of self-discipline of enterprises depends on the people in the enterprises. The good and evil sides of human nature will directly affect the behavior of enterprises. If there is a lack of effective constraints, the evil side of human nature may cause chaos in the industry; on the contrary, strict legal constraints and an environment where violations must be punished can inspire the kindness of human nature and promote industry self-discipline. The root cause of the current chaos in the automotive industry is that the negative factors of human nature have not been effectively curbed, resulting in the phenomenon of not abiding by the law and not punishing violations of the law.
Yang Xueliang believes that self-discipline cannot rely solely on human nature, and the law is a solid backing when self-discipline fails. If industry self-discipline cannot play an effective role, the law must intervene in a timely manner. The automotive industry is related to people's livelihood, and it is crucial to ensure industry transparency and crack down on illegal and criminal activities. Only by insisting on abiding by the law, punishing violations of the law, and strictly enforcing the law can the industry be guaranteed to operate in an orderly manner within the legal framework.
Finally, he called on auto companies to supervise and respect each other, because corporate behavior is closely linked to the overall interests of the industry. Profits made by damaging the public interest, selling inferior or counterfeit products not only undermine industry rules and harm the interests of peers, but also tarnish the image of the industry. Companies should compete in a fair and open environment based on industry agreements and jointly promote the progress of China's auto industry.
Yang Xueliang specifically mentioned the highly-watched incidents of normal pressure fuel tanks and substandard emissions. He pointed out that this is a typical illegal and criminal case. It has been more than two years since Great Wall Motors reported it, but there is still no conclusion. Global and domestic peers are paying close attention. He said that the results of Geely's dismantling and comparison test were consistent with the content of Great Wall's report, and emphasized that there must be a public conclusion on this incident, otherwise industry self-discipline will become empty talk. He also criticized some bad remarks in the industry such as "pull down the theory" and "stupid and bad theory", calling for not confusing the public with such methods, and that industry behavior must be regulated by the rule of law.
In addition, Yang Xueliang emphasized that involutionary vicious competition is pushing China's automobile industry into danger. Involution is the lowest level of suicidal competition and will destroy the industry ecology. Geely firmly opposes involution and will adhere to open and healthy competition, take the path of win-win cooperation, and compete in multiple dimensions such as price, value, technology, quality, service, brand and corporate ethics.
At the Chongqing Forum, many industry professionals also expressed their concern about the "involution" problem. Wang Xia, president of the China Chamber of International Commerce Automotive Industry Chamber of Commerce, pointed out that involution is the inevitable pain of change and a killer of sustainable development. Enterprises should adhere to the three bottom lines of laws and regulations, business ethics, and sustainable development to avoid bringing involution overseas. Zhu Huarong, secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of Changan Automobile, also made it clear that Changan firmly opposes vicious competition without moral and legal bottom lines.
As the global influence of China's auto industry gradually increases, industry self-discipline has become a key factor in determining whether the industry can continue to develop healthily and achieve high-quality global development. Yang Xueliang's call represents the voice of many knowledgeable people in the industry. We hope that auto companies can work together to promote China's auto industry to new heights with self-discipline as the cornerstone, and demonstrate the strength and responsibility of Chinese autos in the global market.
