In just 17 months, China FAW Group and Leapmotor have completed three rounds of deep cooperation, signaling a substantive evolution in the partnership model between traditional automotive giants and new-age EV players in China's passenger vehicle sector.

On August 24, the two parties signed a new round of strategic cooperation agreement in Changchun, significantly broadening their collaborative scope. The expanded partnership now covers equity investment, joint vehicle development, intelligent driving, power batteries, intelligent chassis, and powertrains, while also extending into emerging sectors such as embodied intelligent robots and industrial finance.

Looking back at the cooperation timeline, in March 2025, FAW and Leapmotor first signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding in Changchun, establishing the initial framework. By December of the same year, FAW Equity and FAW New Power—two wholly-owned platforms of the group—had signed project-specific agreements with Leapmotor, pushing the collaboration from framework intent to practical implementation.

These three successive rounds of deepening cooperation have completely broken away from traditional automotive industry partnership conventions. This is not a simple financial equity investment, nor does it adopt the low-value-added OEM badge-manufacturing model. It also dismantles the old joint venture system characterized by business separation and divided responsibilities between Chinese and foreign automakers.

A brand-new collaboration model—built on the mature manufacturing foundation of a central state-owned enterprise and integrating the cutting-edge proprietary R&D capabilities of a new-force automaker—is now stepping into the industry spotlight.

Where the cooperation stands after three strategic moves

Since signing the strategic cooperation memorandum in March 2025, the partnership between China FAW and Leapmotor has been steadily advancing. China FAW told business observers that the two companies are steadily pushing forward equity investment, joint development of new energy vehicles, product introduction, and the construction of the industry chain and ecosystem. The first vehicle jointly developed based on their complementary strengths is about to enter mass production, and the hybrid engine from Qi New Power is now supplying Leapmotor's global vehicle models. The cooperation is already yielding positive results.

Over the 17-month progression, the two sides have moved forward in a sequential order: first project磨合, then interest alignment, and finally comprehensive expansion. Tangible results are now emerging one after another.

According to available information, Leapmotor's global vehicle models have already been equipped with the hybrid engine products from FAW's Qi New Power subsidiary. While the specific vehicle models and overall supply scale have not yet been publicly disclosed, this collaboration has already filled a critical gap in Leapmotor's core supply chain.

Unlike most new-force EV makers, Leapmotor has not built its own engine R&D and manufacturing system, relying entirely on external procurement for engines used in its extended-range models. The entry of Qi New Power now provides a stable and controllable supply channel for core components supporting its global vehicle lineup.

Meanwhile, the first brand-new vehicle jointly developed by China FAW and Leapmotor has completed all preliminary preparations and is now in the final countdown to mass production. Industry research suggests that the imminent production start signifies that two completely different corporate organizations, R&D systems, and engineering standards have completed their first round of deep磨合. From market demand assessment and engineering solution alignment to project responsibility division and process coordination, both parties have broken through the core barriers of cross-entity collaboration, accumulating mature practical experience for continued joint R&D.

Unlike previous cooperation paradigms in the auto industry, this deep binding between China FAW and Leapmotor completely departs from traditional frameworks. Past automaker partnerships fell mainly into two categories: Sino-foreign joint ventures, where foreign companies exported core technology and vehicle solutions while domestic firms handled manufacturing and market channels—with core technology control长期 remaining in foreign hands—and OEM cooperation, where responsibilities were clearly divided: one party provided the product R&D plan, the other offered idle capacity for contract manufacturing, with cooperation limited to production collaboration and no deep R&D linkage.

An automotive industry analyst noted that this new cooperation model established by both parties is built on the core premise of independent operations. China FAW, as a strategic investor, does not intervene in Leapmotor's day-to-day management; Leapmotor, in turn, does not involve itself in FAW's existing mature industrial systems. Both parties maintain their independent operational status.

Looking ahead, China FAW has stated that both sides will continue to deepen all-dimensional cooperation, opening up a fully integrated synergy system across capital, industry, products, technology, and ecosystem. By统筹 integrating their respective advantageous resources, they aim to continuously amplify the collaborative effects of government-enterprise engagement and the convergence of old and new forces, providing a new development model for the high-quality growth of China's new energy vehicle industry.

How Leapmotor leverages this partnership to fill its gaps

Competition in China's new energy vehicle sector continues to intensify. Refined cost control, large-scale production capability, and core technology iteration have become the essential competencies for automakers to secure market position, improve profitability, and enhance resilience against risks.

The deep cooperation between China FAW and Leapmotor is fundamentally driven by the high complementarity of their core resources, enabling mutual empowerment to address each other's development shortcomings and achieve bidirectional upgrades in both operational efficiency and industrial capability.

Leapmotor has long adhered to a technology roadmap emphasizing full-domain self-research and deep self-manufacturing, making it one of the few new-force EV makers in China to control underlying core technologies. The company independently controls over 65% of its vehicle's core technology, achieves a platform commonality rate of 88%, and has built 18 in-house core component factories, establishing a highly vertically integrated self-research and self-production system.

A securities firm's in-depth research report on Leapmotor points out that the company's rapid sales growth in recent years is driven by a clear, high-cost-performance product strategy. The foundation of this strategy lies in the company's exceptionally strong cost control capabilities, which operate on three levels: leveraging the technological积累 of Dahua Technology in electronics and intelligence for supply chain and底层 technology synergy; adhering to vertical supply chain integration with self-developed and self-manufactured core components across three-electric systems, intelligent driving, and intelligent cabins, while partnering with a select group of high-cost-performance suppliers to build a unique supply chain system; and relying on platform-based layout to放大 economies of scale, amortizing upfront R&D and component procurement costs.

This system has enabled Leapmotor to consistently outperform the industry with its high-cost-performance product matrix. In the first seven months of 2026, Leapmotor delivered 457,800 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 68.4%, securing the top spot among new-force EV makers in sales volume.

However, industry analysts point out that behind this rapid growth, Leapmotor faces clear development bottlenecks. New-force EV makers focused on intelligent technology generally suffer from limited scale and insufficient economies of scale across the full industry chain. Even with fine-grained internal cost control, a single enterprise's procurement volume, production line scale, and supply chain bargaining power have ceilings. The cost advantages of intelligent self-research cannot be fully released, and capacity layout, quality control systems, and delivery stability struggle to match continuously rising sales volumes.

Through cooperation with China FAW, Leapmotor can address its biggest scale-related shortcoming. Leveraging FAW's massive procurement system and supplier resources, both parties can implement centralized procurement and integrate supply chain channels to further compress component costs. Sharing mature manufacturing bases, unified production standards, and quality control processes will continuously dilute overall vehicle production costs and significantly enhance mass production stability and delivery efficiency.

Additionally, FAW's seven decades of accumulated industrial resources, central state-owned enterprise platform advantages, and established domestic channel network can help Leapmotor rapidly penetrate lower-tier markets, enhance brand credibility, and break free from the market perception limitations often faced by new-force brands.

On the overseas expansion front, Leapmotor already possesses a mature foundation for globalization. Through its deep binding with Stellantis—the world's fourth-largest automaker, which invested €1.5 billion in Leapmotor in 2023—the two companies established a 49:51 joint venture called Leapmotor International in 2024, dedicated to overseas operations. This secured market channels in Europe and South America, with an export target of 100,000 to 150,000 vehicles set for 2026. Overseas business has already become an independent growth driver.

Through this new cooperation, Leapmotor can leverage China FAW's mature global brand布局 and overseas localized manufacturing experience to further reduce the trial-and-error costs of going global and accelerate its international expansion pace.

How FAW gains intelligence through this alliance

As a core leader of China's automotive industry, China FAW possesses top-tier large-scale manufacturing capabilities and full-industry-chain supporting advantages. Since its founding in 1953, the group has accumulated cumulative vehicle sales exceeding 66 million units. Its nationwide production bases, mature and stable supplier systems, and rigorous engineering verification and quality management processes constitute a manufacturing moat that traditional automakers find hard to challenge.

In the first half of 2026, China FAW recorded cumulative sales of 1.518 million vehicles. Its self-owned brands are also accelerating transformation: Bestune sold 87,000 units during the same period, while Hongqi sold 137,800 units.

Throughout its digitalization and intelligent transformation journey, China FAW has maintained high-intensity investment. The company continues to implement AI-driven manufacturing upgrades, including humanoid robot production applications, intelligent process diagnostics, and digital management tools. It has also released OpenMind, the industry's first enterprise-level operational intelligent agent, completing digital and intelligent reforms across production and management.

In overseas markets, the Hongqi, Jiefang, and Bestune brands have established multi-point presence covering multiple countries across Europe, the Middle East, and South America, forming a systematic approach to international expansion.

China FAW has long adhered to open cooperation, continuously partnering with central state-owned enterprises and leading companies to integrate industrial resources, entering new tracks such as low-altitude transportation, and consistently expanding its industrial boundaries.

However, industry analysts point out that the transformation pain points of traditional auto giants remain glaring. While vehicle manufacturing, supply chain, scale, channels, and overseas presence are all at industry-leading levels, the capability for rapid iteration in proprietary intelligent systems, full-vehicle self-research, intelligent driving, and intelligent cabins remains the core weakness in FAW's new energy transformation. The industry-wide problems of slow R&D iteration and lagging intelligent product definition among traditional automakers also constrain FAW's breakthrough into high-end new energy segments.

This cooperation, therefore, breaks away from conventional models by adopting a mechanism of bidirectional resource output and shared outcomes. Leapmotor contributes intelligent driving and full-vehicle self-research capabilities, while China FAW brings mature vehicle manufacturing processes, large-scale supply chain systems, and deep industrial resources. Both parties jointly participate in vehicle R&D, product definition, and technology iteration.

In the view of industry analysts, this cooperation model avoids the pitfalls of traditional joint ventures—where technology is controlled by foreign partners and self-developed R&D becomes hollowed out—while also addressing the pain points of OEM models that emphasize production over R&D and suffer from shallow collaboration depth.

This deep partnership with Leapmotor provides China FAW with an efficient path to fill its intelligent technology gaps. Leapmotor's years of accumulated full-domain vehicle self-research systems, foundational intelligent technologies, and product definition logic for high-cost-performance intelligent EVs can directly address FAW's shortfall in rapid core technology iteration for intelligent electric vehicles. This allows China FAW to absorb, implement, and upgrade intelligent EV technology within a short cycle, avoid redundant R&D investment, and accelerate its transformation into a technology-driven automaker.

From a broader industry perspective, analysts offer a more macro-level assessment. China's automotive industry has long suffered from issues of too many enterprises, small individual scales, and low industry concentration. This fragmented market structure leads to resource wastage, duplicate R&D, and idle capacity, making it difficult to achieve集约化的 scale advantages.

The deep integration between central state-owned enterprises and new-force EV makers can consolidate quality industrial resources and optimize the overall布局 of China's auto industry. Once resources are concentrated, the industry can reduce duplicate R&D, lower manufacturing costs, and concentrate efforts on tackling common industry challenges such as power battery recycling and autonomous driving safety—driving the overall technological upgrade of China's new energy vehicle industry and continuously strengthening the global competitiveness of Chinese automakers.