On August 27th, the 19th Frost & Sullivan Global Growth, Innovation and Leadership Summit and the 4th New Investment Conference (hereinafter referred to as '2025 Frost & Sullivan New Investment Conference') ESG and New Productivity Summit Forum, hosted by the world-leading growth consulting firm Frost & Sullivan (Frost & Sullivan, abbreviated as 'Frost & Sullivan'), was grandly held at the Shanghai Jing'an Shangri-La Hotel. The forum, themed 'Sustainable Development and New Productivity', brought together industry leaders, leading enterprises, investment institutions and professional service providers, focusing on new investment and financing opportunities in the fields of sustainable development and new productivity, and jointly exploring the capital and industrial forces for enterprises to navigate through cycles.
On the forum, Xu Tongying, CTO of New Asia Technology, and Li Man, Deputy General Manager of Quality Motors and Director of Corporate Strategy, engaged in a deep dialogue on 'The Breakthrough Strategies for New Energy Commercial Vehicle Enterprises'. The moderator of this roundtable was Lv Jiayang, a consulting advisor for Frost & Sullivan Greater China. The roundtable focused on the multiple challenges faced in the field of new energy commercial vehicles under the dual drivers of carbon neutrality strategy and intelligent manufacturing, including high technical barriers, complex scenarios, and customer cost sensitivity. It also delved into core topics such as how to achieve sustainable business closed loops.
Roundtable Discussion: The Way Forward for New Energy Commercial Vehicle Enterprises
Q&A: 01 Industry Status quo and Challenges: Multiple Bottlenecks Restrict Market-oriented Development
Lv Jiayang: New energy commercial vehicles have technical feasibility in specific scenarios such as urban distribution logistics, but large-scale commercialization faces resistance. What do you think are the key bottlenecks hindering the industry from bursting onto the market?
Xu Tongmeng stated that from a global perspective, the industry faces four challenges: First, the total cost of ownership (TCO) has not yet reached an ideal state, including procurement, use, insurance, and residual value of used cars; second, there is still room for improvement in range and core performance; third, the infrastructure in overseas markets is not perfect; fourth, there are differences in the acceptance of new energy products in international markets compared to domestically.
Li Man stated that based on actual operational feedback, customers are indeed very concerned about the full lifecycle cost. However, this is not simply about pursuing low prices, but rather requiring vehicles to offer competitive pricing while meeting performance standards. Commercial vehicles are production tools, and ultimately, customers are concerned about whether the vehicles can bring good returns.
Q&A: 02 Breaking Through the Dilemma: Differentiated Competition and Ecosystem Construction
Lv Jiayang: As a representative of new forces, how does XinYa Technology build its own competitive barriers under the dual drive of capital and technology?
Xu Tongliang stated that New Asia Technology constructs barriers from three aspects: First, technological innovation, including intelligentization, intelligent cockpits, intelligent driving, vehicle electrification, fast charging and swapping technologies; second, business model innovation. New Asia Technology is not a pure car manufacturing company but operates an entire ecosystem; third, a dual-wheel drive combining capital and industry, making full use of the resource advantages of its Singapore headquarters, integrating overseas production and manufacturing resources, China's supply chain, and R&D capabilities.
Lv Jiayang: As an enterprise deeply involved in multiple vertical commercial scenarios, how do you think small and medium-sized enterprises should choose their development path during the current industry integration period?
Li Man stated that startups should first focus on vertical niche scenarios but should choose mainstream and suitable development scenarios. The new energy commercial vehicle market covers different scenario needs that vary over time. There is the greatest demand for early urban intra-city transportation, followed by the short-distance logistics sector after 2023, with long-distance logistics expected to start ramping up in 2027-2028. The ultimate goal is to build a full-category product matrix because without a sufficient product matrix, it is impossible to raise the upper limit of sales. Commercial vehicle companies need to reach an annual production of over 20,000 vehicles to become scale enterprises.
Q&A: 03 Technology Layout: Platform-based Modularization and Dual Technology Routes in Parallel
Lv Jiayang: How does Proton Motors achieve resource reuse and technology portability across different products?
Li Man stated that we have disassembled the complete vehicle into four major modules: the intelligent cockpit assembly, the front cockpit electronic control module, the energy storage module, and the drive unit. Through platform-based and modular design, it can be flexibly adapted to different scenario products like Lego sets. In our dual-line layout of hydrogen energy and electric vehicles, we regard the hydrogen system as an 'range extender', achieving technical reuse and combined innovation.
Lv Jiayang: How does New Asia Technology balance foresight with practicality in its choice of technical paths?
Xu Tongmeng stated that we adopt a differentiated strategy: First, differentiation towards customers, with phased differentiation; second, differentiation in product technology levels. We focus on user-centered customization, with the overall idea being to provide customers with value that exceeds the product price. At the same time, we do a good job in guiding customers, just like Steve Jobs guided the demand for smartphones, we hope to create innovative and revolutionary products in the new energy city distribution market.
Q&A: 04 Intelligence: From "Configuration Cracking-Through" to "Value Creation"
Lv Jiayang: How do you understand the true value of intelligence in the commercial vehicle sector? What is the acceptance level among customers?
Li Man stated that customers currently have a low acceptance rate for intelligent features, with many functions being turned off as soon as they are activated. The core issue is that current intelligent features are not developed based on real customer needs. We believe that intelligence must return to the actual operational scenarios of customers, and all functions should be evaluated based on improving asset returns (Best Asset Return).
Xu Tongmeng stated that intelligentization indeed needs to create real value for customers. We learn from Steve Jobs' philosophy by not simply meeting users' existing needs, but by guiding and creating new ones. By innovating products to enhance user experience, we can drive the development of the entire ecosystem.
Q&A: 05 Overseas Expansion Strategy: Team Efforts for Warmth, with Localization Being Key
Lv Jiayang: What is the biggest challenge that Chinese new energy commercial vehicle companies face when going global?
Li Man: The biggest challenge lies in the imperfect infrastructure such as overseas power grids. In many foreign regions, oil is cheaper than electricity, and the power grids are fragile. Chinese new energy commercial vehicles lead overseas in product technology by 2 to 7 years, but their adaptability to local policies and infrastructure is poor.
Xu Tongmeng stated that this is indeed the case. Overseas markets present both opportunities and challenges for Chinese enterprises. The opportunity lies in the fact that overseas technical capabilities and solutions are not as abundant as in China; the challenge is in the acceptance of new energy products and the lack of complete infrastructure overseas. Our strategy is to participate in international standard setting, and implement and formulate national-level electrification plan standards for multiple countries abroad.
Li Man elaborated on the overseas strategy, stating that Proton Auto's choice is to form alliances for mutual support. First, it follows the 'Belt and Road' strategy, forming groups with infrastructure and energy companies to go global; second, it seeks the right partners locally to jointly build a new energy commercial vehicle transportation ecosystem.
Q&A: 06 Future Competition: From Product Expansion to Ecosystem and Software Capabilities
Lv Jiayang: What changes are expected in the technological moat of new energy commercial vehicles according to New Asia Technology?
Xu Tongmeng stated that in the future, the moat for enterprises will shift from hardware innovation to software, AI, and ecological collaboration capabilities. The moat capability for pure hardware innovation is not strong; it is essential to make breakthroughs in software, ecology, AI, and other areas. At the same time, it is necessary to form alliances for going global and participate in standard setting, which is the moat overseas.
Li Man stated that in the future, competition will not only be a contest of product performance but also a comparison of industrial chain organizational capabilities, ecological collaboration efficiency, and policy sensitivity. Enterprises need to redefine the dimensions of competition and upgrade from selling products to selling solutions.
This roundtable clearly conveyed a signal: new energy commercial vehicles are shifting from policy-driven to market-driven development, and companies must leapfrog from single-product competition to a multi-dimensional contest encompassing ecological capabilities, operational efficiency, and global layout. In the next three to five years, the industry will enter a critical integration phase, and only those companies that deeply cultivate scenarios and build sustainable business models can ultimately emerge victorious.
