Cui Dongshu from the Passenger Car Association: Whole Vehicle Enterprises Are in a Dire State, Profits Are All Taken by Battery Makers

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On March 17, during the Changan Auto Hyper-Eng Hybrid Technology Communication Conference, Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the Passenger Car Association, stated that the current profit margins of Chinese auto companies are being significantly squeezed by battery manufacturers.

He cited data from the Fortune Global 500 last year, showing that Chinese car companies on the list achieved a total profit of $14.7 billion, with CATL accounting for $7.1 billion alone. He also mentioned that non-battery automakers only account for about 10% of the profits, calling this situation “dreadful” and saying “there’s basically no money left.”

As a leading power battery company, CATL disclosed its latest financial report on March 9, showing that last year, the company achieved revenue of 423.7 billion yuan, a 17.04% increase year-over-year; net profit increased by 42.28% year-over-year to 72.2 billion yuan. This means CATL is earning nearly 2 billion yuan daily in net profit in 2025.

According to media statistics, 13 A-share listed vehicle companies have released their 2025 earnings forecasts or performance briefings. Among them, Great Wall Motors is expected to achieve a net profit of 9.912 billion yuan, SAIC Motor expects a net profit of 9-11 billion yuan, and CATL’s net profit in 2025 has already surpassed the combined profits of these 13 automakers.

On March 18, Hong Kong-listed automakers Geely Auto and Chery Auto released their latest performance reports: Geely Auto’s net profit attributable to the parent company in 2025 is 16.852 billion yuan, a slight increase of 0.24% from 16.812 billion yuan last year; Chery Auto’s net profit in 2025 is 19.51 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 36.1%.

According to previous statistics by Cui Dongshu, the automotive industry’s revenue from January to December 2025 was 111,796 billion yuan, a 7.1% increase year-over-year; costs were 98,498 billion yuan, an 8.1% increase; profits reached 4,610 billion yuan, a 0.6% increase; the profit margin for the automotive industry is 4.1%. Compared to the average profit margin of 5.9% for downstream industrial enterprises, the automotive sector remains relatively low.

Looking at the trend of sales profit margins over the years, the automotive industry’s profitability in 2024 has already weakened, with a sales profit margin of only 4.3%, significantly below the historical normal level. For January to December 2025, the industry’s sales profit margin further declined to 4.1%, remaining at a historic low, with December’s profit margin dropping to 1.8%, highlighting ongoing profit pressure.

He pointed out that recently, as vehicle production scales up and PPI rises, upstream costs for lithium carbonate have increased. The issue of automakers not manufacturing batteries is severe, and the profitability of car companies is expected to continue declining.

Considering the downward trend in profit margins over the past few years, the recent decline in automotive industry profits remains substantial. Thanks to the advantages of new energy policies supported by government policies, and the fact that many automakers do not produce batteries, profit pressures for mainstream car companies will continue to intensify sharply. As the national efforts to curb internal competition continue, the positive effects on improving industry profits are expected to gradually become evident.