WEDZ strives to upgrade auto industry

An intelligent connected vehicle test road in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone. [Photo provided to en.whkfq.gov.cn]

Automobiles are a pillar industry of Central China's Hubei Province. To seize upon new opportunities for industrial development, the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WEDZ) has introduced an action plan to upgrade its new energy and intelligent connected vehicle segment, listing five major goals and 10 key tasks to strengthen the province's automobile industry.

In 2022, the zone produced 1.08 million vehicles, accounting for over 70 percent of Wuhan's total vehicle production and 53 percent of the entire province's, serving as the leading force of the Wuhan-Xiangyang-Shiyan-Suizhou automobile industrial cluster in Hubei.

Data show that new energy vehicles (NEVs) have become a powerful growth driver in the industry this year, with a year-on-year sales growth rate of 31.9 percent in July and a market penetration rate exceeding one-third.

The action plan sets clear goals in five areas: the NEV industrial scale, brand influence, breakthroughs in core technologies, factors in industrial ecosystem, and innovative application scenarios. It proposes creating more than 10 distinctive automotive and auto component brands.

Wang Shaofeng, deputy director of the zone's investment promotion bureau, said that based on the plan's requirements, the bureau focuses on a dual-circulation development pattern and is aimed at both the domestic and international markets to support Dongfeng Motor Co in expanding its market. In the domestic market, they have continued to carry out the Auto Valley Automobile Brand Exhibition.

They have also coordinated the deep integration of the international supply chain platform with Dongfeng, significantly reducing export costs for the company. From January to May, Dongfeng's imports and exports grew by 199.5 percent year-on-year.

In 2019, WEDZ became the first in the country to complete 108 kilometers of intelligent connected vehicle test roads. As of Aug 14, the test roads had been extended to 1,462.9 km, covering an area of 1,100 square km and serving 4 million people.