JD.com intensifies efforts, chasing after car manufacturing, the third wave of "car manufacturing boom" is coming

Has the wind of new energy vehicle manufacturing really passed?

In March last year, when the Xiaomi SU7 was launched, it sparked a phenomenon, leading to the viewpoint that "Lei Jun is the last person before the closure of the new energy vehicle track."

At that time, people believed that the breakout effect from companies like Xiaomi and Huawei, the prominent brand personalities of companies like Nio, Xpeng, and Li Auto, as well as the heritage of BYD and Geely, had already formed a complete picture of China's new energy vehicle landscape, and no more companies would be willing to take the risk of entering the smart connected vehicle field.

But we may have underestimated the ambition of enterprises and the speed of technological advancement.

In just the past two months, we have seen frequent moves from companies like Sharp, JD.com, CATL, and Zhaomi exploring the smart connected vehicle business, ranging from manufacturing pure electric vehicles, creating "prefabricated chassis," to venturing into areas like Robotaxi.

The movements of these enterprises tell us that the wind has not closed but is shifting and deepening. The rise of AI has shifted the competitive focus from "making electric vehicles" to "defining the future of intelligent mobility space."

While we are still questioning the survival ability of traditional new forces with a scrutinizing eye, a new batch of players with diverse backgrounds and fresh strategies has entered the arena, proving the width and depth of the smart connected vehicle track.

Among these industry "newcomers," will there be brands that can truly enter the mainstream market and laugh last? What different paths have they chosen?

Behind-the-Scenes Players

The AI wave that began at the start of the year has given suppliers in the smart connected vehicle industry an opportunity to step into the public eye.

Seeing the fierce competition in the domestic new energy vehicle market, they no longer pursue direct vehicle manufacturing to enter the new energy field as they did in the past. Instead, after recognizing the possibilities brought by AI development, they choose to leverage the advantages of their original businesses to empower various projects or sales links for car manufacturers.

This has been particularly evident in the recent Chinese new energy vehicle market.

AutoNavi

The freshest example is that last night (November 5), Xpeng announced AutoNavi as its first global ecological partner for Robotaxi.

According to the timeline provided by Xpeng for the trial operation of Robotaxi in 2026, in the next two years, people may be able to hail Xpeng's Robotaxi on AutoNavi.

It is no longer a novelty for map service providers to enter the assisted driving field. AutoNavi and Baidu Maps have long been commonly integrated into vehicle navigation functions, and in recent years, assisted driving solutions supported by high-precision maps have often featured map providers.

However, as more and more car manufacturers reduce their reliance on high-precision maps and adopt no-map or light-map solutions, it has become almost inevitable for map providers, who have invested heavily in high-precision map surveying and face commercialization pressures, to seek opportunities in the already established unmanned L4 field The rise of the Robotaxi wave has allowed mapping companies to see greater commercialization possibilities.

In the words of XPeng Motors CEO He Xiaopeng the night before last, Robotaxi has a clear future vision, and Musk has previously stated that the Robotaxi business could bring Tesla's valuation to at least $5 trillion, with limitless prospects.

JD.com

Like AutoNavi, another cross-industry player willing to participate in the Robotaxi vision is JD.com.

As one of the three major e-commerce platforms in China, JD.com’s self-built logistics system over the past decade is an excellent technical testing ground for Robotaxi.

As early as May, JD.com registered multiple trademarks for "Joyrobotaxi," covering fields such as transportation tools. This move is widely seen as a clear signal of its formal layout in the Robotaxi sector, and there were reports last year about JD.com recruiting talent related to autonomous driving.

JD.com's willingness to explore Robotaxi in the consumer market remains to be seen, but it has already begun to lay out its L4 unmanned products in the B2B market.

In July this year, JD Logistics launched its self-developed unmanned light truck—JD Logistics VAN, claiming to have L4 level public road autonomous driving capabilities, with a cargo space of 24 cubic meters, and has started operations in nearly 30 cities nationwide.

However, JD Group Vice President Miao Qin stated that JD.com will not manufacture cars, but rather "JD.com has always positioned itself as a technology and service company based on the supply chain, so we are very clear about doing a good job in supporting and providing services in the automotive sector."

The Robotaxi remains to be observed, but JD.com has already ventured into the sales field.

On October 14, JD.com announced a collaboration with CATL's Times Electric and GAC Group to jointly create a swappable battery Aion UT Super, with JD.com responsible for user insights and sales strategies.

We experienced the Aion UT Super for the first time yesterday.

As the biggest feature of this model, we found that the actual battery swap time for the Aion UT is concentrated between 84-87 seconds, significantly lower than the officially advertised 99 seconds, and the new car has upgrades in terms of range and intelligence, marking a strong ambition as the first model from this tripartite collaboration.

Before this, JD.com had already launched JD Car Maintenance, and in the past two years, it collaborated with Tesla to sell cars online during the Double Eleven shopping festival, testing the waters in the after-sales and sales market.

If we say that Gaode is moving from "maps" to "dispatch," then JD.com's ambition is to replicate its vast logistics operation capabilities in the mobility sector.

Their exploration in the unmanned L4 field is a microcosm of suppliers seeking role transformation.

The deep integration of automobiles with the internet and AI technology is causing significant changes in the industry from research and development to sales. Suppliers are no longer satisfied with being behind the scenes; they are stepping into the spotlight, intending to participate in the formulation of new game rules.

CATL

Compared to the obvious cross-industry moves of JD.com and Gaode, CATL, which has already made significant achievements in the power battery field, is attempting a more foundational crossover—it is trying to upgrade from defining batteries to defining the three-electric system.

This refers not only to CATL's "Rock Solid Chassis," which can be customized according to the needs of car manufacturers and is expected to be applied to Robotaxis, but also to the recently active chocolate battery swap stations.

From the strategic cooperation agreement signed with T3 Mobility based on the "Rock Solid Chassis," which simplifies the entire process from design and development to mass production of Robotaxis, to the joint promotion of battery swap models with brands like Aion and Hongqi, enriching the refueling methods.

Clearly, it hopes to transform from a single battery supplier into the architect of the entire smart electric vehicle infrastructure.

Policy Support

These cross-industry explorations are not isolated commercial actions; they are strongly propelled by policy support.

At the recently concluded 20th Central Committee Fourth Plenary Session, new energy was included in the key areas of the "14th Five-Year Plan," which is expected to create a trillion-level market, while embodied intelligence is seen as a new economic growth point. Both factors have made companies see the development potential of smart connected vehicles.

On the local level, Guangzhou officially issued the "Several Measures for Promoting Innovation and Development of Intelligent Unmanned Systems Future Industry" on November 4, which is the first national policy document to provide special support for intelligent unmanned systems as an independent future industry.

The document mentions support for the construction of "2+1" future mobility scenarios in Nansha, Panyu, and Haixinsha, and has opened approximately 2,600 km of testing roads for intelligent connected vehicles.

This undoubtedly provides a practical application ground for the Robotaxi and unmanned delivery technologies of companies like XPeng, Gaode, and JD.com.

Whether it is car manufacturers looking for possibilities in the fields of Robotaxi and embodied intelligence, or suppliers represented by Gaode, JD.com, and CATL exploring entry into the automotive industry through the wave of smart connected vehicles, the competition in the automotive industry is shifting from a single dimension of car manufacturing to a more comprehensive ecological niche competition

Reproducing the Huawei and Xiaomi Miracle?

The era of smart connected vehicles has given cross-industry players significant advantages.

In the Chinese market, the most classic examples are Huawei and Xiaomi.

The years of technological and experiential accumulation in the consumer electronics field, combined with the fan effect, have allowed Huawei to showcase its influence through advanced driving capabilities and high-end appeal, while Xiaomi demonstrates its impact through a comprehensive ecosystem of people, vehicles, and homes, along with precise product narratives.

As a result, in the past two years, the trend of imitation and homage to the capabilities of these two companies has swept across the entire automotive industry.

This trend may not only affect Chinese companies.

At the end of October, the former television giant Sharp announced that it would collaborate with the new Japanese car manufacturer FoloFly to launch an electric vehicle in the fiscal year 2027, based on the Model A pure electric platform developed by Foxconn, utilizing Sharp's self-developed AI technology "CE-LLM" and its accumulation in AIoT technology and smart home appliances.

This pure electric MPV concept car, codenamed "LDK+", is described by Sharp as a "living room-style cabin that only an appliance manufacturer can create."

The so-called LDK+ combines a wheeled living room, dining room, kitchen room, and more family functions (+), leveraging Sharp's expertise in the home appliance sector.

Although Sharp has discarded the 65-inch giant screen in its latest concept car, features such as a sliding projection table, built-in solar panels, and the ability to connect with kitchen appliances, air conditioners, and washing machines still thoroughly implement the concept of people, vehicles, and homes.

Unlike cross-industry players in China's new energy vehicle sector, overseas companies often choose to collaborate with automakers to co-create, amplifying their own characteristics in the vehicle models. Sharp is one example, and Sony is another, both selling extensions of family space on wheels.

Earlier this year, Sony and Honda announced that their jointly developed pure electric sedan Afeela 1 will be launched in the U.S. market in 2026.

The starting price of the vehicle is $89,900, with its selling point being the in-car entertainment experience, which is Sony's specialty, providing passengers with an environment for surround sound movie viewing and music appreciation.

LDK+ has not yet entered mass production or announced price expectations, but based solely on its product definition, it may target a niche market like Afeela 1, making it difficult to create a significant impact Foxconn and Sony's obsession with car manufacturing, along with Sharp and Honda's need to alleviate operational pressure and seek new growth curves, have led to frequent emergence of cross-industry players. Before Sharp and Sony, even Dyson had invested heavily in car manufacturing, ultimately giving up due to a lack of commercial prospects.

Among the companies that have crossed over from the consumer electronics or internet sectors, only a few have become well-known new force brands like Nio, Li Auto, and Leapmotor, not to mention the more extreme cases of Xiaomi and Huawei.

Even for Xiaomi and Huawei, their success has its uniqueness. For instance, even high-end products pursue cost-effectiveness compared to their fuel vehicle counterparts at the same price point; and their models still face mainstream demands with relatively comprehensive capabilities to open up the market.

Car manufacturing has never been a matter of instant success or a decision made on a whim.

Exploring Forward

In this era, considered the fourth technological revolution, although people are skeptical of many new things, most are merely seeking verification through questioning. For example, AI, which was not favored by the public at the end of last year, has now permeated people's lives.

However, there are still doubts in people's minds about car manufacturing.

Chasing is one such example.

This household cleaning appliance company boldly announced its entry into car manufacturing in August 2025, presenting an image of "punching Li Auto and Bugatti, kicking Bentley and Rolls-Royce"—and in the face of digital giants like Huawei and Xiaomi, Chasing aims to "divide the world into three."

Boldness aside, the reliability of the product is the core issue, yet the reliability of Chasing's "PPT car manufacturing" still raises a question mark.

After all, Chasing's new concept car comes with technologies and configurations that are either not widely adopted or extremely costly, such as no need for conventional doors, hidden B-pillars, and torsional rigidity greater than 45000Nm/deg.

The design also almost directly copies the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, Bugatti Veyron, and Bentley Bentayga, with the internal code bluntly named "Chasing - Bugatti."

Image

If Chasing can indeed showcase a prototype as scheduled, that would mark the beginning of car manufacturing.

All these developments once again bring the sharp question to the forefront: do these cross-industry players have sufficient respect for the automotive industry and automotive safety?

Even more alarming are the lessons from past experiences, which not only raise doubts about the shorter R&D cycles of new energy vehicles compared to traditional cars and exaggerated promotions made to seize market share, but also the operational risks that place car owners and employees in unfavorable positions.

WM Motor is one example. Once a star enterprise with great momentum, its tumultuous fate, along with clear indications of a return, is filled with car owners waiting for rights protection and employees demanding wages, ringing alarm bells for everyone.

The illusory bubble will eventually burst, and more pragmatic survival considerations should be the primary focus of car companies.

As Zhu Jiangming, CEO of Leapmotor, which has topped the sales chart of new forces for eight consecutive months, stated, companies like WM Motor, Neta, and Nio have all held the position of sales champion among new forces, but the difficulties that need to be faced will still arise.

Even the currently rapidly advancing Xiaomi, Huawei, and BYD are facing long-term tests regarding their ability to maintain brand premium and hold market share.

Amidst the feast, there is chaos. While the new energy vehicle industry showcases immense appeal due to the rise and widespread application of AI, it inevitably coexists with the whirlpool of risks.

However, many experiences tell us that new life is born from chaos. Whether it was during the initial popularization of the photovoltaic industry or traditional automobiles, or historical experiences from thousands of years ago, stability and development emerged amidst fierce competition.

This process is a massive selection process, and the ultimate winner may not necessarily be the giant trying to dominate everything, nor may it be a company specializing in a specific ecological niche; everything remains to be seen.

Author of this article: Siwei, Source: Electric Planet, Original title: "JD.com Strikes, Chasing Car Manufacturing, the Third Wave of 'Car Manufacturing Craze' is Coming"

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