On September 8th (local time), the 2025 Munich Motor Show (IAA Mobility) officially kicked off and will be open to the public from the 9th to the 14th. With the theme "It’s all about mobility", this year’s show focuses on three core directions: mobile travel, sustainable development, and technological innovation.
German host enterprises, represented by the Volkswagen Group, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, made a grand appearance. Opel, Hyundai Motor, and Lucid (a new U.S. automaker) also joined the event. In addition, established auto parts giants and technology companies such as Bosch, Schaeffler, Valeo, Vitesco Technologies (formerly the automotive subgroup of Continental AG), Mahle, Denso, Aisin, Panasonic, and Google showcased their latest technologies.
The number of Chinese participating enterprises continued to grow significantly, exceeding 100 this year, covering fields such as complete vehicles, power batteries, autonomous driving, lidar, and intelligent cockpits. Among them, Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) participating in the show include Avatr, Changan, Dongfeng Fengxing, GAC, Hongqi, Leading Ideal, 212 Off-Road, AITO, XPeng, Leapmotor, BYD, and Chery. The large-scale participation of Chinese supply chain enterprises is also a major highlight of this year’s show, such as CATL, CALB, Horizon Robotics, Black Sesame Technologies, RoboSense, DJI Zoyi, and Momenta.
Chinese Industry Chain’s Collaborative Global Expansion
It is still fresh in memory that at the previous 2023 Munich Motor Show, Chinese enterprises made a brilliant debut. However, shortly after the show, the European Union announced the launch of an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese-made battery electric vehicles, and officially began imposing additional tariffs at the end of October 2024. Nevertheless, this has not dampened the enthusiasm of Chinese automakers to enter the European market. At this year’s Munich Motor Show, a number of Chinese brands unveiled new models.
From the booth map, automakers such as BYD, XPeng, and Leapmotor have large outdoor exhibition areas, which reflects their high expectations for their layout in Europe. Among them, Leapmotor globally premiered the Lafa5 and made the European debut of the overseas version of the B10. Leapmotor revealed that it already has 2 stores in Munich, Germany, with the total number of stores across Germany reaching 109. At this year’s show, in addition to the debut of the Lafa5, Leapmotor officially launched the B10 and simultaneously started deliveries in the European market, with a price of approximately 30,000 euros.
Judging from the layout at the Munich Motor Show, Chinese automakers are accelerating their penetration into the European market through a "multi-brand, full-category" strategy. They not only continue to leverage their advantages in the field of electric vehicles but also cover broader demand through fuel-powered and hybrid models.
In addition to OEMs, China also has a large delegation of parts enterprises participating in the show, covering fields such as power batteries, autonomous driving, and automotive electronics. Among them, power battery enterprises include CATL, CALB, EVE Energy, and Gotion High-Tech; in the field of autonomous driving, there are Black Sesame Technologies, Horizon Robotics, Hesai Technology, QCraft, Momenta, RoboSense, and DeepRoute.ai; in terms of software and electronics, Sogou Speech, Aoni Electronics, Carlinkton, and Desay SV also flocked to Munich to seek business opportunities. Overall, Chinese enterprises are showing a rhythm of collaborative global expansion across the entire industry chain, and are expected to inject more Chinese momentum into the green and intelligent development of the global automotive industry.
