The past 11 years have witnessed the reversal of China's domestic automobile brand market. In 2014, the penetration rate of domestic brands in the Chinese automotive market fell to a historical low of 38.44%. Afterwards, independent brands bravely regained lost ground through technological and product innovation, gradually forming a counter pressure on joint venture brands. Preliminary data shows that by 2025, the share of domestic brands in the Chinese automotive market has exceeded 70%. The competitive situation in the Chinese automobile market has shifted from 'those who have joint ventures will win the world' to 'those who have independent control will win the world'.

In the past, state-owned car companies have always been the main force in the market during the era when joint ventures dominated. In the era of the rise of independent brands, how to achieve a magnificent transformation, expand and strengthen independent businesses, and continue to maintain a leading market position is also a necessary issue for state-owned car companies. As the "middle letter" of FAW Group, its submitted answer sheet will become a template for the transformation of the automotive market.

Recently, FAW Group announced that by 2025, its independent brand, FAW Besturn, aimed at the mass market, will achieve sales of over 200000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 33%, setting the best historical record for the brand since its establishment. Among them, the sales of new energy vehicle models reached 172000 units, a year-on-year increase of 107%, and the penetration rate exceeded 85%, far exceeding the industry average by 20 percentage points.

Against the backdrop of the intense "internal competition" in the automotive industry in 2025, FAW Besturn's impressive performance has also become a hotly discussed example of state-owned enterprise market-oriented breakthroughs in the industry. The core logic of this report lies in the triple drive of "capital empowerment+industrial foundation building+market positioning".

The Triple Financial Logic of Central Enterprise Transformation

The breakthrough of FAW Besturn's sales volume of 200000 vehicles is not an accidental capture of market dividends, but a concentrated realization of its systematic layout in the three dimensions of capital, industry, and market, which constitutes a clear sample of state-owned enterprise market-oriented transformation. In recent years, FAW Besturn has introduced multiple capital activation system advantages, and with the "All in New Energy" strategy as the core, it has built self-developed technology clusters such as Yueying Platform and Daily Power, and laid out a product matrix covering A0 to B levels, pure electric, extended range, and hybrid multi technology routes. Combined with the synchronous upgrading of service ecology and global layout, it has achieved a dual breakthrough in brand value and market performance.

In September 2023, FAW Besturn introduced a strategic investment of over 160 million yuan from Jiangsu Yueda Automobile Group, taking an "ice breaking move" towards market-oriented reform. In September 2025, FAW Group, together with Yueda Automobile Group, Agricultural Bank of China Investment, China Telecom, Horizon Robotics, etc., completed a capital increase of over 8.55 billion yuan in FAW Besturn, building a diversified equity structure of "central enterprise capital+local strategic investment+industrial partners+technology leaders".

This equity restructuring not only solidifies the capital base, but also breaks through the institutional constraints of traditional state-owned enterprises. The manufacturing end and Yueda Group achieve dual base capacity complementarity, while the technology end leverages Horizon AI chips and Huawei intelligent solutions to strengthen its hard power. The finance end relies on Agricultural Bank of China's finance to expand low-cost financing channels, and the channel end links with China Telecom to improve the digital service network, forming a "research and development production supply chain service" full chain resource closed loop. At the same time, the deep binding of multiple entities brings decision-making references and multidimensional supervision that are close to the market, making enterprise decision-making more pragmatic, execution more efficient, and significantly upgrading risk resistance capabilities.

At the industrial level, FAW Besturn has built industry barriers through self-developed technology and ecological collaboration. Under the guidance of the "All in New Energy" strategic transformation, its 20-year accumulation of car manufacturing has finally been transformed into core competitiveness. In February 2025, FAW Besturn held its first Science and Technology Day in nearly a decade, focusing on the release of a complete set of new energy technology clusters such as the Yueying platform, Sunlight Power, and Ruyi cockpit, building an independent and controllable technology base.

The Yueying platform is supported by five major technologies, including ultra light architecture and rock safety, to achieve flexible adaptation of multiple vehicle models and power forms; The daily power system covers three major routes: pure electric, hybrid, and extended range. Among them, the 1.5T engine of China FAW BMP Super Hybrid has a thermal efficiency of 45.21%, and the highest efficiency of electric drive is 95.5%, winning the "Top 10 New Energy Power Systems in China" award; Ruyi cockpit integrates generative AI technology and has won multiple international honors such as the German Red Dot Design Award.

At the same time, FAW Besturn has built a strong industrial "circle of friends", deeply collaborating with leading enterprises such as Huawei, CATL, and iFlytek to quickly supplement its advantages in core areas such as intelligent networking and power batteries, forming a dual guarantee of "technology self research+ecological empowerment".

Accurately grasping consumer trends in the market dimension is another key to the success of FAW Besturn. In 2025, the domestic car market will present a characteristic of alternating consumption upgrading and downgrading, with micro and small electric vehicles becoming important growth engines. From January to November 2025, sales of A00 and A0 models will increase by 40% and 60% respectively. FAW Besturn has keenly anticipated this trend and accurately entered the segmented market with a matrix of affordable and high-quality commuting vehicles. It not only meets consumer demand, but also embodies the brand's original intention of "manufacturing affordable, usable, and dignified cars for the Chinese people".

Non internal product value reconstruction

The surge in sales of Besturn and the hot sales of new energy products cannot be ignored, and the phenomenal product of FAW Besturn Xiaoma cannot be ignored. Xiaoma officially produced its 200000th vehicle recently.

FAW Besturn officially launched the Xiaoma model in May 2024. At that time, the segmented market had already been left with the impression of poor safety and poor quality control by earlier reckless car companies. As a state-owned brand, FAW Besturn was determined to "rectify the situation". In the absence of safety features in its main competitors, Xiaoma was the first to equip its entire lineup with airbags in a car priced at over 20000 yuan. The use of high-strength cage style body frames greatly improved safety, forcing its competitors to supplement their safety features. It also took the lead in integrating with the DeepSeek system, freeing micro electric vehicles from the "tool based" label, meeting the needs of young users for intelligent connectivity, and avoiding excessive stacking of configurations leading to high costs, achieving the unity of user value and market competitiveness.

In addition to Xiaoma, the product matrix constructed by FAW Besturn covers A0 to B-class, pure electric, extended range, and hybrid multi technology routes, which also accurately meets the most real needs of users. Targeting the core market of 100000 yuan, the Yueyi 03 pure electric SUV achieves a rare long range and spacious configuration in its class with a maximum occupancy rate of 78% and a long range of 565km. As the first model of China FAW BMP super hybrid, Yueyi 07 has a tested pure electric range of 243km and a comprehensive range of 1724km, with a feed fuel consumption of only 3.9L/100km, forming significant competitiveness in the same level of hybrid SUV market.

The upcoming B+flagship Yueyi 08 will also reconstruct the segmented market value with "technological equality". At present, due to factors such as production capacity and channels still under construction, the Yueyi series is still in a period of sales growth. However, after building a solid technological foundation, improving technology and product layout, and winning market reputation such as high quality price ratio and "reverse virtual labeling", the "accelerate Pentium" button of the Pentium brand has been pressed.

Brand Responsibility of Central Enterprises after Ecological Synergy Upgrade

When cars transform from "means of transportation" to "mobile living spaces", users' core demands have already surpassed "buying a car", but long for a value experience of "full cycle, full scenario, and full ecology". They need to solve practical pain points during the use of cars, as well as pursue emotional resonance and community belonging. The brand ecology commonly mentioned in the industry has become another core element of brand competition beyond technology and products.

Through the collaborative enhancement of brand ecology based on a global perspective, FAW Besturn accurately responds to users' core consumption demands. By launching a new user brand "Joy Pai" and iterating on "518 Service Equity 4.0", Pentium has launched the industry's first "Yueyi 321 Service Commitment" with "Three Lifetime, Two Plans, One Home" as its core, redefining the full cycle driving experience for new energy users.

The service distribution network of FAW Besturn is also continuously sinking. By the end of 2025, FAW Besturn will have over 500 authorized networks nationwide, including more than 300 new energy exclusive stores/zones. Through the "1+N+Y" three-dimensional channel and digital tools, Pentium is building a warm community with direct user connection, convenient service, and close interaction.

In the overseas market, FAW Pentium actively responded to the "the Belt and Road" initiative, established FAW Pentium International in September 2025, and authorized Egypt's state-owned automobile enterprise Nasr Automobile as the exclusive agent in December to accelerate the improvement of the global layout, focus on key markets such as Eastern Europe and the Gulf, deepen the construction of localized channels and service networks, and promote products, technologies and brands from "going global" to "going global".

Vehicle companies are considered "chain owners" because the prosperity of vehicle companies will promote the optimization and prosperity of the entire industry chain. At the industrial level, FAW Besturn's sales of 200000 vehicles strongly drive the upstream and downstream industrial chains, from core components such as power batteries and chips to production, manufacturing, and logistics services, directly driving a large number of employment and promoting the deepening development of the new energy industry chain. At the industry level, as a state-owned enterprise, FAW Besturn aims to lower the threshold for new energy consumption with its "universal" product positioning, reshape the competitive landscape and industry standards, change the current situation of "high-end competition and low-end low quality" in the new energy market, lead the "quality upgrade" of the A00/A0 level market as a central enterprise, and promote the industry's transformation from a "price war" to a "value war". At its own level, the scale effect brought about by FAW Besturn's sales of 200000 vehicles further dilutes research and development and production costs, accumulates user base and good reputation. Nowadays, FAW Besturn is gradually achieving a positive cycle of "scale growth, profit improvement, and brand premium", steadily moving towards the "first camp of independent brands".

In the future, how to transform short-term sales advantages into long-term brand value, deepen technological innovation and global layout, improve product design, channel quality improvement, and localization system for going global are the core issues for FAW Besturn to further achieve high-quality development. From the current breakthrough achievements and development logic, this independent brand with the prefix "China" has embarked on a steady "galloping" path.