(Yicai) Aug. 1 -- Changan Automobile Group, recently restructured as a Chinese central state-owned carmaker, aims to become one of the world’s 10 largest auto brands by the end of this decade, according to its chairman.

Changan Auto has sets a vehicle production and sales target of five million units for 2030, with new energy vehicles accounting for more than 60 percent of that, and overseas sales contributing over 30 percent, Zhu Huarong said at the Chongqing-based company’s first media briefing since the announcement of its restructuring earlier this week.

Over the next five years, Changan Auto will launch more than 50 NEV models globally, including at least seven blockbusters priced above CNY300,000 (USD41,500), Zhu noted. The firm will continue to develop its three major brands -- Avatr, Deepal, and Changan -- covering both NEVs and internal combustion engine vehicles, he added.

Over the next decade, Changan Auto plans to invest more than CNY200 billion (USD27.6 billion) in the new automotive sector and expand its innovation team by more than 10,000, Zhu said.

“We believe the future of automobiles lies in evolving intelligent robotic vehicles,” Zhu said, noting that the carmaker will focus on cutting-edge fields, such as artificial intelligence vertical models, photonic quantum computing, flying cars, and humanoid robots.

On the partnership front, Changan Auto will deepen ties with global automakers, such as Stellantis, Ford Motor, and Mazda Motor, while enhancing cross-sector collaboration with information and communication tech giants, including Huawei Technologies and Tencent Holdings, to build a large-scale ecosystem with significant traffic and fanbase engagement, according to Zhu.

Chang Auto was spun off from China South Industries Group as a standalone central SOE on July 29, becoming China’s third centrally-owned automaker after FAW Group and Dongfeng Motor.

In the first half of the year, the firm reported CNY149.6 billion (USD20.7 billion) in revenue. It sold over 1.35 million vehicles in the period, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, with NEV sales surging 49 percent to 452,000, and overseas sales rising 5.1 percent to 299,000.

For the full year, Changan Auto aims to sell three million vehicles, including one million NEVs. Its projected annual revenue is CNY355 billion (USD49 billion).

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, FAW and Dongfeng sold 1.57 million and 1.06 million vehicles apiece in the six months ended June 30, up 6.2 percent and down 16 percent, respectively, from the same period last year.

As NEV adoption approaches 50 percent in China, state-owned carmakers face intense competition from private peers, such as BYD and Geely Automobile.

During the 2025 National People’s Congress, Zhang Yuzhuo, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, stressed that state-owned automakers’ progress in the NEV field has not been fast enough.

The three major state-owned carmakers will undergo separate assessments of their NEV businesses, focusing on technology, market share, and future development potential, Zhang noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione