CHONGQING- Affected by the increasing oil prices and climate change, the world has never reached a consensus as strong as we have today about transforming the fueled-driven auto industry towards adopting new energy. Three events that happened recently proved this point.

On June 8, as the long-standing global pioneer and leader in the field of environmental protection, European Union voted to support an effective ban within the EU border on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035, including the hybrid model.

Europe is the origin of the auto industry, gathering dozens of the world’s enduring auto enterprises like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Fiat, and Volvo. How these behemoths will turn their spoiled path, which proved to be still profitable, into a new, greener road will attract the world’s attention for the next ten years.

On August 25, California, the world's fifth largest economy, moved to ban the sale of new gasoline-fueled cars by 2035, becoming the first state in the United States to promote the electric vehicle transformation.

This surprised many people as many believed that U.S. lawmakers were facing more tricky issues pushing local auto manufacturers to make changes, but now, at least one state launched the cause.

The third case happened in China’s inland motor city Chongqing. As one of the industrial bases, Chongqing’s auto output used to rank No.1 nationwide for consecutive years. The watershed moment was in 2015, when Chongqing produced over 2.6 million vehicles, accounting for one-eighth of that of the country.

In recent years, Chongqing’s auto industry was hit due to the unpredictable market change, especially for traditional auto companies facing the challenge of slow growth. Under this context, the municipal government makes a new plan to support the local auto industry transformation featured by intelligent connection and new energy.

According to the plan released by the municipal government on September 8, 2025, Chongqing’s intelligent connected vehicle(ICV) and new energy vehicle(NEV) output will account for more than 10% of China’s total output. In 2030, Chongqing expects to nurture one to two globally renowned intelligent connected vehicles and new energy vehicle brands.

To achieve such an ambitious plan, the government, under the principle of “market domination and government guidance,” raised seven missions: to lift the development level of new energy and intelligent connection, to improve the auto parts supply chain system for ICV and NEV, to promote autonomous driving and innovation application of vehicle-to-everything, to nurture auto software and AI industries, to build the capital of the ICV and NEV experience, to construct infrastructure service system and to form a comprehensive, effective security system for ICV and NEV.

The importance of this plan is reflected by the multifaceted cooperation across different authorities, including the General Office of Chongqing Municipal People’s Government, Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Investment Promotion and Facilitation, and two administrative committees of Chongqing’s key economic development regions, Liangjiang New Area and Chongqing High-Tech Zone.

This signaled that the plan serves as a grand project that needs the whole city’s joint effort to promote the city’s future economic development.

Other than the government agencies, the industrial subjects seemed more agitated; some had already made moves on the road of new energy. The Chongqing International Auto Exhibition was an example, which set the new energy exhibition stage for the first time this year. According to the official data, the Exhibition displayed over 300 intelligent connected and new energy models.

It is also worth noting that in the aspects of investment attraction and policy support, the plan stressed that any intelligent connected or NEV companies or programs introduced should be explicitly supported by customed policies by related administrators. The key economic regions like Liangjiang New Area and Chongqing High-Tech Zone shall form professional business invitation teams to specialize in the corresponding investment attraction activities.