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ARABAKP Phnom Penh, 28 October, 2026 —
As electrification, digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) reshape the global auto industry, how China and Germany can build on their complementary strengths to expand cooperation has become a key question facing both countries' industries.
Last week, the 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference (WICV) was held in Beijing, where government and business representatives from both countries held talks on technology coordination, standards alignment and market access. Both sides agreed that there is a strong need for concrete progress.
China and Germany have long cooperated in the intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) sector. Signed in 2018, their memorandum of understanding on ICVs has served as an important platform for bilateral technical cooperation. Last month, the two sides held a plenary meeting in Berlin, where they exchanged views on practical issues such as vehicle type approval, data recording and vehicle-to-everything communications.
"This is exactly the kind of cooperation we need -- concrete, pragmatic, technology-focused and workable," said Hildegard Müller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry.
"China has made remarkable progress in electric mobility and digital technology, while German automakers and suppliers have deep expertise in automotive engineering, systems integration and industrial production. The two countries bring important complementary experience to the automotive industry's transformation," Müller said at the WICV.
She acknowledged that harmonizing standards and regulations is no easy task, but "regulatory differences should not become unnecessary barriers to innovation and market access." The goal, she said, is to build enough common ground for innovation to cross borders and ultimately benefit manufacturers, suppliers and consumers in both countries.
China's push for intelligent connectivity is gaining strong momentum. By the end of August, about 61 million passenger cars were equipped with combined driver assistance systems, some 16 million had 5G terminals, and roughly 2 million carried C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything) direct communication terminals.
The country has also rolled out a series of national standards covering combined driver assistance, automated driving, automatic emergency braking and vehicle cybersecurity, and is scaling up connected-vehicle communications through real-world use.
On the German side, companies are deepening their footprint in China. Milan Nedeljković, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, said the all-new BMW iX3, produced locally in northeast China's Shenyang, will begin customer deliveries in November.
"This model blends BMW's engineering strength with China's vibrant digital ecosystem," he said. "Intelligent, connected new energy vehicles are at the heart of the automotive industry's transformation and a key driver of China's high-quality development. We are confident in the market's long-term potential."
Chinese automakers, for their part, are stepping up their integration into the German and broader European markets. According to Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Holding Group Co., Ltd., Chery has set up R&D centers in Germany as it expands into Europe. Chery's cooperation in Europe, he said, has long moved beyond local manufacturing to leverage local talent and embrace local culture, and has achieved localization across the entire value chain, from R&D and manufacturing to procurement and sales.
"In the early days of reform and opening up, Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz set up factories in China, helping to develop the country's market, supply chains and talent pool," Yin said. "Today, as China advances in electrification and intelligent technology, China, too, must learn to share with its peers around the world and move toward an electrified, low-carbon and intelligent era alongside established local automakers."
In intelligent driving, Mercedes-Benz is deepening its partnership with Chinese tech company Momenta. Oliver Thöne, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and head of the board division Greater China, said Mercedes-Benz offers highway driver assistance in China, with the take-up rate for related features doubling year on year, and is now expanding into urban driver assistance.
"We are also working with Tsinghua University to develop a vision-language AI model, which has been applied to our rear-seat systems and will be deployed globally," he said.
Wang Zhiqin, vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, noted that China-Germany automotive cooperation is extending from complete vehicle manufacturing and parts procurement to joint R&D, standards coordination and ecosystem building.
She called on companies from both countries to deepen technological collaboration, conduct joint research and testing in frontier areas, and strengthen cooperation across the ICV supply chain, including in information, communications and software.
AKP-Xinhua
