Safety comes first, automakers warned

China has warned automakers against rushing new products to market without sufficient safety testing, amid worries about unconventional vehicle designs and the quality of technological innovation.

"Safety is the lifeline and core competitiveness of an automotive company. Safety must be the top priority in any research and development activity, and it must never be sacrificed for the sake of innovation," said Wang Weiming, chief engineer at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, on Tuesday.

He said China's auto industry had seen active technological innovation and rapid product iteration, but some companies were following trends in launching new products while failing to invest adequately in safety.

The ministry will strengthen automakers' primary responsibility for product quality and safety, prevent vehicles featuring unreasonable designs or insufficiently tested technologies from entering the market, and safeguard consumers' legitimate rights and interests, Wang said.

His remarks came days after the ministry and other government departments released a draft notice proposing tighter safety requirements for vehicle designs, including a ban on fully concealed exterior door handles and restrictions on certain seat configurations and flexible infotainment displays.

The draft, open for public consultation until Nov 10, reflects growing regulatory attention to the risks associated with design features and technologies that have spread across China's competitive auto market.

Chinese NEV carmakers' speed in research and development has been lauded. The innovation has been a major driver of China's rise as the world's largest auto market and a leading force in electric vehicles. But as competition intensifies and automakers seek to distinguish their products, the pursuit of novelty has raised questions about whether some features deliver meaningful improvements in safety and usability.

A Zeekr advertising campaign featured such scenarios as passengers using its rotating seats to eat hotpot in its MIX model before its launch in late 2024. In the same year, the Rox 01 SUV drew jeers because of an emergency toilet integrated into its center console.

IM has long been criticized for its yoke-style steering wheel in some of its models, which the SAIC-owned brand said offers better vision of the road ahead. But many say it is not easy to handle for nonprofessional drivers.

The challenge for the industry is to ensure that new features deliver practical value without compromising essential vehicle functions, said analysts.

Most Chinese automakers are investing in vital underlying technologies including batteries and chips.

Last week, Li Auto revealed its in-house electric powertrain technology system covering batteries, electric drive units and charging infrastructure.

CEO Li Xiang said the company's decision in 2020 to develop batteries in-house was driven by its goal of improving technology from the perspective of complete-vehicle engineering and user needs.

He said independent development and cooperation with specialist partners should both be guided by customer value.

Featuring a high-stability cathode, a low-lithium-consumption anode and a dual-formula electrolyte, its new Lianshan batteries are expected to retain at least 75 percent of their health after 160,000 kilometers.

Improvements in battery materials, pack integration and vehicle-level energy management have increased the driving range of its models by more than 8 percent compared with their 2025 versions, it said.

The company has also developed its own electric-drive components and silicon carbide power chips. It said 4 million of its in-house developed silicon carbide power chips had entered production vehicles over the past year without reported failures.

Also last week, Chery outlined a broader technology strategy extending beyond conventional vehicle manufacturing.

Chairman Yin Tongyue described Chery half-jokingly as a high-tech innovation company "disguised as an automaker".

The company revealed CheryMind, a foundation model designed for physical AI applications, alongside its Ziwei series of independently developed chips.

Chery said its technology portfolio also includes a Level-4 autonomous-driving Robotaxi, a crewed electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, vehicle-to-grid technology and intelligent agricultural machinery.

Its electric farming system, which covers operations from plowing and sowing to harvesting and transportation, is designed to reduce energy costs by 74 percent, the company said.

The announcements illustrate how automakers are seeking to build competitive advantages through proprietary technologies rather than relying solely on new vehicle designs and feature additions.

For China's automotive industry, the challenge is twofold: maintaining its pace of technological development while ensuring that new products meet rigorous safety standards.

As advanced driver-assistance systems, high-voltage batteries and AI-powered functions become more prevalent, regulators are seeking to ensure that innovation translates into tangible improvements for consumers rather than introducing new risks.

Wang at the MIIT said the ministry would continue to reinforce the safety baseline for automotive products and promote the industry's high-quality development, making clear that technological progress must not come at the expense of consumer protection.