China's leading EV maker BYD tops global automotive innovation ranking: media report

A Chinese carmaker has for the first time topped the ranking in a global automaker innovation index, according to a survey by a Germany industry advisory body.

On Tuesday (local time), the Germany-based Center of Automotive Management (CAM) released the AutomotiveINNOVATIONS Report 2026. Chinese manufacturer BYD topped the global automotive innovation ranking for the first time with 157 points, surpassing last year's champion Volkswagen, with 143 points.

German automaker Mercedes-Benz ranked third with 134 points. Chinese electric vehicle (EV) producer XPeng came in with 128 points. Together with German automaker BMW, and Chinese carmaker Geely Group, the three companies ranked fourth to sixth. Renault, Toyota, General Motors, and Hyundai followed, rounding out the top 10.

It's the first time that a Chinese carmaker has claimed the top spot since the AutomotiveINNOVATIONS study series was launched in 2005, according to the CAM report, which was obtained by the Global Times on Wednesday.

"Chinese automotive groups have steadily gained in innovation strength in recent years and have consistently ranked among the world's leading companies. However, for the first time since the study series premiered in 2005, a single Chinese manufacturer, BYD, has now been named the world's most innovative automotive group, ahead of the Volkswagen Group and Mercedes-Benz.

BYD will also be the most innovative volume brand," Stefan Bratzel, director of the CAM, said in an emailed statement to the Global Times on Wednesday.

"BYD's current dominance illustrates the upheaval in the automotive industry and the technological leadership of Chinese corporations and volume brands," Bratzel wrote.

The survey was based on more than 867 innovations for 2025/2026, including approximately 660 series innovations from 36 automotive groups, according to the CAM.

"Three Chinese companies rank among the top six most innovative automotive manufacturers of the year, taking the tectonic shift in the automotive industry to a new level. The formula for success is based largely on the combination of broad expertise in future technologies, high innovation speed, and low development and manufacturing costs," Bratzel said.

Notably, three Chinese companies made it into the top 10, highlighting Chinese automakers' progress in innovation as a whole, rather than the feats of a singular company, experts said.

The improvement in the innovation rankings demonstrated distinctive resources and capabilities in electrification, intelligent industrial scenarios, and China's large-scale supply chains, Luke Hu, co-founder of Electroder, an industry insider familiar with the landscape of the Chinese and German auto industries, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

In one recent example, Chinese battery giant CATL on Tuesday showcased numerous technological advancements in EV batteries, including an upgraded product that is capable of charging from 10 percent to 98 percent in less than seven minutes, according to a press release the company sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

The findings by the CAM are similar to those of other research institutions in Germany.

Over the past 15 years, China has emerged as a technological leader in key systems and core components of modern automobiles, Ferdinand Dudenhoffer, director of the Bochum-based Center Automotive Research (CAR), a German automotive research institute, said in an industry report on Wednesday.

As China advances its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), breakthroughs in advanced artificial intelligence models, humanoid robotics, next-generation chips and scaled-up green energy are set to make auto manufacturing more efficient, cost-competitive and resilient, particularly in supply chains, he said.

Dudenhoffer added that China's auto industry will continue to strengthen, with value creation shifting upward.

"China is no longer just a manufacturing base, but increasingly a center for automotive engineering and concept development, with Chinese and German firms already collaborating in areas such as autonomous driving and battery technologies."

The Chinese market has become increasingly an arena for fostering automotive innovation, in addition to its status as a vital automotive market. Also, partnerships between Chinese and foreign companies are evolving from mere manufacturing to higher levels of co-innovation, analysts said.

German automotive companies are rapidly expanding research and development (R&D) operations in China, with a growing share targeting both the local and global markets, as intensifying competition and innovation pressure reshape corporate strategies, according an innovation report by the German Chamber of Commerce in China.

Among companies from the automotive industry, 81 percent said that localizing their R&D in China had accelerated their development speed over the past two years compared with Germany, according to the report that the chamber sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

Jan Roennfeld, executive director and board member of the German Chamber of Commerce in China-South and Southwest China, said that the Chinese market is increasingly seen as a "testing ground" for innovation, according to the report.

Major German automakers - including BMW and MINI, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Maybach, Audi, and Volkswagen Group brands - will all bring their heavyweight models to the 2026 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, which will open on Friday and run for 10 days, according to German media outlet DW.