Joint venture new energy vehicles join the "10,000-unit club"

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China's auto market in 2026 is undergoing a shift.

On one hand, product launches are more frequent than ever: in the past month, the industry unveiled 55 new models in one go, with BYD releasing 12 models in a single day, and Harmony Intelligent Mobility launching nine cars at once... On the other hand, terminal data isn’t as hot: According to the China Passenger Car Association, retail sales of domestic passenger cars in April were 1.384 million units, a year-on-year decline of 21.5%. Among the more than 600 models on sale, only 29 sold over 10,000 units per month, accounting for less than 4.35%.

In other words, the fate of most new models is “peak at launch” — lively for three days and then returning to normal.

Against this backdrop, on May 24, 2026, the veteran joint venture SAIC-GM unexpectedly broke through. Its new energy sub-brand, Zhijing’s first SUV — Zhijing E7 — surpassed 10,000 deliveries in its first month since its launch on April 22, 2026. This means “one delivered every five minutes” and it’s the only joint venture new energy SUV to break 10,000 deliveries in the first month.

If you look at the car itself, 10,000 units isn’t remarkable, but for joint venture EVs, it’s a long overdue turning point.

The Turning Point Has Arrived

From China Passenger Car Association data, in April 2026, retail penetration of new energy vehicles surpassed 60% for the first time in history. The market is telling the story of “internal combustion decline; new energy takeover,” with shares dominated by independent brands and emerging forces. Among all models selling over 10,000 units in April, only four from joint venture brands made the list.

Joint venture brands have made efforts: from self-development to introducing local Chinese tech, after three years of hard work, the industry has still lacked a truly iconic breakthrough.

This time, Zhijing E7’s first-month numbers have pulled “joint venture EVs” back into mainstream narrative, entering the circle of brands like NIO, Li Auto, AITO, Xiaomi. If you said this two years ago, it would have sounded off. But now, at least in the 150,000–200,000 RMB family SUV segment, it’s qualified to be discussed.

The market is curious: what gap did this car successfully fill?

If you lay out the 2026 family new energy SUV market, you’ll find a vacuum: emerging brands have pushed intelligence and large models to the ceiling, BYD, Geely, Chery have pressed hybrid and price to the floor, but the mid-range group of reliability-sensitive family buyers have long lacked suitable options.

An executive from an emerging brand told Wall Street News: “Families, especially larger ones, buy cars by consensus. Everyone’s preference is important. If one person strongly dislikes it, the purchase won’t happen.”

The 《2026 New Energy Medium-Large SUV Market Insight Report》 points out that the market is shifting from size competition to composite value competition — emotional uplift, self-expression, scenario fulfillment. The mid-price band (150,000–300,000 RMB) is defined as pragmatic middle-class families whose core demands are practicality + controllable cost.

Such users are naturally wary of “buying emerging brands equals gambling.” Buick’s approach this time precisely targets that anxiety.

A person close to SAIC-GM says that the so-called “oil-electric swings” essentially refer to those users who have seriously drifted away from joint venture brands in recent years — wanting NEV experiences but unwilling to give up the ten-year reliability of ICE cars. What E7 did: took the best emerging features, added the security of joint venture standards.

PanAsia Automotive Technology Center’s Executive Vice GM Zeng Yu told Wall Street News: “Issues like voice accidentally turning off headlights, ADAS going haywire, etc., will not happen on Zhijing models. Because PanAsia started earliest in China on system safety.”

On features, what emerging brands offer as 20,000 RMB optional extras — zero-gravity loungers, cold/warm box — have been made standard; on tech, debuting the Doubao AI model, paired with Momenta R6 reinforcement learning model and Xiaoyao Intelligent High-Level ADAS; for power, the Zhenlong Plug-in Hybrid Pro system delivers 1,630 km combined range.

The biggest awkwardness for joint venture NEVs in China has been applying ICE logic to EVs. E7 flips this: first maximize experience with local suppliers’ intelligence and large models, then use big OEM engineering for bottom-line security.

Zeng Yu mentioned: “Current six domestic and one international functional safety and expected functional safety standards were actually developed under PanAsia’s leadership. All new cars in China are developed on PanAsia-drafted functional safety standards.”

But features and specs are only tickets to enter. What truly determines if a model can achieve 10,000 deliveries in the first month is certainty in delivery. This has been the emerging brands’ weakness: booming orders, but production ramp-up bottlenecks. A supply chain insider said: “Product strength solves zero to one, supply chain determines one to a hundred thousand.”

This shows in order-to-delivery conversion: two weeks after launch, over 5,000 delivered; three weeks, 7,000; full month, just over 10,000 landed. One car every five minutes — supported by tightly linked factory production, parts logistics, terminal logistics, and PDI checks.

Market Disruptor

From the industry’s perspective, what’s truly scarce about this car is how it brings “certainty” back to the heart of family SUV purchase decisions.

A project insider told Wall Street News: among delivered users, 85% are families with children. The main emerging brand buyers in recent years have been tech adopters, childless young couples, incremental buyers. Families truly carrying kids have always been somewhat wary of intelligent features.

When overwhelming majority of buyers are families with kids, it means the most discerning, uncertainty-averse users are voting with their money — wanted: peace of mind for kids sleeping in the back, long-distance capable, ten-year trouble-free safety.

SAIC-GM internal sources told Wall Street News: many are familiar with family and health concepts, but unlike range, acceleration, intelligence — these aren’t easily quantified by parameter. Buick making it a standard across the range is betting on one thing: as family SUV competition shifts from “size+price” to “scenario+emotion,” health will be a key upward variable.

Beyond the headline sales number, it’s Buick’s shift in product definition that’s notable.

When “high spec = high premium” became an industry rule, and “buy emerging = gamble” became common perception, a joint venture NEV SUV offers full features, long range, advanced intelligence, and big OEM warranty at a starting price of 154,900 RMB — this price+configuration combo disrupts the 150,000–200,000 family SUV pricing logic.

Zooming out from E7, breaking 10,000 is surface — underneath, the “Zhijing Model” for SAIC-GM is being truly proven. From L7, E7, to Shijia — in one year, Zhijing covers sedan, SUV, MPV, and pure EV, plug-in hybrid, range extender across all routes.

The new model’s essence: fuse joint venture fundamentals with China’s local R&D speed. Zeng Yu told Wall Street News: “SAIC-GM doesn’t build cars as a closed island. Instead, we construct an open partnership ecosystem. In development, we’ve shifted from serial to parallel — build early, parallel teams, improving R&D efficiency without sacrificing performance.”

Meanwhile, sales channels are reforming. Buick told Wall Street News: internally, set new targets for 2026 — push 100+ core dealerships to achieve 60% NEV sales penetration, upgrade sales/service capability and align with new retail/direct sales systems.

This is the second leg, besides the sales breakthrough, that decides if the “Zhijing Model” can scale.

Overall, SAIC-GM’s play is answering one question: as intense competition drives some NEV products’ quality down, more mature buyers turn to reliability. The Zhijing Model targets precisely those existing demands masked by emerging brands’ rapid growth.

Whether this new playbook can be replicated/validated will decide whether joint venture players are marginalized or regain their spot at the main table during this NEV reshuffle.

Looking back, E7’s 10,000 sales don’t decide victory yet. What’s ahead for SAIC-GM: can production continue to ramp up? Will second-batch buyers echo first-batch enthusiasm? Can the brand make “Zhijing” a true independent premium EV name? Time will answer each.

But for now, after years of stagnation for joint venture NEVs in China, someone has finally found a breakthrough.

Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market has risks; invest cautiously. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account any individual’s specific investment goals, financial circumstances, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, viewpoints, or conclusions in this article suit their situation. Invest accordingly; responsibility is your own. ```