On April 14, Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez made a special visit to Xiaomi’s Beijing tech park during his trip to China, with Xiaomi founder Lei Jun guiding the tour and detailing the automaker’s lineup. Lei revealed that Sánchez paid particular attention to the range of pure electric vehicles, asking about the SU7, Ultra, and YU7 individually. According to reports, Sánchez test-rode both the SU7 and YU7, repeatedly praising their performance as “very good.”
Volkswagen Group released first-quarter delivery data for 2026 on April 14. Global deliveries reached 2.05 million units in the first quarter, down from 2.13 million in the same period of 2025 — a 4% year-on-year decline. Volkswagen emphasized that its global market share remained stable despite an overall downturn in the global auto market. In China, although deliveries slipped 14.8%, the group’s overall market share edged up to 12.7% from 12.3%, marking a modest gain.
Geely Holding Group reported first-quarter sales figures for 2026 on April 14. Total sales across all brands reached 937,900 units, a record high for the period. New-energy vehicle sales climbed 5.8% to 491,000 units, pushing the penetration rate to 52.4% — meaning one out of every two vehicles sold was a new-energy model.
Nissan unveiled a transformation strategy on April 14, planning to slash its global model lineup from 56 to 38 — a roughly 20% reduction — and concentrate 80% of its sales volume on three core model families. Nissan aims to sell more than 1 million vehicles annually in both the U.S. and China markets by fiscal 2030. To achieve this, the company plans to launch more competitive new products.
hery’s Fengyun T9L, a mid-size plug-in hybrid SUV, officially launched on April 13 with five trim levels. The price range is 129,900–186,900 yuan, or 125,900–182,900 yuan after trade-in subsidies. Chery officials stated that the T9L secured over 15,658 orders within just three hours of going on sale, quickly emerging as a strong contender in the domestic mid-size PHEV SUV segment.
According to the China National Intellectual Property Administration, Seres Automobile Co., Ltd. has been granted a utility model patent for a “Vehicle Toilet and Vehicle” (No. CN224104011U). Filed on April 22, 2025, and approved on April 10, 2026, the design addresses passenger needs during “long-distance travel or roadside emergencies.” The mechanism consists of a toilet unit mounted on a rail system connected to the seat; it retracts beneath the seat when not in use, remaining invisible and space-efficient. It can be pulled out for emergencies and slid back afterward — a feature that could prove useful during highway traffic jams or long road trips.
Ford CEO Jim Farley issued a warning about Chinese automakers entering the U.S. market. In an interview on “Fox & Friends” aired Monday local time, Farley stated that China’s auto industry is formidable, adding that “China’s capacity is sufficient to meet all of America’s auto manufacturing needs and total vehicle sales.” He added: “Given the economic implications, we should not allow them into our country. Manufacturing is the core and soul of America, and if we lose manufacturing to these imports, it will be devastating for the United States.”
GigaDevice recently partnered with Geely Auto to establish a joint innovation laboratory. The two companies aim to build a long-term strategic partnership focused on high-performance MCU applications, injecting new momentum into the intelligent development of China’s auto industry. The lab will integrate resources from both firms to drive collaborative innovation across key areas, including body control, smart cockpits, autonomous driving, powertrains, and chassis systems.
CATL recently announced a strategic partnership with SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW). The two sides will deepen cooperation around four key areas: industrial scaling, passenger-commercial compatible battery swapping, joint overseas expansion, and ecosystem collaboration. On the supply side, SGMW will select CATL as the core power battery supplier for its entire portfolio of more than 15 new-energy models. Additionally, the partners plan to jointly develop fast-charging technology capable of charging a battery from 10% to 80% in under 10 minutes.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.82% on April 14, while the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 0.62%. Semiconductor stocks rallied, with Axera jumping over 11% and GigaDevice climbing more than 9%. Shanghai Fudan rose nearly 5%. The non-ferrous metals sector also strengthened, with Tianqi Lithium up over 5%, Ganfeng Lithium gaining more than 3%, and CMOC and Aluminum Corp of China both up over 3%.
The China Automobile Dealers Association released its March 2026 dealer inventory survey on April 14: The comprehensive inventory coefficient for March stood at 1.76, down 9.7% from the previous month but up 12.8% year-on-year.
Data from Shanghai Customs shows that 386,000 vehicles were exported via Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port in the first quarter, up 15.9% from a year earlier, with new-energy vehicles accounting for 68.5% of the total. Meanwhile, the emerging Nan’gang Port handled 207,000 export vehicles in the same period — a 111% surge — including 138,000 new-energy vehicles, which soared 176%.
Marelli announced several executive appointments on April 14. Frederick “Fritz” Henderson has been appointed interim CEO, effective immediately. Henderson succeeds David Slump, who will remain a board member to ensure continuity during the company’s Chapter 11 restructuring process. Separately, a steering committee of Marelli’s lenders announced plans to name Laurent Favre as the next CEO following Henderson’s interim tenure. Additionally, Marelli named Roberto Fioroni as CFO and Helen Redfern as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), with both roles effective May 1, 2026.
Zotye Auto announced on April 14 that its board has approved the appointment of Li Yan as vice president. The appointment is effective immediately and will run until the current board’s term expires.