The 6th China Automotive Enterprise Innovation Conference and Automobile Innovation Index (AII) presentation kicked off on March 25 in Anting town, Jiading district, Shanghai.
The event released the innovation ranking of China's automotive passenger vehicle, commercial vehicle, and new energy passenger vehicle enterprises based on the latest AII.
According to the ranking, BYD, Chongqing Changan Automobile, and Great Wall Motor are the top three in the field of passenger vehicles, and new energy vehicle companies such as NIO and XPENG appeared in the top 20 for the first time.
"The AII was first released in 2017, and its indicator system consists of innovation input, economic output, and technological structure to form an innovation structure, providing an overall evaluation of the innovative capacity of automotive enterprises," said Li Qingwen, chairman of the China Automotive Enterprise Innovation Conference.
"To forge ahead or maintain their place in the industry, Chinese automotive enterprises must rely on their original innovation capabilities. The release of AII aims to encourage and support automotive enterprises to innovate boldly and persistently," he added.
Jiading, as the core area for Shanghai to build a world-class automotive industry center, has been committed to promoting automotive innovation. Last year, its automotive industry's output totaled 164.69 billion yuan ($23 billion), a year-on-year increase of 41.9 percent. In addition, Jiading has witnessed great breakthroughs including the opening up of the entire area of intelligent connected vehicle road testing, which currently has accounted for 62 percent of the total mileage of open roads in Shanghai.
In the future, the local government plans to roll out more measures to advance Shanghai's automobile industry.