Recently, listed commercial vehicle companies released their half-year reports, providing insights into the development of China's commercial vehicle sector in the first half of 2025.

In the first half of 2025, driven by the powerful "trade-in for new" policy and robust export business growth, China's commercial vehicle industry emerged from two years of sluggish performance, welcoming long-awaited recovery with an overall positive rebound.

**Industry Recovery with Steady Sales Growth**

As industry bellwethers, the performance of listed commercial vehicle and component companies has drawn significant market attention. In the first half of 2025, Weichai Power maintained its industry leadership with revenue of 113.152 billion yuan, despite a modest year-over-year increase of only 0.59%, demonstrating strong market dominance.

Following Weichai Power were Foton Motor, FAW Jiefang, and Sinotruk Jinan Truck Co., all with revenues exceeding 20 billion yuan. Foton Motor reported revenue of 30.371 billion yuan, FAW Jiefang achieved 28.079 billion yuan, and Sinotruk Jinan Truck Co. recorded 26.162 billion yuan.

Additionally, four companies reported revenues between 10-20 billion yuan: JAC Motors (19.36 billion yuan), Jiangling Motors (18.092 billion yuan), Yutong Bus (16.129 billion yuan), and King Long (10.327 billion yuan), creating a clear industry revenue structure.

In terms of profitability, 13 out of 16 listed commercial vehicle and component companies achieved positive net profit attributable to shareholders in the first half of 2025. Weichai Power recorded the highest net profit of approximately 5.643 billion yuan, reaffirming its industry leadership.

However, in terms of return on equity (ROE), a key indicator of capital efficiency, Yutong Bus led with an impressive 13.79%, outperforming Weichai Power's 6.29%. Yutong Bus demonstrated strong profitability in the bus sector, achieving net profit of 1.936 billion yuan in the first half, a 15.64% year-over-year increase despite a high comparison base.

Foton Motor reported half-year net profit of 777 million yuan, while Sinotruk Jinan Truck Co. achieved 669 million yuan, representing remarkable year-over-year growth of 87.57% and 8.1% respectively.

Notably, listed bus companies showed excellent overall performance in the first half, with most reporting rapid revenue growth and particularly impressive net profit increases. King Long, Zhongtong Bus, and Ankai Bus reported net profit growth of 75.06%, 71.61%, and 153.46% respectively.

Despite the industry recovery, some companies failed to turn profitable. Yunnei Power, Powertrain New Technology, and JAC Motors collectively reported losses exceeding 1.2 billion yuan, with JAC Motors recording the highest loss of 773 million yuan.

**New Energy Acceleration with Heavy Trucks as Growth Engine**

Driven by green development concepts, new energy commercial vehicles are becoming a significant force in the heavy truck market. In the first half of 2025, the new energy heavy truck market delivered impressive performance with sales of 75,200 units, a remarkable 195.16% year-over-year increase, making it the fastest-growing segment in the commercial vehicle sector and injecting strong green momentum into the industry.

Sinotruk achieved outstanding results in the new energy sector, demonstrating strong market competitiveness. Its new energy heavy truck sales reached 9,376 units, growing 220.3% year-over-year, significantly outpacing the industry average. New energy light truck sales totaled 3,430 units, up 110.3% year-over-year, becoming one of the fastest-growing business segments.

New energy heavy trucks, with their environmental advantages, have found widespread application in short- and medium-haul transportation scenarios such as urban construction waste transport and city logistics delivery, effectively reducing urban pollution emissions and meeting urgent urban green development needs while creating vast market opportunities.

Export business has become a crucial driver of performance growth for commercial vehicle companies. In the first half of 2025, China's heavy truck export market continued to heat up. Heavy truck exports reached 155,600 units, up 2.69% year-over-year, demonstrating strong international appeal and competitiveness of Chinese heavy trucks.

Against this backdrop, Sinotruk achieved record export performance. Its heavy truck exports reached 69,000 units, setting a new historical high for the same period, with export market share of 44.34%, maintaining its position as China's leading heavy truck exporter for twenty consecutive years, showcasing its international market leadership and brand influence.

Sinotruk's export success not only generated substantial economic benefits for the company but also enhanced the reputation of China's commercial vehicle industry in international markets.

While most companies showed positive half-year performance, some faced challenges. Many companies' half-year net profits were double or more than their first-quarter profits, while some companies, despite positive half-year net profits, saw significant narrowing compared to the first quarter, and several remained loss-making.

Powertrain New Technology significantly reduced its losses compared to the previous year. In contrast, JAC Motors and Yunnei Power's half-year loss situations were somewhat concerning, with JAC Motors shifting from profit to loss year-over-year, and Yunnei Power's losses increasing compared to the first quarter.

**Dual Engine Drive with Promising Industry Prospects**

In the first half of 2025, China's commercial vehicle industry showed overall recovery with steady sales growth. Sales data revealed that China's commercial vehicle industry achieved total sales of 2.122 million units, a modest 2.6% year-over-year increase, with growth accelerating by 0.8 percentage points compared to the first quarter, continuing the market recovery momentum.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers further confirmed this trend, with January-July national commercial vehicle cumulative sales reaching 2.4276 million units, up 3.89% cumulatively, clearly indicating the market's steady entry into recovery.

In exports, the commercial vehicle industry achieved outstanding results. July commercial vehicle exports totaled 76,000 units, up 8% year-over-year. January-July cumulative exports reached 577,000 units, up 10.2% year-over-year.

Stable macroeconomic fundamentals provide strong support for commercial vehicle industry growth, with China's GDP growth maintaining stability above 5%, establishing a solid foundation for commercial vehicle market recovery.

China's commercial vehicle "going global" model is experiencing profound transformation from surface to depth, from quantitative to qualitative change. The industry has moved beyond the early "trial sailing" stage dominated by vehicle trade, gradually shifting toward direct investment and factory construction in key markets to achieve localized production capacity breakthrough.

Simultaneously, the global carbon neutrality wave is opening unprecedented market space for new energy commercial vehicles. Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other regions are introducing clean freight support policies, providing excellent opportunities for China's new energy commercial vehicles, which have first-mover advantages, to enter international markets.

In this context, overseas market expansion and new energy transformation have jointly formed the "dual engines" driving China's commercial vehicle industry's continued recovery and high-quality development.

Wang Xia, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Automotive Industry Branch, noted that exploring overseas markets will bring sales and profit growth opportunities for Chinese commercial vehicle companies, alleviating difficulties from insufficient domestic market demand and declining profits.