On the afternoon of June 6, Mao Weiming, deputy secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and governor of Hunan Province, met in Changsha with the delegation of Deutsch-Chinesische Vereinigung der Automobilfachleute (DCVA) led by Zhang Lihua, president of Webasto China.

Vice Governor Yu Hongsheng and Secretary General Wang Wei'an attended the meeting. 

Governor Mao talks with President Zhang Lihua.

DCVA is a high-level industry platform for China-German automotive cooperation in China. Its membership includes China-based executives from nearly 100 leading companies such as Schaeffler, Bosch, and Webasto. It serves as an important bridge connecting German industrial resources with the domestic automotive industry. 

At the meeting.

Governor Mao welcomed the guests and briefed them on Hunan's development of automobile industry. He stated that, in recent years, Hunan has thoroughly implemented the spirit of President Xi Jinping's important speeches and instructions concerning Hunan's work, focusing on the blueprint of "Three Hubs and Four New Missions" strategy and striving to build itself into a national hub for advanced manufacturing. Hunan has accelerated the building of a modern industrial system and taken solid steps in promoting the transformation and upgrading of its automotive industry. The industrial chain has gradually improved and the scale continues to expand. The intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) sector has maintained a leading position nationwide with rapid growth.

Hunan has formed a complete new energy vehicle (NEV) industrial chain covering battery materials, motors and electronic controls, power batteries, and vehicle assembly. In 2025, the province produced 1.626 million vehicles, up 30.7% year on year. Among them, the number of NEVs reached 1.04 million, rising 34.9% and ranking among the top in China in output. 

Germany is Hunan's largest trading partner in Europe, said Governor Mao. In 2025, bilateral trade between Hunan and Germany totaled 17.09 billion CNY, a year-on-year increase of 14.1%. The automotive industry stands as the most closely cooperating sector, with German enterprises such as Bosch, Schaeffler, and Mahle having grown and thrived in Hunan, laying a solid foundation for cooperation with distinct complementary advantages.

Governor Mao expressed his hope that DCVA will earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, acting as a bridge, to facilitate more German enterprises to expand their business in Hunan with new products, technologies, and production capacity. The two sides should strengthen collaborative research on key technologies, and jointly expand application scenarios, helping Hunan's automotive industry strengthen its industrial chains, and enhance industrial added value and competitiveness.

President Zhang and other guests noted that Hunan's automotive industry has a solid foundation, distinctive strengths, and bright prospects. DCVA will actively promote Hunan, encourage more German companies to work closely with the province, and deepen cooperation in areas such as auto parts, new energy, new materials, and intelligent connected vehicles. These efforts aim to accelerate the coordinated development and technological innovation of the automotive industries in both China and Germany, achieving mutual benefits and win-win outcomes.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.  

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn