[China to further reform auto circulation and consumption]

Cornex New Energy's 70GWh lithium battery industrial park in Xiangyang, Hubei officially started production on Aug 30, completing its one-headquarters-plus-four-bases layout. Construction began on Oct 28, 2025, and first products rolled off the line in just 10 months, two months ahead of schedule. Covering 1,608 mu with 1.05 million sqm of floor space, the base targets both energy storage and EV applications, mass-producing 100Ah, 588Ah, 648Ah and larger storage cells plus high-rate fast-charging power batteries. At full capacity it will ship nearly 400,000 cells daily worldwide, with annual output value expected to exceed RMB 30bn and over 5,000 jobs created.

Ganfeng Lithium released its 2026 interim results on Aug 28: H1 revenue reached RMB 22.88bn, up about 177% YoY, with net profit of RMB 4.43bn, turning around from a loss a year earlier. Higher lithium salt prices and robust energy storage demand lifted both its lithium compounds and battery businesses. Lithium metal and compounds contributed RMB 14.10bn (61.6% of revenue) at a 42% gross margin, while lithium batteries brought in RMB 7.79bn (34%) at an 11.9% margin. China revenue surged about 192% YoY to RMB 22.04bn, accounting for 96.3% of the total.

【National Standard for Vehicle Exterior Dimensions Released, Relaxing Size Limits on Local Protrusions for Intelligent Vehicles】 Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation (National Standardization Administration) approved and released the mandatory national standard "Limits of Dimensions, Axle Loads, and Masses for Motor Vehicles, Trailers, and Combination Vehicles" (GB 1589—2026), which will take effect on July 1, 2027.In terms of intelligent vehicle adaptations, the standard relaxes size limits on local protrusions such as radar and camera units, accommodating the operational requirements of blind-spot monitoring, autonomous driving environmental perception, and other related functions.With respect to intelligent connected vehicle technology compatibility, the new standard introduces exemption rules for exterior dimension protrusions of perception and communication components, including radar, cameras, and V2X antennas. It relaxes restrictions on local protrusion sizes to meet the demands of blind-spot monitoring, autonomous driving environmental perception, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) coordination, and beyond-line-of-sight safety communications.Regarding the axle load distribution rationality for new-energy commercial vehicles, the maximum allowable axle load limit for a single axle with single tires on each side has been raised from 7,000 kg to 8,000 kg.