The 2025 Hefei International New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Exhibition opened on Monday in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province. The event gathered industry leaders, scholars and corporate executives from around the globe to discuss the latest trends and technologies shaping the future of the NEV sector.

A highlight of the opening ceremony was the release of the 2025 China urban NEV manufacturing vitality index report, showing strong momentum across sample cities, with Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing and Hefei standing out for breakthroughs in core technologies, concentration of leading enterprises and integrated industry ecosystems.

The report also offered six recommendations to support high-quality NEV development, including tailoring policies to local strengths, improving consumer experience, expanding infrastructure, aligning corporate and city strategies, participating in international standard-setting and boosting capital-market support.

Executives underscored China's rapid NEV growth. William Li, founder of NIO, noted that "2025 will be a turning point for the industry," with pure electric vehicles offering user benefits that outweigh concerns over charging convenience. From January to August, China's pure EV sales rose 32.2 percent year on year, accounting for 62.3 percent of the NEV market in August.

He Zhiqi, executive vice president of BYD, stressed that China's shift to electric and intelligent vehicles will accelerate in the coming decade, and said BYD will deepen investment in Anhui as the province builds a world-class auto industry cluster.

The exhibition spans more than 200,000 square meters, with the main venue at the Hefei Binhu International Convention and Exhibition Center covering about half that space. It brings together over 1,000 models across ultra-luxury, luxury, emerging, joint-venture, independent and local Anhui brands.

Five themed exhibition areas showcased more than 90 domestic and international brands, including NIO, BYD, Chery, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla. Over 20 new models and technologies were unveiled, such as the NIO ES8, BYD's "God's Eye" and Huawei's Tuling platform. Visitors can not only view vehicles on display but also experience intelligent driving systems and explore cultural exhibitions highlighting car lifestyles.

Anhui has emerged as a national leader in auto production. In the first half of 2025, the province produced about 1.5 million vehicles, surpassing Guangdong Province to rank first in China, with NEV output reaching 730,900 units, also the highest nationwide, China Media Group reported.