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A New Rule, No Dress Rehearsal.

On October 10th, four departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the .

Set to take effect on January 1, 2027, this document mandates that all new vehicle models slated for declaration in the and featuring innovative designs (such as concealed door handles, large-angle seats, and zero-gravity rear seats) must submit verification materials for an additional 51 parameters during the technical declaration process. Furthermore, they must demonstrate completion of at least 30,000 kilometers of reliability verification testing.

This marks the inaugural instance where China's automotive regulatory framework has directly incorporated safety verification for innovative designs at the announcement and market access stages. Historically, many brands could generate initial buzz at product launches and gradually supplement test data afterward—a strategy that will no longer be feasible.

Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the China Passenger Car Association, informed the Securities Times that this regulatory upgrade shifts the paradigm from 'compliance with national standards suffices' to 'requiring comprehensive R&D verification for market access.' Previously, adherence to existing national standards was adequate for securing announcement approval; now, brands must demonstrate that their innovations have undergone thorough R&D verification to gain market entry.

The document explicitly introduces 51 key technical parameters for vehicle products, with the first 41 targeting product innovative designs and the latter 10 focusing on R&D testing verification. These parameters encompass core components directly influencing driving safety, such as brake controls, door handles, and seat angles.

01

What Does 30,000 Kilometers Represent?

The document explicitly requires enterprises to conduct reliability verification testing covering a minimum of 30,000 kilometers, adhering to relevant vehicle type-approval test procedures and encompassing multi-stress load conditions across typical road scenarios, including general roads, highways, and mountain roads.

This figure is well-known within China's automotive industry. Traditional fuel vehicles typically undergo 20,000–30,000 kilometers of whole-vehicle durability road testing. However, amid the rapid development of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in recent years, investment in this testing phase has often been curtailed or even omitted.

An industry source close to NIO confessed to the Securities Times: 'Metal fatigue, battery charge-discharge cycles—these all necessitate time. Regardless of the market launch window's value, AI simulations cannot replace real-world testing. Otherwise, issues may surface post-market delivery.'

What does this entail? Suppose a model initially scheduled for market launch after six months of R&D verification now requires an additional 2–4 months of road testing for the 30,000-kilometer multi-road-condition verification. Prior to this, enterprises must also prepare separate safety and environmental assessment reports for each innovative design—a process that itself consumes R&D department resources for material compilation and review.

More critically, the 30,000 kilometers cannot be arbitrarily completed on a few national highway segments. The document mandates coverage of diverse road conditions and multi-stress loads, necessitating enterprises to possess complete testing fleets and standardized testing procedures. For contract manufacturers lacking in-house testing capabilities, outsourcing testing costs and cycles will escalate.

Wang Feng, Vice President of Hangzhou Hongtu Smart Energy Technology Co., Ltd., observed that regulatory authorities are systematically guiding and standardizing automotive industry innovation, marking a significant milestone in China's pursuit of becoming an automotive powerhouse and achieving high-quality development.

02

Whose Costs Will Escalate Most Rapidly?

The new policy's impact will not be uniformly distributed across all automakers.

For leading enterprises with established large-scale testing fleets, the 30,000-kilometer verification task primarily entails procedural and timing adjustments. However, for small and medium-sized automakers relying on contract manufacturers or outsourced testing resources—particularly internet-backed brands accustomed to rapidly launching new models with extremely short R&D cycles—the compliance cost pressures will be more pronounced.

A deeper transformation lies in the definition of 'innovative design.' The document explicitly identifies product categories such as brake controls, door handles, and large-angle seats, mandating upfront risk assessments for these innovations.

In recent years, more brands have focused marketing on in-car innovations like 'refrigerators, TVs, and sofas.' Concealed door handles reduce wind resistance but cause winter icing and unlocking difficulties; electrically adjustable exterior mirrors face stability controversies under crosswind conditions. With these former selling points now subject to stringent verification, some brands lacking sufficient verification reserves may decelerate their feature iteration pace.

GAC Group maintains a resolute stance: refusing to build 'quick-fix vehicles' and instead emphasizing 'thorough effort'—avoiding compressed schedules, ensuring comprehensive verification, and guaranteeing each vehicle withstands the test of time.

Shenlan Auto Chairman Deng Chenghao stated internally that the industry's current debate on prioritizing safety, opposing quick-fix vehicles, and rejecting pseudo-innovation benefits brands committed to meticulous work.

Wang Qian, Deputy General Manager of Dongfeng Nissan Sales Co., Ltd., emphasized that in the NEV sector, long-term competitiveness outweighs speed. Specifically, Dongfeng Nissan's NEV category will adhere to joint venture verification standards and eschew quick-fix approaches.

03

Logic Shift: From 'Speed Race' to 'Verification Race'

This policy tightening is not an isolated incident.

Two years ago, Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Holding Group, cautioned publicly: 'All new automotive products must adhere to objective R&D laws rather than reducing testing phases, compressing verification time, or taking shortcuts. Ignorance masquerading as knowledge leads to endless troubles.'

At that time, no unified policy expression existed, but industry concerns about 'excessive focus on launch speed' had already surfaced. Now, regulatory authorities have formalized these reflections into binding standards, marking their institutionalization.

Yuan Shuai, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Zhongguancun IoT Industry Alliance, believes the draft notice aims not to stifle automotive innovation but to establish safety baselines for valuable innovations by placing risk assessments at the earliest R&D stages. Some brands have treated 'launch first, refine later' as standard practice, diverting core R&D resources from safety verification under complex conditions to creating launch event highlights and marketing narratives.

An internal source from an automotive component manufacturer in East China told reporters that as whole-vehicle R&D verification standards tighten, automakers will inevitably raise supply chain access (market access) and verification requirements, pushing component testing toward greater rigor and quality assurance. This will elevate compliance thresholds across the entire supply chain.

04

Three Key Indicators to Monitor

1. Changes in Announcement Approval Cycles: Observe whether the approval rate and average processing time for new models with innovative designs experience delays starting from Q1 2027.

2. Testing Capacity Expansion Among Leading Automakers: Monitor whether major enterprises like BYD, FAW, and Dongfeng increase capital expenditures on testing fleets and extreme-environment test facilities (e.g., high-altitude and high-temperature calibration bases) within the next 12 months.

3. Product Launch Rhythms of Niche Brands: Particularly for emerging NEV brands emphasizing tech-driven and novel configurations, assess whether they can adjust R&D pipelines in time to avoid postponements or cancellations of planned features due to insufficient verification.

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