Gasgoo Munich- On March 5, 2026, the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress convened in Beijing, where Premier Li Qiang delivered the Government Work Report. The report reviewed 2025 performance and outlined plans for industrial development as the "15th Five-Year Plan" begins. As a pillar of the national economy, the automotive sector has been assigned clearer strategic responsibilities alongside smart manufacturing, new energy, and future industries.
2025 Review: Auto Industry Takes the Lead, Highlighting Resilience
The report notes that China's GDP grew 5% in 2025 to reach 140.19 trillion yuan. The automotive sector performed strongly within this context.
Data indicates that value-added in high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing rose 9.4% and 9.2%, respectively, exceeding overall industrial growth. Specifically, industrial robot output increased 28% and integrated circuits rose 10.9%, while annual production of new energy vehicles (NEVs) surpassed 16 million. Additionally, national EV charging infrastructure exceeded 20 million units, removing a barrier to widespread adoption.
Reviewing a year focused on innovation and quality, the report highlights that R&D and application in artificial intelligence, biomedicine, robotics, and quantum technology are leading globally. Domestic chip development achieved breakthroughs, and local large models are leading the global open-source ecosystem. These technological advances provide a foundation for the intelligence and connectivity of the automotive sector.
“15th Five-Year Plan” Layout: New Quality Productive Forces as the Core, Defining Emerging and Future Industries
In outlining the major goals and tasks for the "15th Five-Year Plan" (2026–2030), the report explicitly states that developing "new quality productive forces" is essential for high-quality development.
The Draft Outline emphasizes the leading role of technological innovation, aiming to consolidate the real economy and build a modern industrial system anchored by advanced manufacturing. Regarding specific industrial directions, the report clearly delineates a gradient cultivation system for "emerging pillar industries" and "future industries."
Building Emerging Pillar Industries: The report calls for industrial innovation projects, encouraging central state-owned enterprises to lead in opening application scenarios. It targets integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, and the low-altitude economy as emerging pillars. Placing the "low-altitude economy" alongside integrated circuits signals strong policy and market support for low-altitude mobility tools like flying cars.
Cultivating Future Industries: The report expands on this, calling for mechanisms to boost investment and share risks in future sectors like future energy, quantum technology, embodied intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G. Notably, “embodied intelligence” is highlighted for the first time in such a high-level report as a distinct future industry. Considered the next development after large language models, embodied intelligence — the integration of AI with physical entities — is expected to impact robotics, smart manufacturing, and human-machine interaction within intelligent cockpits.
2026 Priorities: Policy Increases, Smart and Green Develop Together
As the inaugural year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the report sets specific requirements for this year's government work, many of which directly impact the automotive and related sectors.
1. Boosting Consumption and Investment Together to Support the Auto Market.
The report allocates 250 billion yuan in ultra-long special treasury bonds to support consumer trade-ins and optimize policy implementation, supporting auto consumption. Simultaneously, 200 billion yuan in special funds will support large-scale equipment upgrades, driving production line modernization for automakers and suppliers. To utilize investment potential, the report encourages private capital to flow into high-tech and modern service sectors, boosting confidence in areas like intelligent connected vehicles and battery recycling.
2. Deepening “AI+” to Build a New Smart Economy.
The report calls for "deepening and expanding 'AI+'" to accelerate the adoption of next-gen intelligent terminals and agents. Initiatives include deploying ultra-large-scale intelligent computing clusters and coordinating computing with power, alongside supporting public cloud development. An upgraded "5G + Industrial Internet" is also on the agenda. These measures provide the computing power and network infrastructure needed for smart manufacturing, autonomous driving algorithm training, and the rollout of vehicle-road-cloud integration.
3. Cultivating Emerging Industries and Clarifying Paths for Smart Driving and Flying Cars.
For 2026, the report reiterates the need to strengthen emerging pillars like the low-altitude economy and nurture future sectors such as embodied intelligence and 6G. This signals progress in airworthiness certification, airspace management, and standard-setting for flying cars. Meanwhile, advancements in embodied intelligence will drive the use of humanoid robots on assembly lines and could lead to "smart cockpit partners" capable of emotional interaction.
4. Green and Low-Carbon Transformation to Consolidate New Energy Advantages.
The report targets a roughly 3.8% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2026. Regarding energy structure, it calls for building a new power system, accelerating smart grid construction, developing energy storage, and expanding green power usage. This has significance for ensuring the "green power" attributes of NEVs and advancing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) interaction. Additionally, stricter controls on high-energy and high-emission projects will require traditional automakers to accelerate their transition to new energy and low-carbon processes.
Taken together, this year's report reveals a clear trajectory: a tech-driven, green, and smart industrial path. It moves from the production of "16 million NEVs" in 2025 to the strategic placement of the low-altitude economy and embodied intelligence in the "15th Five-Year Plan," and finally to concrete 2026 measures for trade-ins, AI+, and energy storage.
For the automotive sector, the mandate is clear: consolidate leadership in existing sectors while seizing first-mover advantages in new areas like flying cars and embodied intelligence. This will allow the industry to remain a key driver of high-quality economic development in this new era.
Below is a quick look at the 2026 Government Work Report:
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
