• time;2025-07-09 10:35:24

Reporter Guo Yu from China Industry News

Against the backdrop of the deep restructuring of the global energy landscape and the dynamic evolution of market demand, the internal combustion engine industry is undergoing unprecedented changes. The latest data released by the China Internal Combustion Engine Industry Association shows that,The internal combustion engine market shows a complex trend of "month on month decline and year-on-year growth" in the first five months of 2025The data from the past six months reflects the strong resilience of the industry in steadily advancing in the process of economic recovery, as well as the practical challenges brought about by structural adjustments and market fluctuations. At the same time, industry leading enterprises represented by Weichai have bravely taken the lead, continuously increased investment in technological innovation, and injected strong momentum into industrial upgrading. As the final year of the 14th Five Year Plan, 2025 carries the key mission of summarizing the past and planning for the future. The development achievements and valuable experience accumulated by the industry over the years will become a solid foundation for the new journey towards the 15th Five Year Plan.

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Coexistence of short-term fluctuations and structural growth

In May 2025, the internal combustion engine market was mixed, with sales of 4.1561 million units decreasing by 6.74% compared to the previous month. However, the year-on-year growth of 12.31% demonstrated the industry's potential; From January to May, the cumulative sales volume of 21.6427 million units, with a year-on-year increase of 16.36%, further confirms its steady progress in the trend of economic recovery.Experts from the China Internal Combustion Engine Industry Association believe that behind this set of data, seasonal demand changes and short-term imbalances in market supply and demand have led to a month on month decline, while rigid demand brought about by the recovery of the national economy has become the core driving force for year-on-year growth.

From the analysis of fuel types, the market trends of diesel engines and gasoline engines are similar but different. In May, diesel engine sales reached 401000 units, a month on month decrease of 16.46% and a slight year-on-year increase of 1.47%; The sales of 3.7496 million gasoline engines, although a month on month decrease of 5.56%, showed a particularly impressive growth of 13.57% year-on-year. Accumulated data from January to May shows that diesel engine sales reached 2.2494 million units, an increase of 3.77%, while gasoline engine sales reached 19.3636 million units, an increase of 17.99%. The latter's rapid growth is attributed to the continued popularity of the passenger car market. With consumers upgrading their pursuit of travel quality, car manufacturers are constantly innovating. Passenger cars equipped with gasoline engines have become market darlings due to their strong power, comfortable driving experience, and high cost-effectiveness.

Segmented application areas have led to increasingly significant structural differences in the market. In May, sales of passenger cars, commercial vehicles, construction machinery, agricultural machinery and other fields decreased month on month, ranging from 1.28% to 21.71%. However, compared with the same period last year, except for a decline in construction machinery, generator sets, and general machinery, all other fields have achieved growth: passenger car usage increased by 10.37%, commercial vehicle usage increased by 1.87%, agricultural machinery usage increased by 3.50%, and marine usage surged by 20.20%.Experts from the Internal Combustion Engine Association analyze that, based on cumulative data, all application markets except for the general field have achieved positive growthAmong them, the passenger car market benefits from the improvement of residents' consumption ability and the upgrading of automobile consumption; The commercial vehicle market is driven by the recovery of logistics transportation and steady progress in infrastructure construction; The agricultural machinery market is steadily advancing with the assistance of agricultural machinery purchase subsidy policies; The marine industry is rapidly growing due to the recovery of water transportation and the concentrated release of demand for ship upgrades and replacements.

In addition, the increase in industry concentration has also become a significant feature of industry development. In the multi cylinder diesel engine market, the top ten companies such as Weichai and Yuchai firmly occupy 77.36% of the market share with their technological research and development, brand and channel advantages; In the multi cylinder gasoline engine market, companies such as Chery and BYD took advantage of the passenger car market and saw a slight decrease of 1.30% in sales in May compared to the previous month, but a year-on-year increase of 9.74%. The cumulative sales from January to May were 8.4777 million units, an increase of 13.47%. Through continuous technological innovation and product optimization, they stood out.

These market performances cannot be separated from the solid foundation laid by the industry during the 14th Five Year Plan period.Xing Min, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of China Internal Combustion Engine Industry Association, summarized that China has become the world's largest and most complete internal combustion engine manufacturing country in terms of scale and industrial chainSince 2011, the annual production and sales volume has continuously exceeded 75 million units. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, the stable production of about 80 million new products was achieved annually, with a total annual power of over 2.7 billion kilowatts and an annual output value of nearly 800 billion yuan. The inventory has exceeded 600 million units, driving the annual output value of upstream and downstream industries to exceed 20 trillion yuan, and occupying a key position in the national economy.

In terms of technological innovation, the achievements of the 14th Five Year Plan are remarkable. The emission standards have achieved a leapfrog improvement, with the comprehensive implementation of the National V, National VI, and non road three-stage emission standards, bringing China's internal combustion engine emission control level close to the world's advanced level, and even achieving near zero emissions in some areas; The thermal efficiency has significantly improved, with diesel engines increasing by about 50%, gasoline engines increasing by 40% -42%, and some advanced models reaching 43%, effectively reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions; Breakthroughs have been made in fuel diversification, with alternative fuel technologies such as natural gas, dimethyl ether, and methanol moving from the laboratory to the market, opening up new paths for energy conservation and emission reduction in internal combustion engines. These achievements not only strengthen the foundation of sustainable development in the industry, but also provide strong support for the achievement of China's "dual carbon" goals.

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Technological innovation drives industry green transformation

Driven by strong innovation and development, internal combustion engine companies are accelerating the speed of new product research and launch. At the 24th Shanghai International Power Equipment and Generator Exhibition (GPOWER 2025) held in June, Weichai's four products became the focus of the exhibition, showcasing the latest achievements and development trends in technological innovation in the industry.

Faced with the explosive growth of global computing power demand, the demand for high-power power generation in big data centers is becoming increasingly urgent. Weichai's newly launched 20M61 land-based diesel engine has a power of up to 5450kWm. With outstanding advantages such as fast start-up and transient performance that meets G3 standards, it breaks the long-term monopoly of imported brands in this field and demonstrates strong competitiveness in the high-end generator market. The engine adopts advanced combustion technology and intelligent control system, which can maintain efficient and stable operation under complex and variable working conditions, providing reliable power guarantee for key fields such as big data centers. The 6M31 power generation dedicated power product achieves a perfect integration of lightweight and high efficiency with a power of 800kWh and independently developed ECU design. By optimizing the engine structure design and adopting new materials, while reducing the overall weight, the power output efficiency and fuel economy have been significantly improved, effectively reducing the operating costs for users.

Image source: Weichai Information

In addition, new energy internal combustion engines have become an important direction for traditional power companies to transform. For example, hydrogen technology in the international internal combustion engine field has developed rapidly this year. JCB UK launches its first hydrogen internal combustion engine at Bauma exhibition and has received commercial approval from 11 European licensing agencies; The 12 cylinder hydrogen internal combustion engine dump truck jointly developed by Komatsu from Japan and KEYOU from Germany has entered testing; Hyundai Doosan in South Korea plans to mass produce an 11L hydrogen internal combustion engine, which is adaptable to multiple scenarios and has a significant cost advantage.

Chinese internal combustion engine companies have also achieved remarkable results in the field of clean energy power. Weichai's WP13 onshore methanol engine, developed specifically for oil fields, cleverly utilizes methanol, a byproduct of oil field extraction, as fuel. Compared to diesel engines, it reduces costs by 40% and pollutant emissions by 80%. This innovative product not only solves the problem of energy utilization in oil fields, but also provides green and economical power solutions for other industries.

The Weichai 12M55NG engine, fueled by natural gas, has become the focus of industry attention due to its outstanding performance and innovative technology.Weichai technician Zhao XiangyuIntroducing the engine to the reporter, he said, "This engine has undergone rigorous testing and has shown excellent reliability. Its electronic fuel control system can accurately control the fuel injection amount, ensuring that the engine operates in a low fuel consumption state while meeting environmental and economic requirements. In practical applications, whether in industrial scenarios such as mining and oil fields, or special fields with high energy cleanliness requirements, the 12M55NG engine demonstrates strong adaptability and stability, effectively solving customers' dual needs in power and environmental protection

Image source: Accompanying Weichai

In addition, the 350 kW hydrogen internal combustion engine jointly developed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hydrogen Green Dynamic New Energy (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., and Guangxi Yuchai Power Machinery Co., Ltd. has successfully broken through the industry's technological bottleneck. This product requires a minimum of 90% pure hydrogen, with a power generation efficiency of 44%. Key components such as hydrogen embrittlement resistant ceramic coated pistons and multi fuel adaptive nozzles have been 100% domestically produced, breaking the monopoly of Europe and America in related technology fields.

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Moving towards high-quality development in the midst of change

Overall, the internal combustion engine market in May 2025 contains structural growth potential amidst short-term fluctuations, and demand in various fields shows a clear differentiation trend. Under the dual effects of intensified market competition and policy guidance, enterprises have increased their investment in technology research and development, accelerating their transformation towards high efficiency, intelligence, and low carbonization.

Qin Wenjun, analyst at Fangzheng SecuritiesIt is pointed out that the future development of the internal combustion engine industry will face more opportunities and challenges. Against the backdrop of increasing environmental pressure, enterprises need to further increase their research and development investment in green energy technology, efficient combustion technology, exhaust purification technology, and other areas to promote the development of internal combustion engine products towards low-carbon and zero carbon direction. At the same time, actively exploring diversified fuel applications such as hydrogen internal combustion engines, methanol internal combustion engines, etc., opens up new paths for the development of the industry. Intelligent and networked technologies will be deeply integrated into internal combustion engine products, improving engine performance and operational efficiency through intelligent perception and precise control, and meeting the intelligent requirements of power systems in different application scenarios. In terms of market expansion, enterprises should strengthen market research, accurately grasp the demand characteristics of different regions and industries, optimize product structure and marketing strategies, actively explore international markets while consolidating the domestic market, and enhance the international competitiveness of China's internal combustion engine products.

Standing at a critical juncture of change, although the internal combustion engine industry faces challenges, it also contains infinite opportunities. By continuously driving technological innovation, accurately positioning market demand, and deepening industrial collaborative development, the industry is expected to achieve a magnificent transformation in the new era and make more breakthroughs in the "15th Five Year Plan" and even longer term future.

Article source: Reprinted from China Machinery Magazine