CHERY has submitted its first annual report since going public, with revenue exceeding 300 billion

Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

On March 18, Chery Automobile (HK9973) released its first annual "report card" since listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The financial report shows that Chery Automobile achieved an operating income of 300.287 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%; the annual profit reached 19.507 billion yuan, a significant year-on-year growth of 36.1%. Despite a price war throughout the year, Chery's profit growth rate was more than three times that of its revenue growth rate.

The most striking core data in this financial report is not the revenue scale of 300 billion, but the comprehensive leap in profitability. In 2025, Chery's gross profit margin slightly increased from 13.5% the previous year to 13.8%, while the net profit margin rose from 5.3% to 6.5%.

In this era where bleeding for market share is common, the rapid accumulation of Chery's profit pool is mainly attributed to two factors: the extreme release of scale effects and the optimization of per-vehicle profit structure.

On one hand, after crossing the sales threshold of several million vehicles, fixed costs such as R&D, manufacturing, and management have been significantly diluted. On the other hand, a deeper reason is that Chery is enjoying its unique market price differential bonus.

In the domestic market, car companies often need to engage in close combat; in the overseas markets where Chery has been deeply rooted for many years, its products often have higher pricing power and gross profit space. Compared to traditional luxury giants like BMW, which are facing the pain of electric transformation and pressure on sales in China, Chery has solidified its profit moat through differentiated competition in the incremental market.

If there is a standard answer in the current automotive industry, it is undoubtedly "new energy + intelligence." Chery, however, has demonstrated another path: using the high profits from overseas fuel vehicles to support the high investments in domestic new energy and intelligence.

This approach also appears relatively stable.

While ensuring that fuel vehicle exports continue to serve as a "cash cow," Chery's efforts in the new energy sector should not be underestimated. Through a multi-brand strategy (such as Chery, Exeed, Jetour, iCAR), its new energy product matrix is rapidly being completed, forming a virtuous cycle of "oil-electric synergy."

However, the fragility of this model is also quite evident. Chery's profits are highly dependent on overseas markets, which happen to be the most variable places—tariffs imposed by the European Union have already taken effect, U.S. tariff barriers continue to escalate, and emerging markets like Turkey and Brazil are tightening local protection policies. Once export channels are obstructed, it is not just a matter of slowing growth, but the entire profit structure may be shaken. For a newly listed company, this risk exposure deserves high attention from investors.

In addition, Chery's perception in terms of intelligence still needs continuous improvement. Although Chery has always touted a "science and engineering spirit" in technology R&D, in areas where consumer perception is strongest, such as advanced intelligent driving and smart cockpits, its brand label is still not as distinct as that of some leading new forces.

In the second half of the intelligent competition, how to convert substantial R&D investment into "technology premium" in the terminal market is a challenge that Chery's management must overcome In summary, Chery Automobile's 2025 financial report demonstrates its strong foundation in globalization layout and cost control. In today's industry where "survival" has become the main theme, Chery, holding nearly 20 billion in net profit, undoubtedly possesses a heavyweight chip for entering the next era.

However, to maintain its position at the table in the upcoming global intelligent electric vehicle showdown, Chery still needs to provide more convincing answers regarding its moat in core technologies and its risk resistance capabilities in global operations