As China's automotive industry enters the era of new energy, the safety issue of power batteries is like a Damocles sword, forever hanging over users' heads. And once a quality issue occurs, users may not even know where this sword of Damocles comes from. Host factory? supplier Where exactly is the responsibility? Since 2020, similar issues have become increasingly common. However, what the outside world always sees is mutual shirking of responsibility between the host factory and the supplier, with no way for users to complain and no hope of compensation. A world where only users are injured has emerged. But by the end of 2025, things had changed. In December last year, Geely filed a lawsuit against its battery supplier, Xinwangda. On February 6, 2026, Xinwangda announced that the two parties had reached a settlement after sufficient communication. According to the Settlement Agreement, Xinwangda Power is required to pay 608 million yuan to Weirui Electric, which is the remaining compensation after deducting the already incurred expenses, to be settled over five years.

This time, the entire industry and the vast number of users have seen Geely daring to "show its sword" to its supplier partners for the safety and rights of users. The world where only users were injured has finally been ended by Geely. In the global automotive industry, OEMs and suppliers are actually a community of shared interests, with both prospering and losing together. In the era of new energy, as power batteries can account for over one-third of the total vehicle cost, the voice of power battery companies has further increased. But for the sake of users' rights, Geely still chose to take legal action against Xinwangda, which also reflects Geely's sense of responsibility. On the other hand, regulatory authorities have introduced multiple new regulations related to vehicle safety in 2025, covering multiple aspects such as power batteries, door handles, and assisted driving. This series of new regulations is sending a clear signal that the Chinese automotive industry must shift from vicious price competition to high-quality development. In this context, Geely's "shining sword" is not only a rectification of its own supply chain to safeguard user rights, but also a response to the national call, hoping to help the Chinese automotive industry establish a healthy competitive order and promote the whole industry to move towards higher standards. In 1940, when the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japan entered a critical moment, Mao Zedong put forward the first principle of self-defense and the important principles of seeking unity through struggle, strength, advantage, and restraint in order to maintain the anti Japanese national united front. He ultimately led the Chinese people to achieve victory in the war. In 2026, the Chinese automotive industry has also reached a critical moment of transformation and upgrading. When price wars and internal competition are abandoned by most car companies, how to sort out the relationship with suppliers and how to protect consumer rights are key issues that need to be addressed at this stage for the main engine manufacturers as the owners of the industry chain. In the lawsuit between Geely and Xinwangda, the outside world saw Geely's thinking and solution to the above issues: promoting cooperation through litigation and seeking unity through struggle. At the end of 2024, Geely's Jike brand discovered a power battery issue and immediately chose to protect user rights by providing free battery pack replacements for related models, with a single vehicle cost of approximately 149000 yuan. Afterwards, Geely chose to "show its sword", but the ultimate goal was still to maintain cooperation and jointly protect the rights and interests of users. As a result, after only one month, both parties reached a settlement, and Geely will withdraw the relevant lawsuit in a timely manner. According to the "Settlement Agreement" disclosed by Xinwangda, Xinwangda Power is required to pay 608 million yuan to Weirui Electric, which is the remaining amount after deducting the already incurred expenses, and will be settled in five years: 60% will be paid in 2026, and the remaining 10% will be paid from 2027 to 2030. In addition, if a recall event occurs in the future, both parties will share the cost proportionally. It is worth noting that in previous disputes between host factories and battery factories, the amount involved was often very high. In 2021, General Motors reached an agreement with LG New Energy, the largest battery manufacturer in South Korea. LG paid General Motors $1.9 billion, approximately RMB 13.2 billion, to compensate for the cost of recalling the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle due to the risk of battery fire. In another case in 2021, Hyundai also recalled tens of thousands of pure electric vehicles due to the risk of power battery fires. For this reason, LG New Energy has compensated Hyundai with approximately 98 million Korean won, equivalent to approximately 4.6 billion yuan. It is not difficult to see that there is an exponential difference in the cost amount that Xinwangda needs to pay compared to the two cases mentioned above, and it can be paid over five years. From this, it can be seen that although Geely has shown its "sword" to suppliers, it still adheres to the principles of rationality, benefit, and restraint in actual handling, hoping to promote cooperation through litigation and seek unity through struggle, doing everything possible to protect the rights and interests of consumers, and contributing to the healthy development of China's automotive industry. Geely has also received the due return. Geely deserves to grow. After years of price wars, in 2025, the Chinese automotive industry will embark on a major anti involution campaign. However, with the wave of anti involution sweeping in, some car companies have begun to struggle to adapt to the new environment, resulting in a decline in sales. But at the same time, Geely's sales are still growing rapidly. Official data shows that by 2025, Geely Holding Group's global total sales will reach 4.116 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 26%, with annual sales exceeding 4 million for the first time, setting a new historical high. Among them, the sales of new energy vehicles reached 2.293 million units, a year-on-year increase of 58%, and the penetration rate of new energy reached 56%, becoming the main driving force for the group's growth.

After experiencing the battery storm, Jike will also deliver 224000 new cars in 2025, achieving year-on-year growth. Moreover, more importantly, the Jike 9X has become a phenomenon level hot selling model. After becoming the best-selling large SUV with over 500000 units in November 2025, it delivered over 10000 units for the first time in December, with an average transaction price of 538000 yuan per vehicle. In January 2026, Geely went against the trend and achieved sales of 270000 vehicles, becoming the only car company with both year-on-year and month on month growth, despite a significant cooling of the auto market. From this, it can be seen that the battery storm did not affect the market performance of Geely and Jike. In other words, Geely's sense of responsibility to users demonstrated in the battery storm has instead promoted sales growth and brand improvement. Chinese consumers have given genuine thumbs up votes to Geely and Jike.

Car companies that are responsible to their users should achieve growth. In other words, if the car companies responsible to users do not grow. Do we want those car companies that launch price wars recklessly to grow? Do we want irresponsible car companies to grow? Do we want car companies that only know about internal competition to grow? I can't! The Chinese people do not agree! In 2025, from hidden handles to assisted driving and power batteries, regulatory authorities have launched a strong regulatory model to safeguard consumer rights in car use. "Intelligent driving" will return to assisted driving, and hidden door handles will say goodbye forever in 2027, never to be seen again. In terms of power batteries, in April 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "mandatory" national standard "Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles", which will come into effect on July 1, 2026. The new national standard has changed the requirement for power batteries to be "non flammable and non explosive" as a mandatory requirement, which has been praised by many as the strictest battery safety regulation in history. With less than half a year left until July this year, Chinese car companies and suppliers are bound to face a series of challenges and new problems. And this time, Geely and Xinwangda were able to turn hostility into friendship. Since consumers have seen that with the joint efforts of Geely and Xinwangda, their own rights and interests can be maximally protected. This further reflects the maturity of Chinese host manufacturers and suppliers, setting a new model of cooperation for the entire industry.