Recently, an expert's assertion that "the profits from 30 million Chinese cars are less than those of Toyota" has garnered considerable attention. In response, the Economic Daily published an article highlighting the lack of rigor in this statement. Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics reveal that China sold 31.436 million vehicles last year, generating profits of 462.26 billion yuan, comfortably surpassing Toyota's net profit from over 9 million vehicles (approximately 237.621 billion yuan). Nevertheless, this perspective does underscore the disparity between the scale and efficiency of China's auto industry.

Specifically, the combined net profit of 18 major listed Chinese auto companies falls short of 80 billion yuan, with profits per vehicle significantly trailing those of Toyota. This disparity is largely attributed to the proliferation of Chinese auto companies, intense competition, asynchronous industrial transformation efforts, and a skewed market structure. Despite these challenges, China's auto industry is poised for a historic shift towards new energy vehicles, anticipating a transition from "reliance on foreign capital" to "independent innovation," which could bolster overall profitability.