Visitors from all parts of China participate in the auto exhibition on June 25. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

The 2022 Chongqing International Auto Exhibition was unveiled on June 25 in Liangjiang New Area, Southwest China's Chongqing municipality. The event will run until July 3.

As a key automobile research and manufacturing base in China, Liangjiang New Area boasts many renowned auto makers and top auto component suppliers. They debuted their latest products at the expo, including Changan's UNI-V IDD, UNI-V 2.0T, Livan's Livan 7, Livan 9, and 80V PRO.

A special intelligent connected vehicle pavilion was established at the exhibition as well, with more than 300 production models of about 40 new energy vehicle (NEV) brands being put on display.

Under the dual carbon goals, producing NEVs has become a common goal for all auto makers. From January to May, China registered 2.07 million in NEV output and 2 million in NEV sales, and its market penetration rate has grown to 21 percent.

Under these circumstances, Chongqing plans to raise its NEV annual output to 1 million by 2025, which will account for more than 40 percent of total automobile output.

Also of note is that the exhibition has set up for the first time a 5,000-square-meter show area for motorcycles, attracting nearly 20 popular motorcycle brands, such as Harley and BMW.

On the same day, Avatr Tech Co based in Liangjiang signed a strategic collaboration contract with China's technology giant Huawei. The two sides pledged to develop four types of high-end intelligent cars in 2025, based on the CHN – a new-generation intelligent electric vehicle technology platform co-launched by Changan, Huawei and CATL.

"The signing of the contract demonstrates Huawei's recognition of Avatr's rapid development and Huawei's confidence in the CHN cooperation model, and shows the two sides' determination to independently develop core car-making technologies," said Tan Benhong, Avatr's CEO.

Changan started its in-depth cooperation with Huawei in 2019, and data show that Huawei's investment in intelligent vehicle R&D last year was over $1 billion.