BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Partnership Bears New Fruit — First AxTrax 2 Electric Drive Axle Rolls Off the Production Line

On June 22, the strategic partnership between BAIC Foton and ZF Friedrichshafen delivered another milestone — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from the two companies' joint venture plant officially rolled off the production line in Jiaxing. The event signals that BAIC Foton has secured a key voice in the new-energy core components segment of the commercial vehicle industry, achieving a critical leap from strategic planning to concrete execution. Zhang Lan, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone; Chang Rui, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, General Manager of BAIC Group, and Chairman of BAIC Foton; Lu Zhenghua, Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of BAIC Foton; Cui Shipeng, Deputy General Manager of BAIC Foton and Chairman of ZF-Foton; and Andreas Moser, Member of the ZF Group Board of Directors and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology Divisions, joined several hundred guests from government, both shareholder parties, partners, and the media to witness this landmark moment.

01 Aligning with Industry Transformation: Strategic Layout Yields Tangible Results

Today, the automotive industry is undergoing a once-in-a-century transformation, with electrification and intelligentization sweeping the globe. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the domestic commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize at around 3.2 million units, with new-energy penetration projected to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ level autonomous driving penetration reaching 30%. At the same time, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy self-reliance has risen to the core of national strategies, accelerating the commercial vehicle industry's transition from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

Driven by a profound insight into these industry trends, BAIC Foton and ZF signed a strategic agreement in April 2023 to introduce ZF's latest electric drive technology to China for the first time, with production based in Jiaxing. After three years of careful construction and preparation, the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle has officially rolled off the line at the joint venture plant, turning this strategic blueprint into reality.

As ZF's integrated electric drive axle platform designed for the next generation of commercial vehicles, AxTrax 2 is applicable to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential and conventional axle, enabling the electrification of commercial vehicles. The product rolled off the line this time features a silicon carbide inverter on a 930V platform, delivering 210 kW of continuous output and 26,000 N·m of peak torque, paired with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator. Its compact design maximizes battery packaging space while fully synchronizing with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient, intelligent system solution for the electrification of commercial vehicles.

02 Jiaxing Base Continues to Empower: Joint Venture Cooperation Reaches New Heights

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, the partnership between the two sides has continued to deepen. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has accumulated RMB 20 billion in sales. With advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base is becoming an important manufacturing, R&D and functional headquarters for ZF in the Asia-Pacific region. The official roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle marks a key step in extending the two sides' cooperation from the traditional transmission sector into the electric drive domain.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt thanks to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, the municipal government, the Economic Development Zone and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support of the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant, and paid high tribute to the project team and all employees who worked day and night to overcome challenges. He noted that the launch of the new product is only the first step of a long march, and put forward three expectations for the future development of the joint venture:

First, sustain technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's complete-vehicle and application-scenario advantages, accelerating the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserve to commercial delivery.

Second, deepen customer value by focusing on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transportation, accelerating the value conversion of the product from "roll-off and delivery" to "customer profitability."

Third, advance localization and cost reduction with efficiency gains by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic industrial chain, accelerating the localization of components so that electric drive axles of global quality can benefit customers at better value for money — helping new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their transition from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

03 Anchored to the 15th Five-Year Plan: Powering the Green Transformation of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the critical starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the mass production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important outcome of BAIC Foton's push to advance its three major strategies of "comprehensive internationalization, comprehensive new-energy transition, and comprehensive intelligentization." Facing industry trends of deep integration between electrification and intelligentization, and the restructuring of the global landscape, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as its lever to build a vertically integrated synergy advantage across core components such as batteries, electric drives and electronic controls.

The official production launch of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle not only provides strong technological support for BAIC Foton's new-energy commercial vehicles, but also sets a benchmark for the localization of electric drive technology in China's commercial vehicle industry. Looking ahead, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant will continue to drive a cost revolution through technological innovation and unlock efficiency through lean management, pushing new-energy commercial vehicles to accelerate into a new stage driven by the market.