BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Partnership Delivers New Milestone: First AxTrax 2 Electric Drive Axle Rolls Off the Line in Jiaxing

On June 22, the strategic partnership between BAIC Foton and ZF delivered another tangible result: the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle produced by the two companies' joint venture plant officially rolled off the line in Jiaxing. The milestone signals that BAIC Foton now holds a key voice in core new-energy components for commercial vehicles, completing the critical leap from strategic layout to on-the-ground delivery.

Zhang Lan, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of the Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone; Chang Rui, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and 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 Management and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions, joined several hundred guests from government, both shareholder sides, the partner community and the media to witness the moment.

01 Riding the Wave of Industry Transformation: Strategy Turns into Results

The automotive industry is undergoing its most profound upheaval in a century, as electrification and intelligentization sweep the globe. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), China's domestic commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize at roughly 3.2 million units, with new-energy penetration forecast to reach 50% by 2030 and L2-and-above intelligent driving adoption in commercial vehicles reaching 30%. At the same time, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy self-sufficiency has been elevated to a strategic priority for nations — pushing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its shift from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

It was precisely this reading of industry trends that led BAIC Foton and ZF to sign a strategic agreement in April 2023, introducing ZF's latest electric drive technology to China for the first time and localizing production in Jiaxing. After three years of careful construction and preparation, the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle has now entered production at the joint venture plant, turning that strategic blueprint into reality.

Developed by ZF as an integrated electric drive axle platform for next-generation commercial vehicles, the AxTrax 2 is applicable to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, propeller shaft, differential and conventional axle, enabling the electrification of commercial vehicles. The unit launched this time is equipped with a silicon carbide inverter operating on a platform of up to 930 volts, delivering 210 kW of continuous output power and 26,000 N·m of peak torque, paired with a three-speed transmission and an electronic shifting actuator. Its compact packaging frees up maximum space for battery placement while achieving full synchronization with vehicle braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient, intelligent system solution for the electrification of commercial vehicles.

02 The Jiaxing Base Keeps Empowering: Joint Venture Reaches a New Level

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two sides has deepened continuously. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has generated RMB 20 billion in cumulative sales. With its advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base is becoming a key manufacturing, R&D and competence headquarters for ZF in the Asia-Pacific region. The official roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle marks a decisive step in extending the partnership from conventional transmissions into the field of electric drive.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt thanks to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, the municipal government, the Economic and Technological Development Zone and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support for the development 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 formidable challenges. He noted that the roll-off of a new product is only the first step of a long march, and put forward three expectations for the joint venture's future:

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

Second, deepen customer value by focusing on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transport, speeding the value conversion from "delivery off the line" to "customer profitability."

Third, advance localization and cost reduction with improved efficiency, relying on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic industrial chain to accelerate local sourcing of components — so that electric drive axles of world-class quality benefit customers at better value, and so that new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their shift from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

03 Anchored on the 15th Five-Year Plan: Advancing the Green Transition of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the pivotal opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the mass-production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important achievement in BAIC Foton's push of its three overarching strategies: "full-scale internationalization, full-scale new-energy transition and full-scale intelligentization." Facing an industry trend in which electrification and intelligentization are deeply converging and the global landscape is being restructured, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as its lever to build vertically integrated synergies across core components including batteries, electric drive and electronic control.

The official start of production of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle not only provides strong technical support for BAIC Foton's new-energy commercial vehicles, but also sets a benchmark for the localized development 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, helping new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate into a new stage led by market demand.