Wang Chuanfu Awarded the 2026 "Rao Bin Award," China's Highest Honor in the Automotive Industry

On October 28, the 2026 China SAE Congress opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu. Wang Chuanfu, Chairman and President of BYD Company Limited, was honored with the 2026 Automotive Industry Rao Bin Award. In his acceptance speech, Wang Chuanfu said: "I want to prove somethingthat Shanxi Guoxin Energy Corporation can do it, and that China's auto industry can do it." He noted that BYD Company Limited's development is a microcosm of the development of China's auto industry. China's auto industry has gone from trailing others, to running alongside them, to leading in the new energy sector, and what has been passed down is precisely the valuable spirit of Rao Bin and other veteran auto industry figuresdaring to fight, daring to strive, and persevering in tackling tough challenges. BYD Company Limited's people must carry these ideas forward. Rao Bin and other veterans of the industry achieved the groundbreaking leap of China's auto industry from zero to one, and driving the industry from a major auto country to an auto powerhouse is precisely the historic mission shouldered by our generation of auto industry people. Right now is the moment when we are closest to the goal of becoming an auto powerhouse. The on-site citation for the Rao Bin Award noted that Wang Chuanfu is a bold and resourceful strategist who does not follow the crowd. Since his connection with electric vehicles began in 1996, he has always set strategy based on technology, upheld the resolve that "technology first serves strategy," and forged a path to rise by changing lanes and overtaking. Wang Chuanfu is an engineer who reveres technology and stays rooted on the front line. His story is technology, and technology is his story. He has led 120,000 R&D engineers in deeply exploring the "technology fish pond" and consolidated the foundation for technological self-reliance and self-strengthening. Wang Chuanfu is a doer who dares to think, dares to act, and dares to persevere. In five years, sales increased tenfold, jumping from 400,000 vehicles to 4.6 million vehicles, with products exported to more than 120 countries and regions, making it the first Chinese brand to enter the global top ten automakers by sales. Wang Chuanfu is an industrialist with the ambition of serving the country through industry. The three green dreams have taken root, helping the world reduce cumulative carbon emissions by 150 million tons, and a RMB3 billion education charity fund has been established to support the rejuvenation of the country through science and education, fully demonstrating the profound patriotic sentiment of Chinese auto industry people in the new era. The Rao Bin Award was established on the occasion of the centenary of Comrade Rao Bin's birth in 2013 on the initiative of the industry, and is the highest honor in China's automotive industry. The award has strict selection criteria. It not only recognizes leading figures who carry forward the Rao Bin spirit, possess outstanding technical and management capabilities, and have made outstanding contributions, but also aims to set industry benchmarks and drive the industry to continue leaping forward in strategy, science and technology, management, and culture. This award is not only an affirmation of individual achievements, but also carries spiritual inheritance and the mission of the times, shoulders the responsibility of the historical relay of China's automotive industry, inspires industry practitioners to tackle core technologies and participate in global competition, helps China move from a major auto country to an auto powerhouse, and bears witness to the journey of pursuing dreams.