Wuhu Unveils 15th Five-Year Targets: Auto Industry to Top 1 Trillion Yuan, 2025 GDP at 540.3 Billion

At a recent press conference titled "Embarking on the 15th Five-Year Plan, Striving Forward with Vigor," Wuhu city in Anhui province outlined its development goals for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). The targets include major breakthroughs in building a modern provincial sub-center, with the city's economic share in the province, its ranking within the Yangtze River Delta, and its national ranking all set to improve. A key goal is to push the auto industry scale beyond RMB 1 trillion.

Wuhu has seen its national economic ranking rise steadily in recent years, with its core auto industry providing strong support. Mayor Xu Zhi announced the city's achievements over the past five years: an average annual GDP growth rate of 6.8%, per capita GDP of RMB 142,000 in 2025, and a national ranking among prefecture-level cities that rose from 57th to 55th place. Total import and export volume grew 2.3 times from the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, with an average annual increase of 26.8%.

In the first half of 2026, China exported 5.096 million vehicles, with Anhui province alone exporting 1.006 million, ranking first nationwide in both volume and value. Wuhu's auto exports reached 763,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 118.3%, accounting for 76% of Anhui's export volume. In 2025, Anhui produced 3.687 million vehicles, surpassing Guangdong to become the top province. Wuhu produced 1.801 million vehicles, nearly half of the province's total. This output surpassed traditional auto hubs such as Shanghai and Changchun, approaching Guangzhou's level. Wuhu's auto production grew by 56.2%, 36.5%, 10.7%, and 35.9% year-on-year from 2021 to 2024, respectively, and by 10.2% in 2025, placing it among the fastest-growing cities with an output of over one million vehicles.

As early as 2023, Wuhu issued an action plan targeting auto output of 3 million vehicles and an industry scale of RMB 600 billion by 2025, and 5 million vehicles with a scale of RMB 1 trillion by 2027. In 2025, Wuhu's auto industry revenue exceeded RMB 680 billion, but actual output fell short of the 3 million target. In the 2026 Wuhu government work report, the timeline for the auto industry to reach a scale of RMB 1 trillion was adjusted to the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and the press conference formally included this as one of the 15th Five-Year Plan goals.

Since March 2026, leaders of six provinces, including Hunan, Anhui, and Henan, have held meetings with Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD. More than a month before the Anhui provincial party secretary and governor met Wang Chuanfu, Wuhu party secretary Ningbo visited BYD for "investment invitation" talks. Ningbo expressed hope that BYD would play a leading role and encourage more ecosystem partners to integrate into Wuhu's auto supply chain. Wang Chuanfu stated that BYD would actively promote business layout and project construction to support Wuhu's high-quality development. Ningbo had previously noted that Wuhu's auto industry still has room for improvement in key component supply and ecosystem development.

In 2021, Anhui's 14th Five-Year Plan proposed supporting Wuhu as a provincial sub-center city. In March 2023, the Anhui provincial government issued a document setting a target for Wuhu's GDP to reach RMB 800 billion by 2027, entering the top 20 in the Yangtze River Delta. Wuhu's 2025 GDP of RMB 540.3 billion placed it 21st in the delta. To achieve the 2027 target, the city would need an average annual economic increase of RMB 130 billion over the next two years.

The press conference further detailed the 15th Five-Year Plan goals: "One Major Breakthrough" refers to significant progress in building a modern provincial sub-center, focusing on three improvements: the city's economic share in the province, its ranking in the Yangtze River Delta, and its national ranking. "Six New Leaps" cover the construction of an innovation city, an auto city, a smart computing city, a hub city, a city of joy, and a city of happiness. For the "auto city" aspect, Wuhu will promote the auto industry as the top priority, strengthening and extending the supply chain through an integrated "vehicle-parts-aftermarket" approach, and building a full-scenario "human-car-home" ecosystem value chain.

Among the 40 pilot cities for auto circulation and consumption reform announced by the Ministry of Commerce and eight other departments, Hefei and Wuhu were both selected. Hefei focuses on exploring a new model of integrated auto production and sales management services, while Wuhu concentrates on green transformation of auto consumption and used car circulation. In 2025, Wuhu exported 1.351 million vehicles, an increase of 17.3%, accounting for 82% of Anhui's total and 19% of China's national exports. This means one in every five exported vehicles was made in Wuhu. The export value of vehicles and parts exceeded RMB 110 billion. In the same year, Wuhu's total import and export volume surpassed RMB 190 billion, up 32.4%, ranking first among non-provincial capital cities in central China and first in growth rate among major foreign trade cities nationwide.