Respected dear investors, dear friends from the media, good afternoon. Thank you very much for taking the time from your busy schedule to attend the 2026 interim results announcement conference. My name is [Joe Yang], the moderator of today's conference. First of all, let me introduce to you the leadership attending today's event. They are respectively Mr. CEO of Zhejiang Geely Group, and Mr. An Conghui, Geely Automobile Holdings Limited, Executive Chairman, I beg your forgiveness. Mr. Gui Shengyue, Geely Group CEO, Geely Automobile Holdings Limited CEO, Mr. Gan Jiayue. The Executive Director of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited, Mr. Mao Jian Ming. And Mr. Dai Yong, Geely Automobile Holdings Group. Also attending today's event include our Independent Director, Madam Tseng Chin I. Welcome. Probably you have seen the announcements online. All the indicators have been quite positive or in the positive domain.
First of all, let's invite our Mr. CFO, Dai Yong, to the stage to brief us on those statistics.
Dear investors, dear friends from the media, good afternoon to you all. Welcome to the Geely Automobile 2026 interim results conference. Now, I would like to walk you through the company's financial performance and the operational results for the first half of 2026. During the first half of this year, despite a challenging automotive market marked by policy adjustments, phase outs, and intensifying price competition, we have bucked the trend. Guided by our One Geely full-spectrum leadership, we have been progressively consolidating our resources and achieved historical breakthroughs in sales revenue and profitability. In terms of sales, we reached 1,426 or 1.423 million vehicles in the first half, up by 1% year-on-year, a resilient performance against a broader industry decline of 6%.
The total sales hit the record of 474,000 units in the first half, representing a year-on-year increase of about 158%. The total revenue reached about CNY 173.6 billion, up by 15% year-on-year. The core net profits attributable to the shareholders came in at CNY 9.68 billion, up by 46 year-on-year, with profitability continuing to improve. Leveraging our coordinated strategies in smart technology, global expansion, premium branding, and energy diversification, we have deeply integrated our brands and created a full spectrum synergy. The outcome is clear. Revenue growth outpaced the sales growth. Gross profit growth outpaced revenue growth, and the core net profit growth outpaced gross profit growth. That's a healthy, sustainable trajectory. Now let me walk you through some of the key statistics.
First of all, by energy type, we gained a market share in both the new energy vehicles and the conventional fuel vehicles, driving our overall market share to the new record high for the period. In the conventional fuel or ICE segment, despite a 17% industry decline, our first half market share rose to about 10.71%, up by 10% year-on-year. Our NEV market share rose to 11.59%, up by 4 percentage points, also reaching a new high for the period. Our energy diversification strategy is clearly paying off, with both resilience and growth momentum strengthening in tandem. On the international aspect, export sales more than doubled, outpacing the industry. H1 export volume reached 474,000, up by 158% year-on-year, far exceeding the industry average of 72%. Among these figures, NEV exports hit 277,000 units, a staggering 585% year-on-year increase.
As of July, we have posted monthly export volume exceeding 100,000 units for two consecutive months, a clear sign that our globalization strategy is accelerating across the board. In terms of premium branding, ZEEKR is our spearhead brand for moving upmarket. In the first half, it sold about 178,000 units, up by 95%, generating CNY 55 billion in revenue, a 103% increase, effectively doubling its business. The sales of ZEEKR models with an average transaction price above CNY 300,000 skyrocketed by about 492% against the 14% industry decline in that same segment. The combined push of premium branding and globalization has driven revenue and gross profit to new heights. H1 total revenue reached CNY 173.6 billion, up by 15%. Average revenue per vehicle hit CNY 112,000, up by 16% year-on-year, both all-time highs. H1 gross profit totaled CNY 31.2 billion, up by 26% year-on-year.
The gross margin improved by about 10% year-on-year to about 17.9%. Benefiting from the One Geely strategy, the ongoing benefits of our brand integration, channel synergy, and resource sharing continue to materialize. Our administrative expense ratio is steadily improving while our selling expense ratios remain stable, even amid rapid overseas expansion. Selling expense ratio rose to 4.7%, up by 1.4% year-on-year. The main expense ratio fell to 1.7%, down by 12.3% year-on-year. From an R&D perspective, we are consolidating resources, improving quality and efficiency, and reinforcing our product and technology leadership. R&D investment totaled about CNY 9.06 billion, up by 8% year-on-year, maintaining a stable level to secure our technological edge. R&D as a percentage of revenue stood at about 5.2%, down by 5% year-on-year. With our premium branding, our globalization strategy continued to advance, our product mix is improving, and our earnings quality improved to a new high.
Our core net profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 9.68 billion, up by 46% year-on-year. Core net profit margin attributable to shareholders stood at about 5.6%, up by 27% year-on-year. Per vehicle, core net profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 6,806, up by 45% year-on-year. Our strong business growth has also generated ample cash flows, with cash flows remaining stable. By the end of June 2026, our cash reserves stood at CNY 69.6 billion, a historical high. The robust cash position provides a solid foundation for future development, significantly enhancing our risk resilience and growth sustainability. That concludes the first part, which is about the financial statistics. Now I come to the second part, which is about the operational highlights of our brands. Talking about ZEEKR, H1 sales reached 178,000 units, up by 97% year-on-year, with Zeekr 9X delivering over 46,000 units.
ZEEKR's product portfolio covers the mainstream premium segments and ranks among the top of the Chinese premium new energy brands. Zeekr 9X ranks number one in China's vehicle segment above CNY 500,000 in H1. Zeekr 8X ranked number one during the range of CNY 300,000- CNY 500,000, mid to large plug-in hybrid SUV segment for two consecutive years after its launch. For Lynk & Co, H1 sales reached 144,000 units, of which NEV sales accounted for 94,000, up by 9% year-on-year, with NEV penetration rising to 65%. Lynk & Co 07 GT exceeded 10,000 confirmed orders within 27 minutes of its launch. The 10 EM-P ranked number one in China's PHEV B-segment premium sedan market across all brands. Talking about Geely Galaxy, just three years after its launch, the cumulative sales have surpassed 2.5 million units as at the end of June.
Galaxy brand H1 2026 sales reached 520,000 units, firmly placing it among the top tier of China's NEV brands. The Geely Xingyue ranked number one across all passenger vehicle segments, all brands in China. The Galaxy Xingyao 8 ranked number one among all plug-in hybrid B-segment sedans in China. Geely China Star H1 sales reached 581,000 units, marking the 10th consecutive year as the number one Chinese independent brand in conventional fuel and hybrid vehicle segment. Despite an overall market decline in the fuel and hybrid segment, China Star continued to lead and achieve the counter-cyclical growth. The Xingyue L ranked number two among Chinese independent brands, and the Boyue ranked number one among all brands in China's commercial segment and SUV segment across all classes. The Xingyue ranked number one among Chinese independent brands in the IC model A-segment sedan category.
The Binyue ranked number one among all brands in China's fuel and hybrid A0 segment SUV category. Our technological developments have not only driven better financial performances, but also ensured and created greener and safer mobility experiences for society. The i-HEV intelligent hybrid system, launched in H1, redefines the next generation of hybrid technology, achieving 12% lower fuel consumption than the global benchmark. The all-new 16-in-1 intelligent E drive delivers industrial leading combined efficiency, further reducing NEV energy consumption, marking green mobility even more efficient. Smart technology is also enhancing safety. Geely became the first automaker in China to receive national-level certification for its driver assistance safety management system. Our G-ASD is also the first Chinese system to pass UN driver assistance certification, bringing safe intelligence drive experiences to users in EV and beyond.
Looking ahead into the second half of this year, we will continue to leverage smart technology, premium branding, globalization, and energy diversification to push for whole year sales target completion. ZEEKR continues to move upward. Zeekr 009 Glory Edition and Zeekr 9X Glory Edition will launch in H2, expanding our premium market matrix and solidifying our position as a premium brand benchmark. Lynk & Co broadens its scope even further. In H2, we will launch an all-new Lynk & Co 20 and all-new Lynk & Co 900, refreshing our product lineup and technology, while reinforcing Lynk & Co's sporty DNA. Geely Galaxy expands further its categories and strengthens its core base. H2 will see the launch of a Galaxy Battleship 700 and a Galaxy TT, expanding our product portfolio with off-road and pure electric vehicles.
Geely's China stock will fully embrace i-HEV in H2 with multiple i-HEV intelligent hybrid models rolling out. We've also launched the Xingyue L PLUS, an all-new flagship SUV in H2, cementing our position as number one in Chinese branding in pure and hybrid vehicles. Talking about exports, 2026 marks a year of a full acceleration. In export, we are targeting key overseas markets and have raised the export target from 640,000- 920,000 units. With the ambition of challenging the one million unit overseas sales market, we are going to focus even further on building one 300,000 level market in ASEAN, three 200,000 level market in Pan-Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Latin American, Africa and a 100,000 level market in Middle East and Asia Pacific. On technology, Geely is building a moat for the new energy era under the core philosophy of technology leadership and technology equality.
With full domain AI as our core strategy, we are accelerating technological interaction. H2, G-ASD 5.0 will enter mass production, delivering a more extreme and a safer driver assistance experience. G-ASD H7 will also be rolled out across Lynk & Co and the Galaxy models, accelerating the adoption of advanced driver assistance systems. We are also going to accelerate large-scale operation of our robotaxis and build out our future mobility ecosystems on the smart cockpit front. Super EVA 2 will also receive an OTA update, achieving cockpit driving integration and a full domain AI convergence from assisted driving to smart cockpits. We are building an end-to-end intelligent experience to achieve industrial leadership. We are also looking ahead into the future. Full domain AI is our core technology to face the future.
On centering our AI cloud powertrain, i-HEV intelligent hybrid, intelligent e-drive and the 900V ecosystem, AI digital chassis, quantum level AI, E/E architecture chips, integrated spatial-terrestrial connectivity and embodied intelligence, we are accelerating our technological breakthroughs and are committed to achieving industrial leadership in intelligent experiences. Under the One Geely strategy and through the synergic push of a smart technology, premium branding, globalization, and energy electrification, we have reached our best ever H1 performances across core metrics including sales, profitability, operational efficiency, and cash reserves. The foundation for high-quality development continues to strengthen and our growth momentum continues to build. Looking ahead into the future, we will stay committed to our strategic direction, focusing on technological innovation and user value creation, further expanding our global footprint and accelerating our journeys towards becoming the full domain AI smart vehicle leader. That concludes my presentation.
Thank you very much for this listening.
Thank you. Next, I would like to invite Mr. Gui to address the audience.
First of all, I would like to offer my gratitude to all of you for attending the Geely Auto Group 2026 H1 interim result announcement event. I thank you very much for your long-term support to Geely Auto. We've just announced our financial results and business operation in the first half of 2026. I would like to give you an interpretation of this business performance and interim results. I would like to offer my point of view on this report. First of all, I think, well, this interim result is in line with our expectation.
In the past couple of years, as you know that I've been putting these words again and again that in the future, there are very high chances that the results we announced would be in line with our expectation. It happened during the first half of 2026. Now you can see that in the first half of 2026, in terms of sales revenue per unit, sales revenue, operational scale, we've reached new heights. This financial release is in line with our expectation. My second observation is that this financial statement is a wonderful one. You all know that in the first half of 2026, the auto industry in China in the first half of 2026 is highly competitive. Many automakers are running at a loss. The average profitability for auto industry in the first half of 2026 has reached 1.6%.
It is in this context that we achieved close to CNY 10 billion revenues attributable to shareholders. Our profitability or profit margin rate is about 5.6%. Way above the industry average. I would say that this is a wonderful business performance for Geely during the first half of 2026. My third observation is that this financial statement is not that surprising. The first half of this year, the auto industry in China has faced the most challenging scenarios never met before in the past 20 years. The total sales units witnessed a double-digit decline in the first half of 2026 in the Chinese market. We've seen a rapid increase in the price of chips and other raw materials. The competition is quite throat-cutting in the auto industry.
Despite the fact that the Geely Auto has enjoyed historic records in terms of sales revenue and business margin, our growth trajectory has inevitably been impacted by this negative trend in the auto industry in China. I would say this is a wonderful financial statement, but it is not that surprising. This is my third observation. My fourth viewpoint is the one that I would like to share with you the most. This financial statement is a sustainable one into the future, and I believe that you're very much interested in my fourth point. Systematic capabilities, strategic resilience, as well as the pursuit of long-term value creation capabilities are the three key pillars to support my fourth point of view. The competition in the modern auto industry goes beyond product itself. It's the competition of different systems, strategic resilience, and long-term value creation capabilities.
I can very confidently tell you that after years of development within Geely, we've established the abovementioned capabilities and abilities. I'd like to slightly elaborate on these three areas. First of all, talking about the systematic capability. In March this year, when we released the whole year business performance of 2025, I talked about the all-domain AI, safety benchmark, business integration, the diversification of powertrain and energy, and other relevant and important topics during that event. That is exactly these elements that constitute the systematic capabilities of Geely Auto. It is fair to say that the achievements we've made during the first half of 2026, it's not dependent on the result of a specific product or a specific segment or the result of a specific period of time. This is financial achievements we've made on the basis of the full systematic capabilities.
Thanks to that systematic capabilities, we will be able to perform even better with greater confidence in face of the challenges in the future. I will give you two examples to sustain that systematic capabilities. In the first half of 2026, if you take a look at our product portfolio, the greatest highlight is the transition toward intelligence. During the transition to our new energy toward intelligence, in 2025, we have already built some sort of confidence in our new energy powertrain. In 2025, you still might have some doubt over our intelligence capabilities. But before this event, we have organized some programs and activities, and I believe that many of you have participated into our programs and activities before this press conference. These events and programs exposed you to our true intelligence capabilities within the Geely system.
I believe that through these programs and activities and events, you might now have a very deep understanding of the level of intelligence we are able to achieve within Geely Auto. I believe that in the domain of intelligence, Geely Auto is a leading auto company in China. As time goes by, we will be certainly in the leadership position within the Chinese auto industry. Talking about our systematic capability, on one hand, it helps to create the products that is needed within China. One figure is on the financial statement. Is that according to the China Automobile Industry Association, during the first half of this year, Geely ranked number one in China in terms of terminal sales. Thanks to our systematic capability, we have been able to achieve what we have achieved. More importantly, this systematic capability would support or facilitate Geely's international expansion.
You are quite interested in our export business. As our financial statement shows that during the first half of 2026, Geely has done a tremendous job in terms of its exportation. Mr. Gan, as far as my understanding is concerned, we have already hit the annual target we set for ourselves at the beginning of this year, by now. This is a wonderful result we have achieved. I just want to tell you that this is the beginning of our world expansion. Why did I say that? Because we are still exporting a limited number of product models within a very narrow price bracket. We are going to export more models on a wider range of price bracket. In the future, we are going to export our premium products into the international market.
There are a lot of videos on the internet, one of which features a fanatic fan of Geely who air transported four Geely ZEEKR models from China to the Middle East. There is a growing demand for premium brands from Geely in the Middle East as well as in the European markets. The new energy vehicle in China has won global recognition. But most of this recognition falls on the low-end category. I would say that the ZEEKR brands from Geely would uplift that global recognition of the new energy vehicle in China. Meaning that the Chinese automakers are capable of manufacturing premium, high-end, luxury new energy vehicles. We just released some numbers with regard to the i-HEV product. i-HEV product is probably the segment that accounts for the largest market share in the world, and Geely's i-HEV product is capable of competing in the international market.
I give you these examples just to tell you that we've already established the kind of systematic capability within the company or the company group, which allows us to make progress in the domestic market and enable us to further expand into the international market. Secondly, I am going to talk about strategic resilience. Scale, profitability, growth, and sustainability. These are the most important points we focus on. We focus on the long-term instead of the short-term profitability. That means we need to have the kind of strategic resilience even if in difficult times. We need to maintain high growth rate. That is true. At the same time, we still need to maintain the operational stability within the company. Both are important. I would also like to give you an example to substantiate that point. We have a consensus over the development of the Chinese auto industry.
That expansion of market will contribute the greatest growth engine for the Chinese auto industry. We are facing a highly unstable geopolitical situation. We need to expand into the international market while we need to reduce the exposure of massive investment into the international markets. I think this is a common issue facing all the Chinese automakers. On that front, it is a natural extension of what I have described as the strategic solidity of Geely Auto Group. We have also devised a strategy to collaborate even further with our global peers and counterparts. By doing so, we can be committed to our long-term development, not only in the overseas, but also help us to withstand the possible tests and challenges from the overseas market. It is also a key reflection of Geely's responsibility for the automotive market in general.
By working together to co-use or to co-share this platform, we can seek win-win situation for all partners. This is what I call how we can stick firmly to our original strategy, and that is also paving the way for our global pathway. The reason why we will embrace such a practice is largely because we, Geely Auto, over the past two decades, have been doing all the time by integrating or acquiring Volvo and working together with Renault and many other brands. We have garnered respect and trust from our global partners. The historical trust placed on our shoulders by our counterparts will help us to achieve a much better result in the days to come. While I was talking about the value creation and strategic solidity, I also talked a lot about the export. We have three main advantages on export front.
I want to give you a quick summary of these strengths. First of all, premium branding. Secondly, diversification of our vehicle types. Thirdly, the historical trust from our colleagues and from our peers upon Geely Auto Group. This will help us to win even more trust and ensure that we can achieve a much bigger success in the days to come, especially in the overseas market. The third aspect I am talking about is the long-term value creation. The systemic capability, strategic solidity, power, in addition to the correct or the precise judgment, combine to form the very foundation for value creation in the long term. I have already explained to you a lot, especially related to the first two fronts. Talking about the third one, Geely was among the earliest players to raise that we need to embrace all domain AI for the auto industry.
For example, the Xingrui Smart Center was introduced. It is the first step for us to enter into a huge domain of AI. Looking ahead, full domain AI plus smart mobility will become the future trend. This is something that we have a very clear understanding about, and it is also something that we have already been coupling with a fully fledged system. You can also see that Geely currently has formed a fully fledged system that can adapt further to those two major trends. For example, for Gruppo Catone, for the G-ASD, CaoCao Mobility, and many others. The existence of those systems will help us to win more space for our future. This can also ensure that we can provide a solid guarantee for the creation of long-term benefit and a value for Geely Auto.
These are the three aspects to illustrate that we are fully capable on those fronts before we can tell you for sure that our financial statements will continue to make you feel quite happy about. I want to be bold enough to tell you that in the foreseeable future, you will see a much stronger Geely. So much for my observation and my summary of 2026 H1 support report. Thank you.
Today's press conference also comes with another very key aspect. Have you ever noticed that about half an hour ago, our company has made the latest announcement? Probably you have already taken notice of this important message. Probably you want to know more about this information. Before my explanation of this announcement, next, please take a look at a video clip recorded by Mr. Chairman Li Shufu for about 15 minutes. Okay, shall we now move our chairs a little bit to facilitate the watching process?
[Non-English content]
Now you've watched the video as entrusted by the board of directors. I'd like to give you a brief explanation of this change of leadership. This is a significant change in the leadership for Geely Auto. It is by no means a simple shift of the leadership. It is a strategic evolution of the entire institution of Geely Auto. After reform and open-up policies, with nearly five decades of development, most of the private companies in China are facing the installation of a second generation of leadership. Eric Li resigned the position of the Chairman of Geely Auto, and Mr. An Conghui served as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of Geely Auto. This shift of leadership is a declaration to get rid of the sense of the family-run business to a company that is broadly managed by team, by institutions, and by systems.
The company or the company group will no longer rely upon personal charisma and power. Instead, its operation will rely on institutions and systems, which means the governance of Geely Auto will be even more transparent in the future. Its decision-making process will be more professional, its management will be more science-based. At the same time, as to the internal talent, this is a strong signal that the professional ceiling has been broken. It will definitely instill passion into each and every employee within the company group, who will in turn generate greater value for shareholders and the society as a whole. I think this is the strong significance of this change of leadership. Mr. An Conghui will become the Chairman of the Board of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited. He is currently the CEO of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.
175 is probably the only listed company within the Geely Group that he will serve as the Chairman of. This means we will continue to implement this Taizhou Declaration and we will continue to follow the One Geely strategy, and we will consolidate all the qualitative resources within Geely to make sure that they will be channeled into our listed platforms, to make sure that our listed companies will be bigger and stronger and generate the greatest value for our shareholders. Chairman Li highly recognized the professional capabilities of Mr. An Conghui. He has years and years of experience in the auto industry, and he has a depth of understanding of automotive products, and all this will enable him to develop the Geely Auto Holdings Limited to a new height. This is a great move in corporate inheritance, and it has far-reaching significance.
The other thing is that I myself will resign as the CEO of Geely Auto, and Mr. Gan will be my successor. It is also the shift of leadership and management of Geely Auto. It is required by the era, it is required to maintain the vitality of the company, and it is required. This shift of leadership is required in order to turn this listed company into a bigger and stronger one. We need young bodies, younger minds, and digital pro-wisdoms, especially in the time of internet and artificial intelligence. Mr. Gan and his peers will have a stronger understanding of the calls of the time than my generation. His generation will have a better insight into the calls of the time and will have a better execution capability. This shift of leadership will be able to make improvement into the multi-tiered talent development systems within Geely.
It is the way to keep the competitiveness of the company. What I am going to tell you is that Mr. Gan is going to be the CEO of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited. So it also has a far-reaching significance. Also, I would like to tell you that on our announcement, Mr. Li Donghui also resigned his current position. In the past couple of years, Mr. Li Donghui has also made outstanding contributions to our auto group. Currently, Mr. Li is serving as the Vice Chairman of Geely Holding Group.
He is currently undertaking many other jobs, especially in the international market. He is still the Executive Board Director of 0175, so he will continue to be deeply involved into the operations and management of 0175. Last but not least, I want to say a big thank you to all our friends for your great support to me as the CEO of 0175. A big thank you to you.
I am no longer the CEO of 0175, but I will continue to serve as the Executive Director and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of 0175, to be relevantly contributable to this group. Mr. An and Mr. Gan actually are based in Hangzhou, and myself is based in Hong Kong. Looking ahead, I will work together with Mr. An and Mr. Gan to better manage the affairs in Hong Kong market, especially in the capital markets.
So much for my explanation and announcement, and explanation of some of the changes of the main leadership of our group. I hope our future will be brighter. Now, let's invite Mr. An Conghui to the stage.
Thank you, Mr. Gui. Dear friends from the investment community, dear friends from the media, dear colleagues, good afternoon to you all. First of all, I want to thank Mr. Chairman Li Shufu, for the great trust on myself and on the board, so that I now will pick up as the Chairman of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited. Looking ahead, together with Mr. Gan and Mr. Gui, we will continue to internalize responsibility, trust, and care into the real spirit of our group, and translate them into real actions.
Just now, I hope that you have already seen from the video message that Geely has now reached a new level of growth, and the One Geely strategy is playing its pivotal role. Due to the time limit, I want to walk you through some of the main thinkings behind this One Geely strategy. First of all, just as what Mr. Gui has mentioned, we need to deepen the implementation of the Taizhou Declaration and make the One Geely stronger, more substantial, and more impactful. This is something that we will not compromise. Over the past two years, guided by the Taizhou Declaration, we have continued to consolidate and sharpen our focus on our core businesses, with significant progress. Especially for the first half of this year, you can see it very clearly from the H1 financial statements.
In the next phase, we will double down on the One Geely strategy, further optimize our business portfolio and resources allocation, enhance system-wide synergies, reduce unnecessary internal friction and duplicate spendings, and bring more strategically valuable businesses, those that have already reached its industrial scale maturity into the listed entity. We are also going to suspend the operation of those non-value-added businesses and units of the whole system.
Also, we are going to integrate some of the useful business units into the group. I mean 0175. We want to be bigger, stronger, and more impactful in the future. This will be clearly reflected over the next step. I want to give you some examples. For example, our Golden Brick Battery business. Actually, over the past 10 or more years, we have reached about 70 GWh- 80 GWh production capacity. Next year, we are going to reach about 200 GWh.
By 2028, that is about 300 GWh. In batteries, there will be new breakthroughs, major breakthroughs along the lines, be it reserve batteries, fuel cells, power cells, and also there will be sodium and other types of batteries. Solid-state batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and large capacity energy storage systems will all be the reality in the future. There will be breakthroughs, to be sure enough. The electric drive system. Now we have reached a new scale of production capacity by leading the world by claiming the best ever technologies in the world. Next step, it will be empowering our group even further. For example, Hangzhou Jidian, which you have never heard about. This is based upon what we have done over the past 10 years. Based upon the electric and electronic core spare parts and components R&D capability, we are building a strong base in Hangzhou of NEV.
In smart driving and intelligent driving, there will be some core technology production lines that have been reserved for our future growth. By domain control, regional control, we are complete with all relevant technologies needed for those purposes. These are some minor examples to illustrate this point. Not to mention we have many others at the same time. So long as those practices are useful or helpful for us to fulfill those strategies, we will spare no efforts by combining all our strength to ensure it will become our new reality. Second, there will be a more systematically oriented distribution by focusing more on the overseas market. We will turn the overseas markets into a major growth driver for Geely, as Mr. Gui has mentioned already in his speech. For H1 this year, our sales in the overseas market has reached its new highs.
It has also increased by about 158% compared with the same period of last year. You can also see that we are actually aiming at selling about one million units per year to the overseas markets. Our long-term goal is to ensure that about 2/3 of our sales will come from the overseas market. Alongside with steadily improving the sales volume in domestic market of China, we will further quicken our pace to expand into the overseas market. I have been working for Geely for over three decades. I am a veteran employee in Geely. I still vividly remember the first day of the founding of Geely Auto, that in the future, 2/3 of the markets of Geely will be overseas markets. Now, in retrospect, we can see that how correct it is for Mr. Chairman Li to raise that goal.
I fully believe that in the future, this goal will fulfill, for sure. If 2/3 of the sales will come from the overseas market, then localized production will become the reality. We have to focus on the long-term goals. This is something that we have been working very vigorously on all fronts ever since. Geely Holdings Group will coordinate all the resources of all brands within our group in parallel to the resources of the overseas market. I want to emphasize that Geely Holdings Group will coordinate all the internal resources within our group for all the brands in parallel to our resources of the overseas partners or the external partners to ensure that we can co-develop, co-share the purchasing capacity, and to co-use the HR competence and the supply chain in China. We will co-share the channels and the service networks.
Also, I want to give you some examples to illustrate this point. Geely's acquisition of Volvo has ensured us quick strength positionings in technologies and products. It will also help us to move further into the overseas market. The overseas factory of Volvo will also undertake the mission of manufacturing high-end and premium cars of Geely brand. For the acquisition of Proton, this year, hopefully this figure, our project is set to exceed about 200,000 units this year. Hopefully, we will turn this center into a major hub to produce about 500,000 units of Proton cars in the Southeast Asia market. We have also seen the announcement of our collaboration with Ford in Spain for the production of some Geely-branded cars in Spain. The production capacity of that Spanish factory is also about 500,000 cars, units per year.
We also have a Brazilian plant by working together with Renault. It is having the capacity of about 300,000 units per year. Our South Korean plant, as a result of a collaboration with Renault, is also adding up some capacities as well. There are also some projects that are still going on there. In other words, which means we did not start our overseas strategies a year ago, or two years ago, or three years ago. Actually, we had overseas strategies ever since the founding of the Geely system. The Ford plant will be put into operation in 2028, which will manufacture quite a number of models within the Geely system. Our Volvo European plants will also be put into operation in 2028, manufacturing some premium models within the Geely system.
This localized manufacturing capacity deployment has taken its initial shape, and it is going to bear fruits in the next couple of years. Thirdly, we stay committed to brand upgrading and turn our technological leadership into product leadership, reputation leadership, and value leadership. We need quality development of the Chinese auto brands, which means we must accelerate our move upmarket and toward new energy. As a result of the export of our product and technology, Geely, as a technology-driven company, we have already formulated our own advantages. You might have recognized that Geely is turning itself into a tech-driven company. The Chinese automobiles are not only competitive in price domain, but also in branding, in technology. We are committed to the long-term development. We are strongly opposed to price war and involution. We want to wage wars on quality, technology, brand, service, and corporate integrity.
These are the resonating themes throughout different kinds of conferences and events. ZEEKR accounts for 1/3 of the segment with the average selling price above CNY 500,000 in China. As a result of the international strategies for ZEEKR, I believe that in the premium segment in the global market, Geely will also aim at 1/3 of the market share. This market share will be built upon our technological capabilities.
We made long-term investment into the R&D of technologies in the auto industries. Also we made investment in acquisition, corporate cooperation. All these investments have been turned into our competitiveness, not for the current market, but also for the future. I was frequently asked, why ZEEKR was so popular in the premium market? Why ZEEKR is enjoying a rapid rise in its branding force? Why compared with its competitors, ZEEKR is taking the lead by a generation? To which I replied, without the acquisition of Volvo, without the acquisition of Lotus, we're not going to see the achievements made by ZEEKR. Both Volvo and Lotus have been in operation for more than 100 years. They have accumulated centuries of experience in safety, benchmarks, standards, lightweight technologies, and all kinds of automobile-related technologies. Geely has also made decades of investment into the automobile-related technologies.
That's why we've made significant breakthroughs and improvements in terms of our safety, product safety, lightweight technologies, engines, chassis. Without Volvo, without Lotus, without our own long-term investment into this domain, it would be impossible for us to reach the current status. Firstly, we need to deepen modern corporate governance to make our organization more dynamic, efficient, and sustainable. The shift of the leadership of Geely Auto is a planned step in Geely's journey toward modern corporate governance. Its purpose is to further enhance our competitiveness and achieve healthier, more sustainable growth. For this board and management team, our top priority is to take the baton and pass it on well. What I'll be passing on, not just a position, but the company's core values, management systems, and governance framework. The company's foundation lies in its people and its core competitiveness in its talent.
Going forward, we will continue to build a professional workforce and ensure transparent and effective operation of our three-tier governance structure. We will keep strengthening the prime vitality, upholding the principles of shared pressure, shared responsibilities, shared value creation, and shared rewards. We'll give the stage to those who deliver results and ensure that every dedicated contributor grows together with the company. I believe that under the board's guidance and management team's execution, Geely Auto will continue to deliver steady growth and create long-term value for our shareholders and users. Thank you very much. Mr. Dan, the floor is yours.
Dear investors, media friends, good afternoon. First of all, I would like to thank you very much for your long-term care and support to Geely Auto. Our Chairman and President, An, and Mr. Gui have just laid out group strategic directions for the next phase.
For Geely Auto Group, our core mission is to translate corporate values into action, turn strategy into results, and deliver high-value products and services to our user, while giving back to our shareholders, to our customers with solid, tangible operating performance. Despite a challenging industry environment, Geely delivered a remarkably strong first half performance. Sales revenue and profit all hit the record high. Our revenue outgrew sales, and our profit outgrew revenue. We're seeing a high-quality growth within the Geely Auto company. In the second half, under the One Geely strategic framework, we're seeing strong resource synergies across the group demonstrating robust operational resilience and strong momentum. We'll focus on three key pillars. The first, the domestic market, overseas expansion, and our AI transformation to ensure a solid start for our 2030 strategy.
First of all, in the domestic market and in the premium segment, we will drive four brands, namely the ZEEKR, Lynk & Co, Geely Galaxy, and China Star to move upward together, leading with high-value flagship products to unlock greater growth. Secondly, in terms of international expansion, we are going to duplicate our high-quality growth model into our international business. In the spirit of openness and win-win, we are going to deepen our localized manufacturing strategies to improve our international competitiveness. Thirdly, in terms of AI ecosystem, we will accelerate the transition towards a leader of all domain AI mobility provider. We will continue to lead the intelligent transformation of the auto industry. Based on our accumulation of the technologies in the all-domain artificial intelligence technologies, we also upgraded the traditional technologies during the first half of the year.
We announced the launch of i-HEV and the digital chassis, as well as 16-in-1 electric drive. Behind each and every leading technology, we are seeing the vertical capabilities empowered by artificial intelligence. In terms of energy supplement and other technologies, we will make full use of the AI technology. We are going to get rid of the safety issues in terms of charging of the batteries, and we are also trying to get rid of the problems of the battery decay.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will be committed to high-quality development. We will continue to focus on value creation for customers. We will be committed to the production of high-quality products, better customer experience, and better business performance for our customers and shareholders, and to facilitate the high quality and sustainable development of the auto industry in China. Thank you very much.
I have just given you a brief introduction of Geely's strategies. Toward the end of this year, we are going to hold events during which a more detailed explanation of our 2030 strategies will be provided. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. An, for your sharing. Now is the Q&A session. Due to time limitation, in order to accommodate more questions, everyone is allowed to ask only two questions maximum.
Thank you. Congratulations to Mr. An, and thank you, Mr. Gui, for your contribution. I believe that new leadership, as Mr. Gui said, will deliver a record high. My name is [Shenning Yi] from Eastern Fortune. I have two questions. The first one is: We have seen that in terms of the export of Zeekr 9X, we started export to Australia, to Middle East, to Malaysia. Pre-sale have started of the Zeekr 9X. I am just curious about the feedbacks of this pre-launch of Zeekr 9X.
What is your forecast on your export volume of Zeekr 8X and 9X? Of course, you also enjoy good sales in the Chinese market. Totally, if you combine the domestic market with the international market, what will be a stable sales forecast of 8X and 9X? This is the first question.
Talking about globalization and premium branding, I am going to say a few words about our international business, as this is one of the focus o f our investors and media friends. Actually, the overseas market is an epitome of the Chinese auto industry. The H1 industrial average growth rate is about 72%. For H1, for Geely, we have achieved about 174,000 units, up by about 158%. NEV sales have sold about 277,000 units, up by 585% year-on-year. This is an unprecedented figure. There are three key features of our sales and performance of Geely.
First of all, their growth speed is number one among all the mainstream automakers in China. Secondly, NEV year-on-year growth rate is number one in our industry. Thirdly, for premium brands in China, we are also ranked number one. These are the three key features of our Geely exports this year. H1 this year. You can see that the international business is quite balanced across all the regions, and some regions have seen much more rapid growth.
For example, Latin America up by about 298%, nearly 300%. For Europe, nearly 280% growth. In ASEAN countries, over 120% growth rate is registered. In Eastern and Central Asia, almost over 100% increase. These are what you call the regional growth across the board. Different regions may have different performance levels, just as what Mr. Gui has mentioned in his presentation. We want to ensure one special region for 300,000 units. Two centers for 200,000 scales, and three centers for 100,000 unit scales. Secondly, internationalization, as what Mr. An has mentioned, about 2/3 of the sales will come from overseas markets. I joined Geely upon my graduation. I remember very clearly since day one of my joining of Geely, we want to see Geely cars in China and across the whole world. We want to sell our cars to the overseas market.
This is always a very important bedrock underpinning our strategy for the overseas expansion. First of all, it is benefiting immensely from the NEV footprint expansion of China, secondly because of our strategy. In the next two or three years, we have also devised a plan, which is a workable plan in the overseas market. We have a 1-2-3-4-5-6 strategy for international orientation. Talking about one meaning one overseas system for Geely. At the back end and the middle end, there is only one system. ZEEKR, Lynk & Co and Geely are the three main brands. One is on the high tech, the second one is the sporty DNA, the third brand is the mainstream mass public orientation. These are the three clear positionings of the brands to win our market shares.
2-3-4-5-6 , meaning we want to build a center in Europe selling about 600,000 units, 500,000 units in ASEAN countries, 400,000 units in Middle East, and 300,000 in Eastern Europe, 200,000 units in Central Asia. This is called 2-3-4-5-6 . If you put all these figures together, that makes the total 2 million sets.
Secondly, talking about the premium branding for export purposes. This is also a very prominent feature of our exports. For ZEEKR, you can see that it is much more well-known than ever in the past. Not long ago, the 8X and the 9X have been well certified abroad. Some things are still going on there, and there has been a very good positive feedback from the overseas customers.
Some have approached the operators or some of the channels to add an extra price to buy a 9X or 8X car. It is sufficient enough to tell us that we have ample market demand in those areas. Almost all the markets speak very highly of the quality of 8X or 9X cars. For ZEEKR, our future is very clear. We want to win the future market share to define luxury and premiumness with technologies. Our growth margin is also quite fast, over 200% increase. This is also something quite phenomenal. We think that in the future, our ZEEKR products are mainly concentrated on 7X or 007 . These products have been well-received in the market. Secondly, we are going to quicken our steps for the expansion and rolling out of 8X , 9X or 009.
We are going to do more for the market expansion and the market launch since Q3 this year for 8X. It will also start its roll-out in Latin America, Europe since Q4 this year. Our 009 and 009 Glory will also have its European edition for the latter half of this year. The export for H1 this year is already over 42,000 units. That is all for my answer.
Any questions from the media?
This question is for Mr. Gan about the ICE cars or fuel cars. We know that China Star series have seen rapid growth, so I am asking about the future of China Star series. What is your take on the future market in China for ICE? Will there be a shift to HEV or i-HEV?
Thank you very much. Talking about the China Star cars, the future plans. You can see that for H1 2026, it tells us very clearly that the total sales volume is about 8.29 units, dropping by about 24.3%. Especially for ICE cars, it dropped by about over 30%, if not 31.9% drop. That means that there has been a major shift to NEV cars from ICE models. If you take a look at the global picture, the absolute selling volume of ICE cars is still quite huge. That is about 80 million cars. In China, it sold about 20 million cars. In America, that sell about 15 million- 20 million cars, and for the rest of the region, about 40 million cars. Currently, the penetration rate is about a little bit more than 10% in China. That means there has been huge room for ICE models in the future.
Talking about the future of China Star series in China, the H1 sales is about dropping by about 5.7%. That is much slimmer than that of the drop margin of the whole industry. Our market share increased from 8.7% last year to about 10.4% this year in China. The market share of China Star series is increasing rapidly. Largely because we benefit a lot from the technology roadmap and our product portfolio. In the future, there will be two directions for the growth of ICE models. First of all, is more HEV. Certainly, we are going to do more smart streaming. On April 13th, we have launched the latest edition of i-HEV technology. This i-HEV is totally different from that of the previous generation of the system.
I can tell you very clearly that i-HEV technology, through AI technology of Geely empowerment, our i-HEV technologies have been demonstrating much greater and better performances of all indicators, much better than that of those flagship models around the world. Why? Because this is the key feature of the new generation of i-HEV technologies. Traditionally, we add a battery and some torque based upon the previous ICE model, but now we are purely based upon the smart platform with the high capacity of the batteries, up to about 60C scale with the high-power electric drive to about 230 power. The thermal efficiency is up to about 48.41. And energy conservation, performance, safety, reliability are all the key indicators that we see rapid growth and improvement. That's not ordinary or comprehensive growth, but leapfrogging development on all fronts, all these above-mentioned indicators.
The high-performance batteries, high-performance and efficiency, electric drives ensured that we can really outperform many of the car models from Japan and some other countries. This is a major breakthrough in this area. This is point number one. Why we can achieve such a good result? Because while we are doing some R&D, we are really changing the fundamental structure or the architecture behind what we have seen. For example, how to feel the humidity, the temperature, the altitudes of the things around the car, how to ensure that we can basically guarantee the high-efficiency operation of the electric motors and engines. At the same time, the high-efficiency electric drive systems can ensure that there have been comprehensive improvements of all the main indicators or fronts. This zero to 100 acceleration is about one second better than that of the Japanese cars. This is a really tangible breakthrough.
So much for the technology breakthrough. For product distribution, in the future, we are not going to develop traditional ICE models. All the traditional ICE models will have to be shifting towards i-HEV models. All the models in the future will be i-HEV powered. This is what I call the future direction based upon the decision made by the leadership. Of course, for H2 this year, there will be a few i-HEV models that will be launched to the market. For example, the All New Xingyue L PLUS, and the Xingyue L PLUS, and the Boyue L. These are all the i-HEV models. I'm sure that with i-HEV technologies at the backbone, there will be a bright future for the better sales volumes of China Star. And also, we're going to launch all these full spectrum of i-HEV portfolio to the international market. Thank you.
There's a gentleman in blue T-shirt.
I have a question for Mr. An Conghui. Chairman Li Shufu, during his video speech, that Geely will no longer build production capacity, build new production capacity, and this time also introduced your global deployment of manufacturing capacity. I think the sharing of production capacity is probably an important model for your international expansion for Geely. So at Geely Holding level, you need to coordinate different resources, you need to make full use. What are the advantages and difficult points in coordinating all these production capacities? Thank you.
I think I've already released the information to cover your question, but I'll elaborate a little bit. I would say there is a surplus of production capacity all over the world. There is a lot of saying about overcapacity in the automobile industry in China, but I would like to tell you that in North America and Europe and other regions of the world, there are also overcapacities. For Geely, one-two thirds of our sales revenue generated in the international market, which means we have to do a very good job in localized manufacturing. I just mentioned a couple of words related to localized manufacturing. High quality, high speed, and low risk. We need to make full use of our market advantages in European markets. We need to collaborate with our partners outside the Geely system.
On one hand, we need to make very good use of production capacity. We need to make very good use of localized human resources. At the same time, we also need to make very good use of the supply chain systems of our business partners. Furthermore, distribution channels, as well as service networks, are of similar natures. That's the way we can achieve high quality, high speed, and low risk expansion. Risk control is of paramount importance, of course. I spent a year or so in coordinating between Geely Holding companies and Geely Automobile Holdings Limited, so that both support each other and achieve a synergistic competitiveness in the market.
It's also the international market for Geely. I believe this strategy is slightly different from the international strategies of other automakers.
Okay. Thank you.
I'm from Guangfa Securities. My name is Chen Feitong. I have two questions. First of all, the first question is to Mr. Dai. Can you help us to understand the reasons behind the gross margin increase? Looking ahead to Q3, given the price markup of the storage systems as well as the storage chips, would you remain the same forecast of your gross margin increase? As to the pure electric vehicles, the question is for Mr. Gan. What is your observations on the future development of the pure electric vehicles, and what is Geely's strategies in rolling out pure electric models? For Geely, I think your market share of pure electric vehicles is under pressure.
After April this year, the pure electric vehicle market in China is expanding steadily. So, what is your future strategies for pure electric vehicles?
Well, thank you, Mr. Chen, for your question. The gross margin is 17.9% during the first half of this year. It's about 1.5 percentage point increase compared to the 16.2% of gross margin during the first half of last year. As Mr. Gui has said that the industrial average gross margin is 1.5%, while our gross margin is 5.4%, so it was quite remarkable. As to Q2, our gross margin is 18.4%, even higher than the 17.5% of the gross margin in the first quarter of this year. Why this increase? There are two drivers. First of all, the premium development of our brand. In the first quarter, the ZEEKR witnessed 77,000 units of sales. In Q2, we sold 100,000 ZEEKR models.
That's increased about close to 30,000 units to help us to increase the gross margin. The gross margin for ZEEKR is around 20%. The second driver behind this increase of the gross margin is the global strategy. In Q1, we exported a little more than 200,000 units. In Q2, we exported about 270,000 units to the international market. I've told you that the gross margin of exports are 10 percentage point higher than the gross margin of our car sales in the domestic market. These changes support the overall gross margin increase in Q2. Looking ahead into Q3, as a result of the price increase of commodities as well as the price increase in chips. In Q1, we faced some price pressures from the price increase of commodities. Yes, we forecast the price increase in forecast in commodities.
Toward the end of 2025, we increased our storage of these commodities. In Q2 this year, we have fixed the price as well as the quantity with our suppliers for the whole year. We also did some hedgings in the futures market. In Q3 and Q4, we've made some preparations to the price volatility of the commodity. In Q3, we're expecting an increase in the export. I think the gross margin in Q3 will not be lower than that of Q2.
As to your second question. The second question is related to the trajectory of pure electric vehicle. In the first half of this year, the overall auto industry decreased by 30%, and even for hybrid engine, the market size decreased by 28%.
After April, we're seeing an increase in the sales of pure electric vehicles in China, which means there is still a huge demand for pure electric vehicles for a couple of reasons. First of all, high voltage. Secondly, fast charging. Thirdly, large battery capacity. Fourthly, high level of intelligence. These are the four features in the pure electric vehicle segment. It takes time to develop a new generation of models. This year, we will gradually launch the high voltage model of ZEEKR and Lynk & Co and Galaxy TT, which will be launched soon, will be a pure electric vehicle. The debut of Galaxy TT was held on July 21st, and we received a confirmed order of 990. Right now, the order book has reached 22,000. This high voltage technology can in a way abate the range anxiety.
The Galaxy TT will be launched during the second half of this year, as I told you. Q11 will also be launched as a high voltage product. For Lynk & Co Z20, which is also a pure electric vehicle, it will be launched pretty soon. ZEEKR 001 and 009 Glory Edition will also be launched into the market as pure electric vehicles. In the second half of this year, no matter whether it's pure electric vehicle or electric hybrid vehicles, we're going to see a rollout of new models under these categories.
Thank you.
We're also seeing some journalists trying to raise questions.
Oh, thank you very much for sharing. I'm a journalist from Bloomberg. I have two questions. The first question is related to your cooperation with Ford in Spain. Ford has a full lineup of new energy models. Are they going to use your technologies?
Can you share with us? Is Ford going to use some of the technologies from Geely in the development of New Energy Vehicles? No, this is the first time that an American company co-developed a model with a Chinese company, not for Chinese market, but for the international market. The second question is the payables. I just talked about the volatility in raw materials and commodities, and I noticed that in your financial report, the amount payable increased by 100% compared with the same period last year. I just wonder what is the reason of this rapid increase in the amount payable. Can you give us a forecast on the annual increase of this amount payable? Thank you.
First of all, I want to say a few words about the capacity utilization. How to make better use of its capacity and to ensure a win-win for all partners.
For Geely, on one hand, we need to control the risk. As investors, normally we'll say we have light asset, but we have to well control the risk or bring the risk well under control. We want to ensure win-win for all parties. You have just referred to mainly the product aspect. For Ford collaboration, our Galaxy, our GEA architecture is the main structure.
This is the fundamental or underlying structure. Because on the basic structure, we need to develop further the product that will cater to the needs of our different brands. We have to be very clear about this point before anything else. Secondly, our products will not enter the American market. The localized production in Europe will be sold locally. Those European-produced products will not be sold to the American market. Based upon the basic architecture, we need to make a better use of the capacity, including our supply chain system. We have to ensure localization for the production. For E.U., there will be the so-called law on market competition. In order to govern the practice of companies to compete with each other in the same market. There will be some legislative requirements for those companies involved in those markets.
In the future, over the local supply chain integration, there will be some new practices from Geely. On one hand, we need to quicken our steps to form the new structure. On the second hand, we need to form the scale of economy, and the scale of economy comes with the word cost as well. Don't get me wrong. The products produced in Europe will only be sold in Europe, not to other parts of the world. I want to add a few words to the first question. This is the question that is about the main thinking about our global strategy. We have to co-share the capacity on the global scale. We can use the most economic lever to give full play to the full strength of our system.
Secondly, we are going to concentrate more resources for international perspective, meaning 2/3 of the markets will come from overseas. Not to mention the strategy that I've mentioned about, 1-2-3-4-5-6 strategy. How to stay focused? We need to continue to deepen the localization strategy. We need to continue to stick to the policy that our products need to go international. The supply chain will have to go local, and our brands and our technologies will have to move upward even further. Of course, another thing which is equally important, not only relevant to China, but also to other parts of the world, which is about aftersales service. We need to do a better job at aftersales services so that we will become a flagship company in the world. The aftersales will be the watershedding industry between whether or not we can really achieve due success in due course.
Last two questions due to the time limit.
Maybe we have the answer to the second question about AP or accounts payable. Probably you didn't have much time to take a look at the financial statements. For AP, 2025 year-end is about CNY 81 billion, according to the Hong Kong accounting rules. By June 30, 2026, it's about CNY 84 billion. Only about CNY 3 billion increase, not double increase. Only increased by CNY 3 billion. So this is a correction. Secondly, after the launch of the anti-fierce competition policies of the state, we have quickened our steps to pay all the arrears or the accounts payables. In the past, about 45 days, 60 days, 90 days of accounts payable to recover the money. Now we have already changed the rules. For all those 60-day above scenarios, we have already shortened the period well below the scale of 60 days.
Secondly, there is a different scale for year-end last year and also mid-year of this year. For the small and medium-sized enterprises, the scale has been reduced to about 30 days or even lowered to pay on site practice. For the results, also have some statistics. For H1 of 2025, the turnover rate is about 150 days. For H1 of 2026, this period has been reduced to about 103 days. It is optimized about nearly half a month. But if you take a look at the Q2 of 2026, the turnover rate or date is being reduced to about 96 days. For Q3 and Q4 with more policies going out and with things getting even better, there will be much shorter duration for the turnover rate days of APs.
Also, we have received a lot of online questions. Maybe one question from online first.
I want to, first of all, ask a question about the grid and the power distribution together with the charging facilities, the charging competencies for Geely, and also some questions about energy storage and conservation.
So I want to, first of all, thank our friend from online. As you have mentioned, that question is quite similar to the question raised by Guangdong Development Banking, Guangdong Development Securities. Why the pure electric battery is having its market because of the ultra-fast charging devices or batteries, especially with the rapid increase of the market there. The energy refreshment is critical to the users. Many customers also have the same idea that for NEV cars, whether or not it is convenient is largely dependent upon convenience, immediacy of energy storage, and discharging efficiency. The convenience means whether or not you have well-distributed outlets for the service of the NEV cars.
We have been always thinking about one issue. How to solve the problem of charging life cycle and charging speed or ultra-fast charging facilities and efficiencies. We are very clear about some of the issues there, because when the temperature goes above 45 degrees or 50 degrees centigrade, when 10 degrees up, then the batteries will decrease its efficiency by about 100%. Or will quicken the speed of its phasing out. Meaning, originally, the life cycle or lifetime for the battery is about 10 years, but if the temperature goes too high, maybe the life of the batteries will be reduced by half to about five years only. Secondly, super or ultra-high speed or faster charging will also generate a series of risks. Quick charging or faster charging, if I may use a metaphor, just like interesting case of smoking.
Smoking is bad for your health, but that might not be so clearly seen on first sight. How to solve the problem? Our R&D staff will have to consider as to how to ensure we can have faster charging, but also, at the same time, safe fast charging. With four or five years of efforts, we have made full use of AI capacities to provide a full-chain quick charging devices and competencies. That's because about five years ago in 2021, we have set up energy refreshment companies of Haohan, and we're the first to China to launch our special technologies, and we have been maintaining our leading edge in energy conservation. In 2021, we're the first to launch the ultra-fast charging post, and the power is about 360 kW. By that technology, we can reduce the charging time from several hours to several minutes.
Later on, charging time has also been reduced from 30 minutes to 11.5 minutes. In April 2025, we have launched about 1,500 kW, mass production gigawatt-level device. The power is up to about 1,230 kW. Meaning, the charging time has been reduced to about four minutes 22 seconds for the battery to be charged by 10%- 70%. And you only have to spend about eight minutes or more to have your batteries fully charged. Some core technologies have also been developed ever since then, including some temperature control, AI, smart technologies, charging technologies. The 5th generation of charging devices and technologies came out based upon the AI big models and super gigawatt technologies. To maintain safety and reliability at the same time. These technologies will be made available before the end of Q3 this year.
Stay tuned. I want to give you a few quick glimpse of the technologies. First of all, through some temperature smart control technologies, there will be overheating of the system, because otherwise there would be a full chain overheating of the temperatures of the batteries. So we will strictly control the temperature within the national certified 65 degrees centigrade. Secondly, the AI temperature control technologies use the vehicle host cloud multi-point testings coupling to make the calculation using AI technologies. So the millisecond change detection is made available. Through AI-centered technologies, we can ensure inspection, maintenance, and charging at the same time, all-in-one strategy is made available to ensure safety and reliability. Secondly, charging time and the charging safety will be controlled mainly by the users, meaning the users will become smarter in using the energy replacement technologies.
Of course, for more details, just stay tuned until the end of Q3 for the press conference for the official announcement of the technologies. Thank you.
An investor at the back, he's got a question.
Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is [Shaoyu] from Wanxiang. The question is related to 1G strategy and your product portfolio. If you take a look at your financial report, you can see that this 1G strategy, this makes the significant changes to the back-end operating systems. Mr. Gui also mentioned that there is still great room for improvement on your financial performance. So I just wonder whether you're going to enable greater changes at the front desk level, or let's say, right now you can launch a lot of models, but only a few of these models will be remembered or recognized by the customers. Also we can see there was some sort of conflict between your internal models. There's 9X, Lynk & Co, ZEEKR, both for 9X models.
ZEEKR has done 9X, Lynk & Co, and other, or for Galaxys, they have launched similar models. I just wonder how to differentiate these models under different sub-brands. Ever since 2019, there is a significant decline in the combustion engine vehicles. I just wonder, in implementing this 1G strategy, are you going to streamline your product portfolio?
Well, thank you very much for your question. First of all, I'm going to give you a couple of numbers. For Geely brand, including Galaxy and China Star and Lynk & Co. For Galaxy, declined by 5% during the first half of this year. For Lynk & Co, it declined 6%. For China Star, it declined 5%. For ZEEKR, it increased 97%. So the overall increase of sales revenue is 1%. The national average is - 6%. Starting from 2024, when we announced the Taizhou Declaration, Geely is going back to the 1G strategy through consolidation, integration of resources. We are going to build a big back-office platform, big mid-office platforms and eliminate duplicated investment, streamline the organization, streamline the functions, cut off all the redundant ones. So through institutional change, we consolidate our procurement system, we consolidate our RD system.
Also we established an integrated sales company for Geely during the first half of this year. Since we came back to the One Geely strategies, we have made some achievements. I think you can exercise these achievements through our financial statement. For example, the administrative spending, the ratio decreased from 1.9% to 1.7%. There is a 12 percentage point drop to selling spending.
In China, we are still making a substantial investment in China. In the international market, the spending remains stable. For R&D, the spending ratio dropped from 5.5% to 5.2%. We are doing the product, we were planning for the future products starting from last year until this year. In ZEEKR, Lynk & Co, Galaxy, and China Star. There is overlapping models. We just remove them from our product plan. Talking about the number of models reduced 20%. Through this One Geely strategies, there is more synergistic coordinations within the group, within the company, and we are seeing a more coordinated development among different brands. As to how to develop the killer products in the future or killer models in the future, I believe that the second half of this year is a critical period.
Among the models, new models will be launched during the second half of this year. For Galaxy, it will continue to focus on premium mainstay products. For Lynk & Co, it will continue to focus on trendy and individualized products. For Lynk & Co, we need to broaden its product portfolio. How? It will be more sporty, will be more dynamic. I think this is the direction for the future of Lynk & Co. As to ZEEKR, it will become a premium tech-driven brand. I think there is a clear distinction between different brands. For Galaxy TT or Battleship 700, new technologies will be applied to these models. So far, there is a very high level of market recognition of the two models I have just mentioned. I believe that they will continue to enjoy high visibility in the market in the second half of this year.
As to Lynk & Co's V20, I believe it will become a killer product. Thank you.
This is a very good question. Actually, it captures the essence of the problems we are facing. There is a lack of a blockbuster product or model within the Geely system. The product development plan was formulated years and years ago. We are revisiting these plans, and it will take some time to complete the review of these plans. During the first half of this year, actually, we enjoyed a very good gross margin. We enjoyed a good per capita or per unit sales. We enjoy good profitability. But we are still looking for problems. Behind these beautiful numbers, we found that ZEEKR is a prime contributor. It contributed to the increase to gross margins and per unit sales revenue. Also Galaxy is another contributor.
But I think there is still some lack of brand force in the mainstay market. We've taken notice of that issue. We still need some strong mid-level product. So in the future, we're going to do a better job in product or model planning, technology planning, and there is more to do in these areas. Once we got this strong mid-level blockbuster product, I believe we're going to see a significant increase in gross margin, in profitability, in per unit revenue. Anyway, we're confident about this year. Thank you.
We are behind the schedule, anyway. And we're going to launch some roadshows in the next couple of days. We definitely welcome your participation. And if you have any further questions related to the development of the company, we'll be very happy to receive your company. Thank you once again.