Zhang Xue's motorcycle battle becomes legendary, the "Motorcycle Capital" has made a comeback

Ask AI · How Does Zhang Xue’s Motorcycle Win Reflect Chongqing’s Industrial Transformation?

Our reporter: Liu Xuqing Our editor: Liu Yanmei

Local time March 28, at the World Superbike Championship (WSBK) Portuguese round in the SSP (Supersport) category, French rider Valentin Debise drove the Zhang Xue motorcycle to be the first to cross the finish line, leaving behind rivals such as Ducati, Yamaha, and Kawasaki.

This is the first-ever victory in the history of this category for a Chinese motorcycle manufacturer, and also the first time a Chinese motorcycle brand has won a round championship in the WSBK, breaking the decades-long monopoly held by European, American, and Japanese brands—an arguably “historic breakthrough.”

Founded only in 2024, this brand stood atop the world in just two years, delivering a perfect comeback of China’s manufacturing industry. And behind it, “the Motorcycle City” of Chongqing is also entering its decisive battle.

The Turning Point Has Arrived

Zhang Xue’s story—the founder of the Zhang Xue motorcycle—has been called by many people a real-life version of “Running Fast, Life on the Line”:

Starting as a middle-school dropout from rural Hunan, he began as a motorcycle repair apprentice, carried a racing dream all the way, and finally stepped onto the world’s top racing stage with a race bike he manufactured himself.

French rider Valentin Debise won the championship with the 820RR-RS motorcycle of Zhang Xue. Photo source: Zhang Xue motorcycle

In Zhang Xue’s pursuit-the-dream journey, Chongqing was the most important stop.

In 2013, Zhang Xue came to Chongqing alone, and has since put down roots in this “Motorcycle City.”

In Chongqing, he relied on posting motorcycle modification threads on motorcycle forums and selling bikes to accumulate his “first pot of gold.” In 2017, Zhang Xue and his partners founded the Kaiyue Motorcycle, growing from annual sales of 800 units to annual sales of 30,000 units. In 2024, Zhang Xue left Kaiyue, and then founded the Zhang Xue motorcycle under his own name, solely to “develop his own engines,” stubbornly going all-in on independent technology.

When asked why he chose Chongqing, Zhang Xue once candidly said that what he valued was the industrial foundation of the “Motorcycle City.” When he first arrived in Chongqing, he knew no one and had no connections, yet he could outfit a complete motorcycle with all parts in a single motorcycle parts market.

Unlike Zhang Xue’s “comeback fantasy novel” story, the development of Chongqing’s motorcycle industry has not been smooth sailing.

In the 1970s, China’s first domestically developed motorcycle, Jialing 50, was launched at the Jialing plant in Chongqing, kicking off the development of Chongqing’s motorcycle industry. In the early 1990s, private enterprises such as Zongshen and Loncin entered in succession. For a time, “made in Chongqing” motorcycles accounted for over 60% of total domestic sales and were exported to Southeast Asia, earning Chongqing the title of “Motorcycle City.”

In 2011, Chongqing’s motorcycle output reached a historical peak: the output of regulated industrial enterprises alone was 8.7959 million units, accounting for 32.57% of the national total; exports were 4.554 million units, accounting for 42.38%.

However, afterward, as competition in the industry intensified, the development model Chongqing’s motorcycle industry had previously relied on—copying and assembling—gradually lost competitiveness, and the industry fell into a “darkest moment.” By 2018, Chongqing’s annual motorcycle output dropped to less than 4 million units, and its share of the domestic market shrank from about 40% to 5%.

Facing these difficulties, Chongqing began to proactively adjust its industrial positioning. In 2019, the motorcycle industry was included in the “Chongqing Municipal Pillar Industries” for the first time. The government work report clearly proposed to promote the development of new motorcycle products and upgrade supporting for key components. In 2023, Chongqing also issued a five-year action plan for the high-quality development of the motorcycle industry cluster, proposing that by 2027 the localization and supporting rate for key components would reach 80%, and pushing the industry toward high-end, electrification, and intelligence-driven transformation.

By 2025, Chongqing’s motorcycle output rebounded to 7.857 million units, accounting for 35.5% of the national total and ranking first among Chinese cities; exports reached 6.109 million units, accounting for 77.8% of output. Among the top 10 exporters nationwide, Chongqing companies occupy five seats.

Today, behind Zhang Xue motorcycles stand more than 40 full-vehicle companies in Chongqing and more than 400 regulated supporting enterprises, with a local supporting rate exceeding 90%.

From output returning to the top position nationwide to breaking the decades-long monopoly of European, American, and Japanese manufacturers in top global racing events, Chongqing’s motorcycle industry is entering a crucial turning point on the value chain toward the high end.

Global Goals

Of course, Chongqing’s motorcycle industry is by no means risk-free. For a long time, although Chongqing has exported large volumes of products, what it has gained has mostly been meager profits from processing and manufacturing—while brand premiums, channel profits, and loyalty from end users have largely been controlled by overseas brand owners.

During the 2026 two sessions in Chongqing, Li Yao, a member of the CPPCC Chongqing Municipal Committee, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice President of Zongshen Industry Group, pointed out that in Chongqing’s current motorcycle export business, about 70% is conducted through OEM (original equipment manufacturer) stamping/branding, and only about 30% belongs to exports under independent brands.

This “big but not strong” industrial pattern directly targets a shortcoming in motorcycle R&D and innovation capability. Electrification and intelligence have become the key breakthrough areas.

In Qijiang District, Chongqing, workers assemble motorcycles for export on the production line. Photo source: Xinhua News Agency

As Zuo Zongshen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zongshen Group and also Chairman of the China Motorcycle Chamber of Commerce, previously said, relying on technological innovation in intelligence and electrification, China’s motorcycle industry is promoting the reconstruction of the global industrial ecosystem and is about to usher in a new peak of development.

In July 2025, Chongqing issued the “Action Plan for the Development of Intelligent and Networked Electric Vehicles Industry in Chongqing (2025—2027).” It proposed accelerating the development of intelligent and networked electric vehicles industry. By 2027, a global industrial base for intelligent and networked electric vehicles will be built—annual production of electric vehicles across the entire city will exceed 15 million units. Of that, electric motorcycles will account for more than 80%, and the value per vehicle will be significantly enhanced.

Aiming at the goal of building a “global industrial base for intelligent and networked electric vehicles,” the above action plan focuses on three main directions: high-end, electrification, and intelligence. It prioritizes accelerating breakthroughs in electric motorcycle technologies, striving for an electrification rate of 50% by 2027. It also builds a system of “an industrial brain + future factories” to comprehensively improve the digitalization level of the industrial chain.

From the perspective of the industry in Chongqing, focusing on the latecomer advantage in the electrification segment is expected to help close the technology gap of the fuel-based era, and it is also Chongqing’s “next stop” for achieving a leapfrog turnaround in the global division of industrial value chains.

The WSBK championship model 820RR-RS by Zhang Xue’s motorcycle is strong proof of this: the model is equipped with key configurations such as a six-axis IMU electronic control system. From the engine, to the frame, to the electronic control system, everything is independently developed by a China-based team, showing the competitiveness of “China’s intelligent manufacturing.”

But unlike automobiles, for motorcycle intelligence, the path is harder.

“The physical conditions of two-wheeled vehicles determine that their intelligence cannot be achieved by simply piling up functions.” An analyst who has long been following this field once pointed out that compared with four-wheeled vehicles, motorcycles have limited space, imposing strict requirements on the size, power consumption, and integration of intelligent devices.

At the same time, they are exposed for a long time to complex environments such as bumps, vibrations, and harsh weather with sun and rain. System stability and durability become the first threshold that determines whether a product can survive.

In other words, this is not an easy road—but Chongqing must meet the challenge head-on.

Reshaping Momentum

It’s worth noting that as one of Chongqing’s pillar industries in manufacturing, the motorcycle industry is becoming a new engine driving growth in Chongqing’s industrial sector.

A set of data: in the first half of 2025, Chongqing’s total motorcycle output reached 3.622 million units, up 23.1% year on year. Industrial output value was 53.602 billion yuan, up sharply 27.9% year on year. The contribution rate to the growth of the city’s industrial output value reached 33.5%, and the contribution rate of value-added growth reached 16.4%.

On September 5, 2025, visitors toured electric motorcycles at the Chongqing Smart China Expo site. Photo source: Xinhua News Agency

Behind this, Chongqing also holds high expectations for the motorcycle industry. Last September, at the 2025 China Motorcycle Chongqing Forum, the Chongqing Municipal Department of Economy and Information Technology mentioned that it would comprehensively enhance the development level of the motorcycle industry. It was expected that the city’s annual motorcycle output would exceed 8 million units and output value would surpass the 100 billion yuan mark; the previously planned targets would be achieved nearly two years ahead of schedule.

However, Chongqing’s motorcycle output growth rate in the second half of the year slowed down and it did not achieve the target as scheduled. Even so, the growth rate of its regulated industrial value added still reached as high as 18.4%, which is 12.5 percentage points higher than the city’s regulated industrial value-added growth rate of 12.5%—with growth rate leading among Chongqing’s eight major industries.

This rapid-growth, thousand-billion-yuan-level industry will also inject new momentum into Chongqing’s transformation and upgrading. The “14th Five-Year Plan? (Fifteen-Five) Planning Outline” of Chongqing mentions that it is necessary to build a stepped cultivation system of “basic-level intelligent factories (digital workshops) — advanced-level intelligent factories — future factories,” speed up “smart transformation, digital transformation, networking transformation, and green transformation” in manufacturing, and promote the digital-intelligent transformation of traditional industries such as equipment manufacturing, food, light textiles, mining, and construction, thereby achieving changes in industrial models and enterprise organizational forms.

A key variable is emerging. Last July, China’s Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “New Changan”) officially announced its establishment in Chongqing, with registered capital of 20 billion yuan and total assets exceeding 300 billion yuan. This is not only a major adjustment to China’s automobile industry landscape, but is also widely seen as a “shot in the arm” for Chongqing’s motorcycle industry.

In particular, Luoyang Beifang Yichu Motorcycle Co., Ltd.—the parent company of three major brands, Dayang, Luojia, and Hyland—after completing the state-capital holding control reform, has been explicitly included in the New Changan system. This means Dayang’s motorcycle business has leaped to become part of a central SOE’s “in-group,” further expanding imagination about the integration and development of the automobile and motorcycle industries.

In the eyes of the outside world, the entry of New Changan is a catalyst that lifts the entire industrial chain to a higher level. It is expected to drive the whole industry’s leap forward through technology demonstrations, capital leverage, and channel sharing.

This is also a snapshot of Chongqing magnifying its ecosystem advantages and empowering industrial collaboration. From an even broader perspective, after Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Ningbo, Unitree Technology’s fifth domestic subsidiary in China—Chongqing Yuyi Technology Co., Ltd.—has landed in Chongqing, and will orderly advance the application of artificial intelligence robots in fields such as industry, fire protection, cultural tourism, and education.

As stated by the Chongqing Municipal Department of Economy and Information Technology, intelligent and networked new-energy vehicles and intelligent robot technologies are highly homologous; about 60% to 70% of the supply chain is shareable. Chongqing’s strong automobile industry foundation has laid a solid basis for developing intelligent robots and embodied intelligence industries.

As “Artificial Intelligence +” increasingly finds more use cases in Chongqing, coordination between advantageous industries such as new-energy vehicles, electric motorcycles, and electronic information will become more and more frequent. Chongqing will also reshape its new competitive advantage in the industry, staging more shocks like “Zhang Xue’s motorcycle winning the championship.”

Daily Economic News