BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) — The current historic double victory by Chinese motorbike maker ZXMOTO within the World Supersport class on the Portuguese spherical of the Superbike World Championship has put Zhang Xue, the person behind the corporate, within the highlight within the international motorsports world.
Across China, the victory has sparked full of life social media discussions about Zhang’s underdog story. He started as a teenage apprentice in a motorbike restore store and spent years pursuing his dream of constructing the quickest motorbike by way of persistent trial and error.
Apart from a dialogue centered on Zhang’s success stemming from his ardour and tenacity for what he does, ZXMOTO’s speedy rise has additionally prompted broader financial reflections on the power of Chinese manufacturing that has underpinned the corporate’s rise to prominence.
ZXMOTO made historical past as its victory marked the primary time a Chinese producer had efficiently challenged the long-standing dominance of European and Japanese manufacturers equivalent to Ducati and Yamaha in world-class motorbike racing. The achievement is all of the extra putting provided that the corporate, based by Zhang in April 2024, has risen to prominence in simply two years. What explains this speedy rise?
In an interview, Zhang attributed the wins to the bike’s core strengths inside its class, together with sturdy energy output, low weight and a low middle of gravity, and the excellent racing expertise of Valentin Debise, the French rider. Beyond that, it is usually as a result of depth of innovation and a extremely aggressive motorbike manufacturing industrial chain in China, in accordance with Zhang.
As an indicator of the corporate’s innovation funding, Zhang revealed at ZXMOTO’s associate convention earlier this yr that the corporate’s R&D funding hit 69.58 million yuan (about 10 million U.S. {dollars}) in 2025, with the corporate’s R&D to gross sales ratio at a considerably excessive degree of 9.33 %.
Speaking to Xinhua, Portuguese motorbike skilled Rui Belmonte stated that ZXMOTO’s achievement demonstrates that Chinese manufacturers can now compete on the highest degree of motorsport, including that Chinese bikes are more and more aggressive globally when it comes to know-how, design and reliability.
The firm’s give attention to innovation is a microcosm of China’s rising funding in innovation, notably from the personal sector. Official information confirmed that the nation’s R&D funding hit a report excessive in 2025, exceeding 3.92 trillion yuan and reaching 2.8 % of GDP. In 2024, R&D expenditure of China’s high 1,000 personal enterprises reached 1.43 trillion yuan, up 2.78 % yr on yr.
ZXMOTO’s headline-grabbing success has additionally drawn consideration to Chongqing, broadly referred to as China’s “motorcycle capital” and residential to the corporate’s base. The dense industrial community within the southwestern Chinese metropolis, which boasts over 50 automobile producers and greater than 400 element suppliers, allows speedy prototyping and mass manufacturing.
As Chongqing, together with different areas in China, rolls out supportive insurance policies to construct aggressive industrial ecosystems by way of a high-quality enterprise setting, a robust expertise pool and focused tax and price incentives, the burden on enterprises is being lowered, paving the way in which for higher innovation.
In Chongqing, a whole industrial ecosystem means motorcycle corporations can supply each half, from engines to screws, throughout the native market, considerably reducing prices and time. “Every component needed to build a bike is right here,” Zhang stated. As he himself put it, Chongqing has not solely given him the “soil” to construct bikes, but additionally the arrogance to construct them effectively.
ZXMOTO additionally exemplifies a typical case that has benefited from cross-regional cooperation amid China’s push for constructing a unified nationwide market. Beyond Chongqing, ZXMOTO’s associate corporations and analysis establishments are unfold throughout the nation as the corporate leverages the strengths of high-level R&D and precision manufacturing clusters within the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei areas.
For Zhang’s firm, the free movement of sources, the muse of Chongqing’s motorbike manufacturing business, mixed with monetary funding flowing in from east China’s Zhejiang Province, has collectively bolstered ZXMOTO’s success.
Amid the ZXMOTO buzz, a burgeoning area of interest market associated to motorbike tradition can be below the highlight.
Being the world’s largest motorbike market when it comes to each manufacturing and gross sales information, China has a whole motorbike provide chain valued at practically 500 billion yuan. Data from the China Chamber of Commerce for Motorcycle (CCCM) exhibits that manufacturing and gross sales in 2025 reached 22.11 million and 21.97 million models, respectively, each rising greater than 10 % yr on yr.
Highlighting the motorbike market’s developments towards digitalization and inexperienced improvement, Li Bin, CCCM government vp, stated that bikes in China are quickly evolving from easy technique of transportation into leisure merchandise, whereas improvements equivalent to fast-charging batteries and sensible using aids are reworking them into clever two-wheeled platforms.
On social media, motorcycle-related quick movies usually garner thousands and thousands of likes, reflecting how motorbike tradition is turning into a type of social expression, notably amongst younger folks. “Modern bikes are more like smart toys for adults,” stated Huang Yalin, a Gen Z motorbike fanatic from Chongqing.
In 2025, the manufacturing and gross sales of large-displacement (250cc and above) leisure and leisure bikes in China reached 953,700 and 952,300 models, respectively, representing year-on-year development of 23.3 % and 25.87 %. These development charges considerably outpaced the worldwide common for the large-displacement motorbike market.
According to analysts, extra efforts are nonetheless wanted to nurture sturdy, established Chinese manufacturers by way of the availability of high-end bikes.
CCCM President Zuo Zongshen stated within the face of electrification and intelligentization, the motorbike business should hold tempo with the occasions by way of strengthening improvements and industrial upgrading.