China Sees 1,257 Vehicle OTA Feature Updates in December as Local Brands Lead

The pace of vehicle OTA updates accelerated significantly in 2025, with the cumulative number of updated functions rising 36.7% YoY.

On January 19, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), along with research firm WAYS, released the Vehicle OTA Monitoring Monthly Report for December 2025.

The data show that the industry rolled out a total of 1,257 OTA feature updates in December, a sharp increase from 954 in the previous month.

A total of 27 brands participated in OTA deployments, with driving assistance and voice-related functions remaining the main areas of upgrades.

Looking at full-year performance, the pace of vehicle OTA updates accelerated significantly in 2025, with the cumulative number of updated functions rising 36.7% year on year from 2024.

Updates related to intelligent driving accounted for a slightly smaller share, down 2.8% year on year, but still ranked second only to vehicle settings and control functions in absolute volume.

New-entrant automakers rolled out 216 feature updates in December, a modest increase from the previous month. Six new-entrant brands conducted OTA updates during the month.

Among them, Li Auto and XPeng delivered new major-version OTA releases, marking the first round of systematic optimization following the rollout of their new-generation intelligent driving architectures.

ONVO pushed updates including end-to-end urban navigation assistance and an AI family companion feature.

Chinese local brands were the clear driving force behind OTA activity in December. They delivered 1,005 feature updates during the month, a sharp month-on-month increase.

For the full year, cumulative OTA feature updates by domestic brands rose 73% year on year, with intelligent driving and vehicle control modules together accounting for more than 20% of the total.

In December, 18 local brands carried out OTA updates, with BYD, Denza and Lynk & Co accelerating their intelligent feature rollouts.

Over the full year of 2025, Chinese local brands pushed a total of 518 OTA versions, up 66.6% year on year.

By contrast, joint-venture (JV) and premium brands continued to move at a slower pace. In December, these brands updated only 36 features, down from the previous month.

On a full-year basis, however, their total number of updated functions still increased 31.6% year on year.

Buick and Ford both released OTA updates in December, mainly focused on incremental and lightweight optimizations.

JV brands rolled out 59 OTA versions in 2025, up 126.9% year on year. While the absolute base remained small, growth was notable.

Among premium brands, Audi was the only marque to conduct an OTA update in December.

Over the full year, premium brands released a total of 22 OTA versions, just two more than in 2024, reflecting a relatively cautious approach. Smart remained comparatively active in terms of update frequency.

With more new models jointly developed with Chinese technology partners entering the market, the CPCA expects 2026 to mark a potential peak year for intelligent feature upgrades among premium brands.