Each winter, the streets of Heihe, a border city in China’s northernmost Heilongjiang Province, come alive. Vehicles adorned with distinctive zebra-like stripes navigate the snow and ice as they undergo rigorous performance evaluations.
At a testing site within the Honghegu Automotive Testing Ground in Heihe, a professionally maintained frozen lake provides an ideal natural venue for carmakers. A substantial number of vehicles are seen undergoing scenario-based assessments, with engineers subjecting new models to exacting tests in acceleration, sharp cornering, and braking on low-friction surfaces.
As China’s leading hub for automotive testing and refinement under harsh conditions, Heihe holds a dominant position in this specialized sector. It accounts for an estimated 85% of the domestic and 45% of the global cold-weather automotive testing market.
During the 2024-2025 testing season, 147 domestic and international carmakers and research institutions, including industry giants FAW, SAIC, and Tesla, conducted tests in Heihe, generating direct economic revenue of approximately 170 million yuan (about 24.3 million U.S. dollars).
Spanning 260,000 square meters, construction of Asia’s first year-round low-temperature testing ground – located on the outskirts of Heihe – is well underway.
