HOHHOT, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- This winter in the Phoenix Mountain scenic area of Yakeshi City in Hulun Buir, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the roar of car engines shattered the snowy stillness as test vehicles from global automakers sped, turned and braked across the frozen lake in a high-stakes display of extreme-cold testing.
Yakeshi endures harsh winters, with average temperatures around minus 24 degrees Celsius and extreme lows plunging below minus 50 degrees Celsius. The region experiences a freezing period of up to six months, making it an ideal location for cold-weather vehicle testing.
Twenty years ago, Swedish youth Gustav Holmgren, then working in the automotive testing industry, arrived here to find a vast expanse of nothing but forests and grasslands.
Today, Yakeshi has grown into one of Asia's premier winter automotive testing grounds. Since launching vehicle testing in 2006, the county-level city has served over 1,500 automakers, conducted tests on more than 30,000 vehicles and supported over 350,000 customers.
Over the past two decades in Yakeshi, Holmgren has not only built a successful entrepreneurial career but also witnessed the remarkable rise of China's automotive industry and the dramatic transformation of this once-remote region.
CROSS-BORDER INDUSTRY RELOCATION
"Back then, we had some customers in Sweden who started to see that their market in China was growing quite fast, and they didn't really want to send their cars and Chinese engineers all the way from China to Sweden," recalled Holmgren, now 44.
The clients requested him to find a location in China which has a climate similar to Sweden and is suitable for winter automotive testing. In 2006, following his father's lead, he discovered Yakeshi. "It's actually a lot like my hometown, just a bit colder and with less snow," he said.
Yakeshi's abundant sunshine offers automotive engineers a better testing environment. "Winters in my hometown are quite dark because there's not much sunlight. But here in Yakeshi, it's sunny nearly every day, and it stays bright from 7:30 a.m. until almost 5:00 p.m," Holmgren said.
However, a major challenge arose because test tracks in his hometown relied on naturally frozen lakes and Yakeshi did not have a suitable lake at the time.
The response from the local government exceeded Holmgren's expectations. "They said, if you need lakes, maybe we can create some. And then they actually did it," he said.
What amazed Holmgren even more was that the earth and rocks excavated to form the lakes were simultaneously used to build the highway running through the city. This efficient and forward-thinking approach became a key reason he decided to stay and start an automotive testing business in Yakeshi.
FROM BARN TO BOOM
In the first year of Holmgren's entrepreneurial journey in Yakeshi, during the testing season that began in the winter of 2007, his company had only two test cars. "We didn't have a workshop at all," said Holmgren, now site manager of ATM (Hulun Buir) Proving Ground Service Co., Ltd. "We had just a small barn where we kept some prototype cars."
Today, his company handles hundreds of test vehicles each year and features modern workshops, offices, two canteens and continually expanding land reserves.
Over this period, Yakeshi has developed a comprehensive cold-region vehicle testing industry chain. Automakers and component suppliers operate at the front end, professional testing agencies provide standardized proving grounds, tailored testing solutions and authoritative data at the core, and the back end extends to consumer test drives, race validation and automotive tourism.
The business model of Holmgren's company has also become increasingly diversified, encompassing both R&D testing for pre-launch vehicles and newly added ice and snow driving experiences for vehicles already on the market.
"They (some car brand owners) invite customers to come and drive their cars on snow and ice. It's a truly unique experience. Many people may have never even seen snow in their lives, and now they have the chance to drive really nice cars in this kind of environment and even go drifting," Holmgren said.
The explosive growth of China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sector has provided a strong tailwind for Holmgren's career. This winter, the number of test vehicles in Yakeshi has surpassed 1,000, with NEVs making up over 90 percent.
"The Chinese auto industry has boomed over the past five to ten years," said the Swedish businessman, who has witnessed firsthand Chinese auto brands become top market players. "I would say that we now work with more Chinese brands than foreign ones."
As someone personally involved in the industry, Holmgren's choice of cars is also telling. His daily vehicles are a NIO and a Zeekr, both Chinese brands. "I see no reason why I shouldn't buy a Chinese car," he said. "The quality, the looks and the driving feel are all great. And I think maybe the best part is the price. You get so much for what you pay. It's amazing."
ENGINE FOR WINTER ECONOMY
In recent years, Yakeshi's auto testing sector has continued to expand. In 2025 alone, the city welcomed 268 automakers from around the world and recorded more than 3,500 vehicle tests, turning the region's cold resources into economic momentum.
The industry has also fueled growth in lodging, dining and local agricultural sales, with tourist visits to Yakeshi rising more than 65 percent over the past decade and tourism revenue increasing by over 46 percent.
"It's almost impossible to find a hotel room in Yakeshi during winter. People have to live in nearby cities and drive an hour and a half each morning to get here," Holmgren said.
Data shows that, over the past five years, Yakeshi's share of China's winter vehicle testing market has surged from less than 10 percent to over 40 percent. The industry has driven over 1.5 billion yuan (about 216 million U.S. dollars) in revenue for Hulun Buir's tertiary sector and created more than 12,000 jobs.
Regarding the future of the industry, Holmgren is convinced that real-world testing is irreplaceable. "You can do a lot with simulators and AI these days. But you still need hands-on testing in real environments, especially in harsh climates like this." He said that as Chinese auto brands continue to go global, the demand for extreme-environment testing grounds such as Yakeshi will only grow.
According to local authorities, Yakeshi's winter vehicle testing industry will continue to expand from 2026 to 2030. A smart connected NEV all-season ice and snow testing facility, with a total investment exceeding 1 billion yuan, is set to break ground in the city this year. It will become China's first professional proving ground with indoor snow-making capabilities, as well as the country's only cold-region testing site for flying cars. ■
