In order to drawing on experience gained from overseas partners, Beiqi Foton is also paying increased attention to self-innovation and independent R&D. Foton has established an innovation approach that combines the Beiqi Foton Academy of Automobile Engineering in Beijing working in conjunction with overseas R&D centers in Japan and Europe as well as China's Taiwan province. Its close working relations with domestic and overseas universities, research institutions and suppliers also help the company timely track the latest developments in the global automobile industry and customer demands to ensure its R&D has kept pace with current needs and trends.

Foton has invested more than 3 billion Yuan in developing new products and building a well-structured technology innovation system. It has made breakthroughs in such core expertise as outer appearance design, interior design, automatic assembly control, tailpipe emission control and crash safety technology. The company has applied for 171 patents that cover a range of technological aspects in automobile manufacturing.