In 2026, China's automotive customization market exceeded 180 billion yuan (approx. US$26.3 billion), and policy easing has brought spring to the industry.
At the heart of this billion‑dollar sector, Dong Guangmin – founder of Beijing DGM Customization Tribe and a 20‑year veteran of the industry – is carving a unique path to success by embracing 3D printing.
In the past, air‑suspension retrofits relied heavily on manual craftsmanship: trunk trim was hammered out of wood boards, and height‑sensor brackets required multiple steps of cutting, bending, welding, grinding, and painting – a process that was inaccurate and took a long time. Starting in 2025, Dong introduced 3D printing and became the first to achieve standardized, batch production of air‑suspension bracket assemblies, offering a solution that is vehicle‑specific and non‑destructive.
3D printing is used mainly for two core components: trunk styling parts and height‑sensor brackets. Based on digital models, the parts are produced with precision, fitting the original vehicle structure closely while also enabling quick customization of functional spaces such as speaker bays and storage compartments. For the height‑sensor brackets, the complex “blacksmith‑era” process has been replaced by one‑print, perfect‑fit parts.
A telling case: a Crown owner urgently requested a custom air‑suspension system to be designed and installed in just three days. The bracket had to be placed inside the engine bay and had to withstand temperatures exceeding 150 °C. Using an industrial FDM printer (the APLUS Blast 2) and Fiberon™ PPS‑CF10 carbon‑fiber‑reinforced PPS filament from Polymaker, Dong completed the extremely fast turnaround successfully.
Today, the DGM Smart Air‑Suspension System has been installed on several vehicle models, including the Hongqi H5, Cadillac CT6, and Audi A4. Dong has also introduced a new business model: once vehicle‑specific data has been developed, it can be reused for printing, allowing custom shops or vehicle owners to directly order the required brackets and trunk parts and quickly implement a bespoke air‑suspension solution.
3D printing is gradually moving automotive customization from traditional handcrafting to a standardized product category. When scanning, modeling, printing, and custom production form a closed loop, this billion‑dollar market will experience a genuine efficiency revolution.
