The drawing die design of automobile panel was studied. For the automobile engine cover outer panel, the cracking or wrinkling were predicted by simulating its drawing process based on CAD model of part, and the forming limit diagram and the thickness variation diagram of part were obtained to judge the forming effect. Then, the forming scheme was optimized by changing the structure parameters and process parameters, and the drawing die structure was designed according to the best forming scheme. Finally, the result of design was verified through tests, and the test results were in agreement with the simulation results. Furthermore, the requirement of forming was met with the maximum thinning rate of 27.5% and the maximum thickening rate of 9.5%. The research results show that the drawing die design of automobile panel based on CAD/CAE is feasible, the product development cycle is shortened,and the standard of design is raised.