The Chinese authorities have called on major electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, including BYD, to suspend aggressive price wars that threaten the stability of the sector, according to a recent meeting in Beijing.
According to a report this Friday by “Bloomberg”, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China and other regulatory bodies held a meeting to address concerns about unsustainable prices and their side effects on the electric vehicle supply chain, making it clear that it is necessary to self-regulate the situation among companies, thereby avoiding selling vehicles below cost or offering large discounts, practices that have caused financial difficulties throughout the sector.
This intervention by the Beijing government comes at a time when BYD, a leading electric vehicle manufacturer, has recently reduced prices by up to 34%, generating criticism from the industry and state media. The Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers has stated that such measures have triggered a “price war panic”, plunging the sector into a clear “vicious cycle” and threatening the security of the supply chain while compressing companies’ profit margins.