China has entered a new price war in its automobile market. Many months after Byd and Tesla gave the battle by lowering their prices to try to get out of their competition, the Chinese company has relieved the power it has in their hands to impact their rivals.
And along the way, criticism has been taken from analysts, their competitors and even the Chinese government itself.
An already known play. In April 2024Byd and Tesla played hand in a race to see who could reduce the prices of their cars. Then, Elon Musk’s company looked from you to your sales from BYD but for a few months the Chinese company has stayed at the top of the table.
Then we knew that the strategy could be taken ahead to some of its competitors. Byd played with its ability to sell at volume to put cheaper and attractive cars on the market while Tesla had a wide margin of benefits To press your rivals.
Returning to the streets. Now it has been byd, alone, the one that has put all the meat on the grill. And the industry upside down. The company has lowered prices very aggressively, to the point that the Byd Qin Plus DM-Ia plug -in hybrid sedan, has dropped its price by more than 40% in the last two years.
These discounts are applied for less than a month But they are the continuation of sales that were already applied in April. Some of its models They have reduced their price by 34% In these last sales but, above all, it is surprising that a car like the Byd Seagullwhich is already the cheapest car on the market, now is available 20% cheaper.
A dangerous trend. These BYD pricing sales have been pushing the rest of the industry in the last year. The data reflects them Bloomberg In a powerful graphic: of the 30 best -selling cars in China, only one has increased its price. It doesn’t matter if you look at Chinese manufacturers or foreigners, only Tesla Model and is now more expensive (update through) than two years ago.
This, according to its analysts, is a problem with the industry. They ensure that if the customer does not have the assurance that prices are maintained, it is very possible that they delay their purchase. That could be wearing part of current car sales.
The second perspective is that of manufacturers. Reuters He already pointed out in 2023 that much of the automobile manufacturers in China were not profitable. According to his accounts, Byd did earn net money with each car sold but his great rivals like Xpeng or Nio lost between $ 10,000 and $ 20,000 per unit sold.
Rain of criticism. Byd’s last movement seems to have tired the rivals. China Chongqing Auto Forum has been a reflection of the tensions that exist in the automobile industry. Collect in Carnewschina That the attacks between competitors have flown throughout the talk.
While from ByD they insisted again on the idea that They are suffering coordinated defamatory attacksfrom Geely they have assured that their competitor behaves like a hypocrite. The specialized media in the Chinese industry argues that Victor Yang, vice president of Geely and in charge of public relations and communication snapped at his rival a hard Isn’t This just a case of the Thief Crying Thief? What could be translated by something like “the thief is believed that all are of his condition.”
It was not the only poisoned dart of the event, they point out in Carnewschina. Among those responsible for Huawei and Xiaomi there were also cross statements according to their electric vehicles and only from Chery it seems that the waters were tempered with a more politically correct message, noting that the intense competition made the market better.
“An Evergrande” Byd’s rivals attacks have not been a novelty either. Only a few days ago that from Great Wall Motors, another of the big Chinese companies, they said that the car market lived in a bubble that could already be defined as “an evergrande” referring to the collapse of its largest construction company.
Without giving names, Wei Jianjun, head of Great Wall Motors, pointed out that The industry situation was not healthy And that vehicle automatures were being too high, with the ultimate goal of makeup the results. Lei Yunfei, responsible for BYD’s public relations, soon answered Weiboreferring the criticisms that the company was receiving.
And the state answers. After pulling and loosening between Great Wall Motors and Byd, institutions called the main manufacturers to attend the problem of automatrications. Little or nothing is known about what was treated there but Reuters He showed this movement was a call of attention to Byd.
Days after that meeting, People’s Daily (means of communication that is one of the spokesmen of the Chinese Communist Party) collected in an article Related to new energy car sales (electric and plug -in hybrids) Calls to flee “price wars.”
It specified that both the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) had made appeals not to fall into this type of practices because they pointed out that “recently the industry has seen a decrease in profitability, largely due to the increase in competition marked by disorderly price wars.”
Photo | Byd
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings