Intensified EV price war coming, China warns

STORY: An electric vehicle price war shows no signs of ending, according to China’s state planner.

The National Development and Reform Commission said it expects an intensified price war among automakers of EVs and plug-in hybrids this year.

It sees more than 110 new energy vehicle models coming in 2024, ramping up competition.

The state planner also estimated the market demand for NEVs to grow by 2.1 million units.

However, the three top NEV brands in China had planned to raise deliveries by 2.3 million units – signalling oversupply.

It also said falling battery costs and economies of scale will be the other two main reasons for lower prices in NEVs.

BYD and Denza cars have been leading the price cuts.

They brought in reductions of around 7.1% to 9.7% to the prices of five models in April compared with the start of the year.

Li Auto cut prices on four of its models, following similar moves by Tesla and BYD.