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Wall Street Journal
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Wall Street Journal
Chinese Auto Stocks Fall on Fears of Fresh Price War
Chinese auto stocks fell broadly after BYD offered discounts for many of its models, triggering industry concerns about another price war. BYD's Hong Kong-listed shares declined 8.6% on Monday while its Shenzhen-listed shares fell 5.9%. Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology shed 8.45% and Geely dropped 9.5%. Li Auto and NIO were off 3.2% and 3.0%, respectively. BYD, China's biggest automaker, last week unveiled discounts of 10%-34% until June 30 on 22 Dynasty and Ocean models. BYD's Ocean series now starts at 55,800 yuan, equivalent to $7,770, for its Seagull hatchback, down from 69,800 yuan previously, according to a poster shared by Zhang Zhuo, head of sales for BYD's Ocean series, on Chinese social-media platform Weibo on Friday. The Dynasty series now starts at 63,800 yuan for the Qin compact plug-in hybrid sedan, down from 79,800 yuan previously, a poster shared by Lu Tian, head of BYD's Dynasty series, showed. The Seal dual-motor hybrid sedan saw the biggest price cut—34%–taking the starting price to 102,800 yuan. 'Such action triggered further concerns on a new round of price competition coming back,' Nomura auto analyst Joel Ying said. Automakers such as Geely and Leapmotor, which target the mass market and are direct competitors to BYD's discounted models, were the most vulnerable and therefore saw steeper share declines, he added. China's automakers have been known to slash prices in exchange for market share. EV makers engaged in a yearlong price war from 2023 to 2024 amid oversupply and soft consumer sentiment in China. In April 2024 alone, prices were cut or incentives offered on more than 40 EV models, amounting to some of the largest-ever price reductions in China's auto market. Meanwhile, China's stock levels at dealerships rose to 3.5 million cars last month, or 57 inventory days, higher than the same period in the past two years, the China Passenger Car Association's secretary general, Cui Dongshu, said last week. The rise in inventory adds to pressure as May to July is usually a low season for car sales, he added. BYD sold 1.0 million vehicles in the first quarter, up 60% from a year earlier, beating Tesla to remain the world's top EV seller for the quarter. After the price cut last week, Citi analysts noted that footfall at BYD dealerships surged 30%-40% over the weekend compared with the previous weekend. Analysts expect BYD's peers to follow in its footsteps. Changan has already announced a cash discount of 25,000 yuan in addition to a replacement subsidy for its Deepal-S07 model. Though the market worries about declining market share for BYD's peers, Citi's auto team expects EV players with products priced below 200,000 yuan to retain robust sales growth on mild competition. Write to Sherry Qin at
South China Morning Post
09-05-2025
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
BYD and Chinese EV peers eye South Korea as export market
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers led by BYD have set their sights on South Korea to chase fresh growth and enhance profitability amid a cutthroat domestic market, setting up a clash with dominant native brands Hyundai and Kia. Advertisement A successful foray into the market, where Tesla recorded robust growth last year, could burnish the global image of Chinese-made EVs despite an expected export slowdown this year, analysts said. 'South Korea is a developed auto market that abounds with international marques and established home-grown brands like Hyundai,' said Steve Shi, a manager with Juchen Auto Trade, an auto service firm. 'It is an ideal testing ground for Chinese-made EVs if they want to prove their design and manufacturing strength.' Shenzhen-based BYD, the world's largest EV assembler, plans to double the number of its showrooms in Korea to 30 by the end of 2025. Its domestic rivals such as Zeekr, a premium EV unit of mainland China's second-largest carmaker Geely Auto , and Deepal, an EV subsidiary of Changan Automobile , have also begun building sales networks in the country, where Hyundai and Kia hold the lion's share of the market. Advertisement Last month, BYD launched its Seal, a mid-size electric sedan, in South Korea with a starting price of 47.5 million won (US$33,900). The car, featuring ultra-fast charging technology, has a driving range of 650km. It takes on the likes of Kia's EV4 sedan, which has a driving range of 410km and starts at 41.9 million won.
