“Competition in the [EV] industry should pit players against each other in terms of technology, long-term value, sustainability as well as safety and reliability,” he said on Tuesday at the forum, which is being held in the northeastern city of Dalian. “A one-off price competition is not desirable. After all, it is a race throughout the products’ life cycle.”
In April, Goldman Sachs forecast in a research report that if BYD were to slice another 10,300 yuan (US$1,418) off the price of each of its vehicles, the overall profitability of the country’s EV industry would turn negative in 2024.
Bosch, the world’s largest automotive supplier, designs and makes a wide range of car components for home-grown and international assemblers on the mainland, including autopilot software for autonomous-driving systems, electromechanical brake boosters and anti-lock braking products.
One GWh is enough to supply about 13,000 electric cars with driving ranges of 500km each.
The battery producer holds a 37.7 per cent share of the global market, ahead of BYD which trails with a 15.4 per cent share.
“We are buy rated on the stock, as we are positive on its [upgraded] battery product mix and resilient market share, which we believe will enable CATL to benefit from the sustainable global electrification trend,” Goldman Sachs said in a research report on Sunday.
In February, BYD fired the first salvo in a price war on the mainland, slashing the prices of nearly all of its cars by 5 to 20 per cent.
Since then, the prices of 50 models across a range of brands have dropped by 10 per cent on average, according to Goldman Sachs.