Foreign Media: China Urges Car Manufacturers to End Price Wars and Shift to Technological Innovation
Facing a cooling domestic demand and the phasing out of government subsidies, China has summoned 17 major car manufacturers, urging them to "further standardize the competitive order," promoting the electric vehicle industry to shift from low-price competition to technological innovations such as chips and autonomous driving. It has promised to strengthen price monitoring and cost verification, and requires car manufacturers to strictly fulfill their 60-day payment term commitment to suppliers.
According to a progress report from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers in February 2026, the 17 car manufacturers have compressed the average payment term to 54 days, with four of them shortening it to within 50 days.
For a long time, extending the payment term has been a common practice for car manufacturers to cut costs and maintain price competitiveness, but this approach has severely squeezed supply chain profits, conflicting with Beijing's policy goals to combat deflationary pressures.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1860088158150794/
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