Gasgoo Munich- Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the CPCA branch, has analyzed recent price hike announcements by various NEV makers. From a macro perspective, high-end automakers enjoy relatively healthy profit margins—generally staying above 20%—and face minimal earnings pressure, giving them little incentive to raise prices. Conversely, mid-to-low-end manufacturers are grappling with intensifying competition and a shrinking market, making widespread price increases unlikely.
On the cost front, export prices for power batteries are trending downward year-on-year with no signs of an uptick. Only domestic battery prices have edged up slightly, exerting some cost pressure on manufacturers.
Adding to this, a flood of new models hitting the market with aggressive pricing is squeezing the profitability and pricing flexibility of existing lineups. As a result, most price hikes by automakers remain largely rhetorical—implementing them in practice is proving extremely difficult.
Image source: Cui Dongshu’s WeChat Official Account
On May 10, Cui wrote that since 2025, promotions and market downgrading in the nationwide passenger car sector have returned to rationality, with market order improving notably. Due to the reinstatement of the NEV purchase tax, the impact of guide prices on consumer taxation has become evident. In 2026, the volume of price cuts involved 56 models—12 fewer than the same period last year. Specifically, conventional internal combustion engine models saw 25 price cuts, an increase of 8; hybrid models saw 3, unchanged; plug-in hybrid models saw 9, a decrease of 4; extended-range models saw 3, a decrease of 2; and pure electric models saw 16, a decrease of 14.
In April 2026, 13 models saw price reductions, one fewer than the same period last year. Among them, 2 were hybrid models—an increase of 2—while 4 were pure electric models, a decrease of 1.
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