Big-Name Discounts Rock China’s Auto Market, Spanning Local Brands to Luxury OEMs
In a display of extraordinary generosity, Chinese carmakers launched a pricing blitz that touched nearly 30 brands, stretching from local giants like Chery, FAW, SAIC, and BYD to international names such as BMW. The move followed a powerful trend sparked by a January plunge in Tesla demand, and the resulting price cuts set a new benchmark for the industry.
Discounts now vary widely. BYD has lined up incentives reaching up to twenty thousand yuan, roughly equivalent to two hundred twenty thousand rubles. Chery has pushed larger savings of about thirty-one thousand yuan, or around three hundred forty thousand rubles, on a model widely recognized as the Tiggo 8 Pro. These reductions effectively dropped the base price of several models to around one million rubles on the domestic market.
Among the brands, Toyota emerged as a standout in the discount race. A Shenzhen dealer is offering an unusual incentive: instead of a straightforward price cut, a customer who purchases the bZ4X electric crossover can receive a complimentary extra car. The “bonus car” in this deal is a modest Toyota Vios, priced at about seventy-three thousand nine hundred yuan, or around eight hundred twenty thousand rubles, which adds a meaningful perceived value to the overall purchase.
Industry observers caution that the current wave of reductions is unlikely to translate into sustained price declines for Chinese-made vehicles across the board. While flagship models and certain configurations are seeing aggressive deals, a broad, long-term downward shift in prices remains uncertain for many brands and segments.
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Source: Chinese cars