“Recently, IM L6 has added a no – threshold cash discount of 3,000 yuan. At the same time, a 5,000 – yuan advance payment can be exchanged for a cash voucher worth 17,000 yuan.” On October 21st, a dealer of IM told a reporter from National Business Daily that in addition to the cash discount, there are also financial policies such as zero – interest loans for this car at present.
A salesperson at an Avita center also said, “The price of the 2025 Avita 12 has been recently adjusted. Currently, there is a cash discount of 30,000 yuan, and the bare – car price is less than 250,000 yuan. If you choose installment payment, there are also policies such as two – year interest – free loans.”

Photo source: Photo taken by Duan Siyao, a reporter from National Business Daily
The reporter’s visit to the market found that recently, many popular new – energy passenger vehicle models have seen price cuts to varying degrees. The latest data from the Passenger Car Association shows that in September this year, the prices of new – energy passenger vehicles decreased significantly, with an average price of 158,000 yuan. This is also the first time in the past six years that the average price of new – energy passenger vehicles has fallen below 160,000 yuan.
Data from the Passenger Car Association shows that in September this year, the comprehensive promotion rate of new – energy passenger vehicles rose to a medium – high level of 10.2%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points compared with the same period and a slight increase of 0.7 percentage points compared with August this year. In terms of price, in September, the average price cut of new – energy passenger vehicles in China was 19,000 yuan, and the price – cut rate reached 9.8%.
In terms of quantity, in September this year, the number of price – cut models was 23, the same as in August this year. Among them, there were 14 new – energy passenger vehicles, including 5 plug – in hybrid vehicles, 2 extended – range vehicles, and 7 pure – electric vehicles.
Specifically, pure – electric passenger vehicle models have the largest price cuts. In September this year, the average price of new pure – electric passenger vehicle models was 190,000 yuan. According to the Passenger Car Association’s price – cut tracking data for new cars in September, compared with the lowest guiding prices from 2023 to 2024, the price cuts of models such as Dongfeng Fengxing Lingzhi Pure – Electric, BYD Qin PLUS, GAC Aion RT, and EXEED Yaoguang C – DM exceeded 10%. “In September this year, the overall price – cut scale of pure – electric vehicles was quite large. Especially, the decline in the guiding prices of some models reached more than 10%, which is quite astonishing,” said Cui Dongshu, the secretary – general of the Passenger Car Association.

Photo source: Cui Dongshu’s official account
From January to September this year, the average price cut of new – energy passenger vehicle models was 21,000 yuan. “The price – cut scale of new – energy passenger vehicles from January to September this year was relatively moderate,” Cui Dongshu believes. Currently, the price competition mainly involves new cars breaking through the original price floor directly, rather than the model of increasing configuration without price increase. For example, in September, there was only 1 model with a direct price cut. Increasing configuration while reducing price is a good way to improve cost – performance.
The reporter noticed that increasing configuration while reducing price has become a new strategy for many popular models to seize the market. “The Li Auto i8 originally had three versions, and now it is unified into one version. Many configurations have become standard, and the selling price is 339,800 yuan. In addition, some configurations that previously required additional payment are now standard, and some new optional configurations have been added,” a salesperson at a Li Auto experience center told the reporter.
Over the past six years, the average price of new – energy passenger vehicles has been declining with fluctuations. Public data shows that from 2019 to 2024, the average prices of new – energy passenger vehicles were 168,000, 175,000, 163,000, 169,000, 184,000, and 163,000 yuan respectively. In the first nine months of this year, the average price of new – energy passenger vehicles has dropped to 160,000 yuan.
The price change is mainly affected by the change in product structure. Cui Dongshu believes that the structural reason for the decline in the average price of new – energy passenger vehicles in recent months is the increase in the proportion of entry – level pure – electric vehicles and the decrease in the proportion of higher – priced hybrids and extended – range vehicles, which forms a structural pull.
Data from the Passenger Car Association shows that in September this year, the penetration rate of micro – new – energy passenger vehicles was 100%, the penetration rate of A0 – class new – energy passenger vehicles reached 80%, and the penetration rate of A – class new – energy passenger vehicles reached 44%.

Photo source: Photo taken by Duan Siyao, a reporter from National Business Daily
Taking the sales volume of new – energy vehicles below 50,000 yuan as an example, in the past four years, their annual sales volumes were 480,000, 570,000, 430,000, and 630,000 respectively. In the first nine months of this year, the sales volume of this segment has reached 670,000. Cui Dongshu believes that the decrease in the average price of new – energy passenger vehicles has promoted the all – round development of the market, which is beneficial to the popularization and scale improvement of automobiles.
In addition, the price of battery – grade lithium carbonate, a raw material that affects the battery cost of new – energy vehicles, has been steadily declining. Public data shows that in 2024, the average price of battery – grade lithium carbonate was about 91,000 yuan per ton, a decrease of about 65% compared with the average price in 2023. According to the latest market data on October 20th, the current average price of battery – grade lithium carbonate is about 74,000 yuan per ton.
Some analysts believe that there are multiple factors driving the price cuts in the new – energy vehicle market, including the decrease in battery cost, technological progress, cost reduction in the supply chain, and economies of scale. In the short term, the “price war” is a strategy for car companies to deal with inventory pressure and subsidy dividends. In the long term, large – scale production, breakthroughs in battery technology, and the improvement of market concentration will drive prices down continuously, but the decline may gradually stabilize. In the future, enterprises need to find a balance between price competition and technological R & D.
This article is from the WeChat official account “NBD Auto”, author: Reporter from National Business Daily. Republished by 36Kr with permission.
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