XPeng, NIO, and Tesla all now offer zero percent interest for five years while Yipai lowers prices.
China’s new energy vehicle price wars are set to hot up all over again as the Chinese New Year ushers in a plethora or interest-free deals, subsidies, and price cuts.
The early months of the year are considered the low season for new vehicle purchases with consumers tending to stay away from large purchases, leading to manufacturers pulling out all the stops to lure them into dealers.
So far, Tesla, NIO, XPeng, and Yipai have gotten into the act, with more almost certainly joining the battle in the coming days.
Tesla
As ever, the rush was started by Tesla before the New Year after they dropped a five-year interest-free financing offer on China-made Model 3 and Model Y cars until February 28th, presumably with the deal covering the pre-update Model Y to help shift final models.
They’ve now gone a step further, offering an RMB 8,000 insurance subsidy on Model 3s as they look to fend off rising competition from domestic brands.
NIO
NIO kicked off the Lunar New Year with a similar deal, offering five-year, zero percent interest financing with a deposit of as little as 20 percent between February 1st and 28th, a boost from the three-year zero percent financing program for NIO and Onvo cars offered in January.
Customers will also get five years of free access to their NOP+ ADAS system, plus an RMB 10,000 option fund, 20,000km of free battery swaps, and 48 service coupons.
XPENG
Today, XPeng responded with their own five-year, zero percent interest financing offer, but this one adds zero deposit as well, until February 28th.
XPeng claims it’s the industry’s only such deal and have limited it to the X9 MPV, saving customers as much as RMB 58,000 (£6,385 / $8,000).
For the G6, P7i, and G9, there’s a three-year, zero percent interest, zero deposit finance deal on offer, saving customers as much as RMB 28,000 (£3,080 / $3,850).
The deal doesn’t include the rabidly popular new P7+ and MONA M03 models that have spurred XPeng to record sales in recent months, but MONA M03 buyers can get 888kWh of free charging, stereo upgrades worth RMB 4,000, and trade-in subsidies of RMB 3,000, and existing XPeng owners can get an additional 1,500kWh of free charging per year for four years.
Yipai
Yipai, a young brand that’s part of the Dongfeng family, has also taken drastic action to encourage customers their way, reducing the prices on their already impressively affordable 007 and 008 models and adding additional incentives.
Until February 28th, the 007 mid-to-large saloon which is available as an EREV or full BEV, will now start from as little as RMB 119,900 (£13,200 / $16,450) with an RMB 14,000 “red envelope”, RMB 5,000 trade-in subsidy, and five-year, ultra-low interest financing with a five percent deposit.
The six-seater, 008 SUV, also available in EREV and BEV form, can now be had from as little as RMB 163,600 (£18,000 / $22,460) with an RMB 5,000 “red envelope”, RMB 10,000 trade-in subsidy, and the same five-year, ultra-low interest financing with a five percent deposit.
Yipai hasn’t released monthly sales figures since September which suggests they may be struggling to get customers, so these incentives could be sorely needed.
IM
Struggling IM has also joined the price cuts with a significant discount on their L6 saloon, which until the end of February benefits from an RMB 30,000 discount, taking the L6 into the sub-200,000 category and a starting price of just RMB 189,900 (£20,900 / $26,050) for the 75kWh Max base version, using the 400-volt platform.
They’ve also joined the five-year, zero interest party, offering that, plus an RMB 5,000 “red envelope” on the LS6 SUV.
