Makers trade barbs over emission standards claim
Great Wall Motor says two BYD plug-in hybrid models breach pollution levels
The white hot competition in China’s automotive industry has spilled out into the open, with the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles engaging in a war of words with a rival over emissions claims.
The row escalated yesterday after Great Wall Motor (GWM) said in a post on its official WeChat account that two of BYD’s plug-in hybrid models – BYD Qin Plus DM-i and Song Plus DM-i – breached pollution levels permitted by the government due to the use of normal fuel tanks.
Chinese media, which reported the news, said plug-in hybrids were fitted with pressurised fuel tanks and the use of regular fuel tanks by BYD might have led to the maker breaching the emissions standards.
GWM had filed a report against BYD with regulators – the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Industry and Information and Technology – on April 11, it said in the post.
BYD hit back at GWM. “We firmly oppose any form of unfair competition,” BYD said yesterday, adding that it “reserves the right to legal proceedings”.
According to BYD, the test report was invalid as the vehicles sent by GWM for inspection did not meet the requisite inspection conditions. BYD said it welcomed relevant departments to investigate, collect evidence and conduct inspections at any time.
“As the first company in the world to launch plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle products, BYD has more than 20 years of experience in plug-in-hybrid technology, which is not as simple as some peers may think,” BYD said.
“The development of the new-energy-vehicle business has not been easy so far, and it is not easy for Chinese brands to come this far,” BYD said.
GWM did not respond to a request for further comment.
Rising competition in China’s car market, the world’s biggest, has seen domestic and overseas companies offer hefty discounts to move mounting inventories amid a slowdown in growth.
Carmakers sold 1.84 million pure-electric and plug-in-hybrid cars in the first four months of 2023, a year-on-year growth of 36 per cent but a dramatic slowdown from the 96 per cent increase seen in the whole of 2022, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. Nearly half of the sales from January to April were contributed by BYD, which delivered about 762,400 units, almost double from a year ago. GWM sold 42,671 new-energy vehicles in the first four months, up 8 per cent year on year.
Last year, BYD overtook Tesla as the top-selling maker globally, delivering 1.86 million fully electric and plug-in-hybrid units, compared with 1.31 million units by the US carmaker.
Hong Kong-listed GWM, based in Baoding in the northern Hebei province, was once China’s largest SUV producer known for its Haval brand. However, it is facing increasing competition from BYD and Tesla, and ranked fifth in sales in the SUV segment in the January to April period.
The development of the new-energy-vehicle business has not been easy so far
BYD STATEMENT