北京（美联社）——面对国内电动汽车市场的激烈竞争，中国政府正释放出"适可而止"的信号。
中国的产业政策推动了全球最大汽车市场向电动汽车的显著转型。这一过程中催生的制造商数量远超市场承载能力。如今，尽管整体销量屡创新高，但长期存在的产能过剩和恶性价格战隐忧正逐渐显现。
行业领军企业**比亚迪**本周宣布，其上半年汽车销量同比增长31%，达到210万辆。据其在香港交易所提交的文件显示，其中近半数为纯电动汽车，其余为插电式混合动力车。该公司已于2022年全面停产燃油车。
5月下旬，比亚迪因发起新一轮降价而受到含蓄的批评，多家竞争对手也纷纷效仿。长城汽车董事长警告称，如果行业继续沿着这一轨迹发展，可能会面临威胁。
当业务规模扩大时，管理难度会大幅增加，你就会成为众矢之的。”长期关注该行业的独立分析师邢磊表示。
政府正试图遏制所谓的“内卷”现象——这一术语最初用于描述中国年轻人之间的激烈竞争，如今也指代企业和行业陷入毫无意义、徒劳无功的竞争。
GlobalData驻印度金融风险分析师穆尔蒂·格兰迪表示，比亚迪因利用其主导地位采取一些被认为不公平的手段而受到批评，这些做法引发了价格战，导致整个行业蒙受损失。
随着价格战进入第四个年头，中国汽车制造商正将目光投向海外以寻求利润增长。比亚迪今年上半年的海外销量同比增长逾一倍，达到46.4万辆。对此感到担忧的美国和欧盟政府已对产自中国的电动汽车加征关税，称补贴政策使这些车辆获得了不公平的竞争优势。
市场领军者比亚迪遭遇挑战
5月23日比亚迪下调20余款车型售价后，引发了新一轮的焦虑。
同日，长城汽车董事长魏建军对电动汽车市场的所谓“健康发展”表示悲观。他将此与中国房地产巨头恒大相提并论，恒大的崩盘导致整个行业陷入低迷，至今仍未恢复。
他在社交媒体发布的视频中表示：“汽车行业的‘恒大’已然存在，只是尚未暴雷。”
两天后，比亚迪一位高管驳斥了与恒大的任何对比，并发布数据详实的图表以佐证其观点。
比亚迪品牌及公关事业部总经理李云飞在社交媒体上发文称："说实话，我感到既困惑又愤怒，这简直荒谬至极！这一切都源于长城汽车董事长魏建军的惊人言论。"
随后，政府与行业协会相继发声。中国汽车工业协会呼吁行业公平竞争与健康发展，并指出某车企大幅降价的行为已引发新一轮价格战恐慌。
同日，工业和信息化部誓言要解决汽车行业的内卷式竞争，并表示近期的无序价格战对该行业健康可持续发展构成威胁。
雷表示："这次降价可能是压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草，比亚迪持续展现出的无情竞争姿态，激怒了竞争对手和监管机构。"
承诺60天内支付供应商款项 释放潜在变革信号
次月，包括比亚迪在内的17家汽车制造商共同承诺：将在60天内向供应商支付款项。
中国汽车制造商在激烈的价格战中生存下来的一个方式是将付款延迟数月。若能遵守这项协议，将减轻供应商的财务压力，并可能抑制部分恶性竞争。
中国乘用车协会秘书长崔东树表示，政府推出60天付款承诺的举措，旨在反对内卷式竞争。
此举还能降低出现类似恒大危机的风险。
许多汽车制造商通过以短期债务（即在特定期限内偿还的承诺）而非现金支付供应商款项，从而延长了付款周期。房地产开发商也采用了同样的模式。这一做法曾行之有效，直到危机爆发。当恒大集团债务违约时，供应商们手中只剩下一纸无法兑现的付款承诺。
格兰迪表示，这种做法被视为可能引发更大危机的潜在诱因，类似恒大事件的情况。
惠誉评级专注于汽车行业的董事杨静表示，加快付款的承诺、政府遏制价格战的呼吁，以及部分融资优惠的取消，都表明各方正努力扭转价格下行预期。
她表示："我们可以观察这些措施在扭转价格趋势上的效果如何，以及这将如何影响未来几个季度的电动汽车需求。"
美联社驻北京研究员喻冰（音译）为本报道作出贡献。
BEIJING (AP) The Chinese government is signaling enough is enough when it comes to the fierce competition in the countrys electric car market .
Chinas industrial policy has engineered a remarkable transformation to electric vehicles in what is the worlds largest auto market. In so doing, it has spawned far more makers than can possibly survive. Now, long-simmering concerns about oversupply and debilitating price wars are coming to the fore, even as the headline sales numbers soar to new heights.
Market-leader BYD announced this week that its sales grew 31% in the first six months of the year to 2.1 million cars. Nearly half of those were pure electric vehicles and the rest were plug-in hybrids, it said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing. The company phased out internal combustion engine cars in 2022.
BYD came under thinly veiled criticism in late May when it launched a new round of price cuts, and several competitors followed suit. The chairman of Great Wall Motors warned the industry could come under threat if it continues on the same trajectory.
When volumes get bigger, its just much harder to manage and you become the bullseye, said Lei Xing, an independent analyst who follows the industry.
The government is trying to rein in what is called involution a term initially applied to the rat race for young people in China and now to companies and industries engaged in meaningless competition that leads nowhere.
BYD has come under criticism for using its dominant position in ways that some consider unfair, sparking price wars that have caused losses across the industry, said Murthy Grandhi, an India-based financial risk analyst at GlobalData.
With the price war in its fourth year, Chinese automakers are looking abroad for profits. BYDs overseas sales more than doubled to 464,000 units in the first half of this year. Worried governments in the U.S. and EU have imposed tariffs on made-in-China electric vehicles, saying that subsidies have given them an unfair advantage.
Market leader BYD comes under attack
The latest bout of handwringing started when BYD cut the price of more than 20 models on May 23.
The same day, the chairman of Great Wall Motors, Wei Jianjun, said he was pessimistic about what he called the healthy development of the EV market. He drew a comparison to Evergrande , the Chinese real estate giant whose collapse sent the entire industry into a downturn from which it has yet to recover.
The Evergrande in the automobile industry already exists, but it is just yet to explode, he said in a video message posted on social media.
Two days later, a BYD executive rejected any comparison to Evergrande and posted data-filled charts to buttress his case.
To be honest, I am confused and angry and its ridiculous! Li Yunfei, BYDs general manager of brand and public relations, wrote on social media. All these come from the shocking remarks made by Chairman Wei of Great Wall Motors.
Next, the government and an industry association weighed in. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers called for fair competition and healthy development of the industry, noting that major price cuts by one automaker had triggered a new price war panic.
On the same day, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology vowed to tackle involution-style competition in the auto industry, saying that recent disorderly price wars posed a treat to the healthy and sustainable development of the sector.
That price cut might have been the final straw that irked both competitors and regulators for the ruthlessness that BYD continues to show, Lei said.
A promise to pay suppliers within 60 days signals possible shift
The following month, 17 automakers including BYD made a pledge: They would pay their suppliers within 60 days.
One way Chinas automakers have been surviving the bruising price wars is by delaying the payments for months. The agreement, if adhered to, would reduce financial pressure on suppliers and could rein in some of the fierce competition.
The introduction of the 60-day payment pledge is the call of the government to oppose involution-style competition, said Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.
It also reduces the risk of an Evergrande-like scenario.
Many automakers had stretched out payments by paying suppliers with short-term debt promises to repay them in a certain period of time instead of cash. Real estate developers used the same system. It worked until it didnt. When Evergrande defaulted on its debts, suppliers were left holding worthless promises to pay.
This practice is seen as a potential cause of a larger crisis, similar to what happened with Evergrande, Grandhi said.
The vows to speed up payments and the government calls to rein in the price wars, along with a rollback of some financing offers, point to an effort to reverse downward price expectations, said Jing Yang, a director at Fitch Ratings who focuses on the auto industry.
We may watch how effectively these measures are in reversing the price trend and how would that affect EV demand in the coming quarters, she said.
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Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
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