An industry-wide price war in the Chinese car market has escalated to an unsustainable level, which has been ongoing for more than a year and could pressure some automakers to slash prices by another 20-30% in 2024, according to the head of Bosch’s China operations. It is “unhealthy” that businesses are being drawn into repeated price cuts, which has elevated every company’s losses or squeezed their profits and could result in reduced efforts on new technologies, David Xu, president of Bosch China, told reporters in Shanghai on Thursday (our translation). The company is trying to make room for more price cuts in China following clients’ requests, but the situation can not last much longer, Xu added. The German parts supplier generated €91.6 billion ($97.7 billion) in revenue with an adjusted margin of 5.3% in 2023, and reaffirmed its long-term profit margin target of at least 7% during its annual press conference on the same day. [TechNode reporting, Bosch release]
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