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China’s EV war: BYD and Great Wall trade barbs over emission claims as rivalry intensifies
- Great Wall Motor says two BYD plug-in models use normal fuel tanks when they should be fitted with pressurised tanks, leading to higher pollution
- BYD hit back at GWM, saying it opposes any form of unfair competition as it threatens to take legal action against its rival
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Why you can trust SCMP
Yujie Xuein Shenzhen
The white hot competition in China’s automotive industry has broken out into the open, with the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles (EVs) engaging in a war of words with a rival over emissions claims.
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The row escalated on Thursday 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 the pollution levels permitted by the government due to the use of normal fuel tanks.
Chinese media, which widely reported the news, said that plug-in hybrids are fitted with pressurised fuel tanks and the use of regular fuel tanks in BYD’s models may have led to the world’s top-selling EV maker breaching the emissions standards.
GWM had filed a report against BYD with Chinese 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 in a statement to the Post on Thursday, adding that it “reserves the right to legal proceedings”.
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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 marked slowdown in growth.
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