BYD said this is due to the imminent expiration of China's NEV purchase subsidies, as well as a significant increase in the prices of key raw materials.

Those at the helm of car companies, including Changan Automobile's chairman Zhu Huarong and William Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of Nio, have called for regulatory efforts to bring down the cost of raw materials, including lithium.

On November 18, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a joint announcement that measures would be taken to stabilize the lithium battery industry chain.

Market regulators across China will step up supervision and investigate and deal with hoarding, price gouging and unfair competition in the upstream and downstream of the lithium battery industry to maintain market order, the announcement said.

Tesla reportedly to cut prices further in China after previous moves failed to get enough orders