The competition among electric car companies in China is fierce, does AIWAYS choose to go overseas for survival?

On May 15, Chinese brand AIWAYS, affected by the price reduction of domestic Chinese brands and joint venture brands, plans to withdraw from the Chinese market and instead move to the European market.

About the choice to leave the Chinese market, an insider at AIWAYS revealed: "Due to the pricing pressure and intense competition in the Chinese market, we do not plan to stay in the Chinese market." AIWAYS CEO Fu Qiang also stated that the overseas new energy market is not as competitive as China, and the acceptance level of electrification is higher, so the overseas market is seen as the main focus.

Since the beginning of this year, Chinese car brands have started to reduce prices frequently, including BYD, Wuling Motors, and Li Auto, etc. The highly popular Xiaomi SU7 in China this year also stated that it was affected by the price reduction and lowered the price of the new car before the launch. Not only Chinese car brands are affected by this, Tesla also stated in this year's Q1 financial report conference call that it will cater to the current consumer market and launch more cost-effective models.

AIWAYS has long been planning to shift to the European market. In January 2023, the official statement said that its related models had passed the EU "RRR" environmental protection regulation certification and passed the German Rhine TÜV group's re-examination all at once. At the same time, the related models of ALWAYS meet the requirements of EU REACH/POPS/CLP/BPR and other regulations, avoiding the regulatory risk of environmental protection materials for exporting to the EU region. Although focused on the European market, the sales volume is not very impressive. From the first batch of models officially exported in May 2020 to the end of 2022, the overseas sales of it are only 6,264 units.

Facing the fierce competition in the Chinese electric vehicle market, selling abroad is the choice of young brand AIWAYS. AIWAYS was established in 2017, and its founder Fu Qiang having served as senior executive in companies like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Volvo. The company has received investment from companies like CATL, DIDI, with a total financing amount exceeding 10 billion RMB.