Accelerating Transformation: Price Wars, Innovation, and Restructuring in the New Energy Vehicle Industry

This study investigates the multifaceted impact of price wars on the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry chain and examines their role in industrial restructuring. The purpose of the research is to understand how aggressive pricing strategies affect critical performance metrics across the NEV supply chain, encompassing both automakers and suppliers. To achieve this, annual report data from 2015 to 2023 of four major NEV companies (BYD, Tesla, Geely Auto, and Great Wall Motor) and four key suppliers (CATL, Gotion High-Tech, EVE Energy, and Sunwoda) were analyzed. Employing a mixed-method approach that integrates descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression models, and game theory, the study explores the relationships between variables such as average selling price, policy support, market competition intensity, technological innovation investment, and consumer demand with key outcomes like sales volume, profitability, market share changes, and inventory turnover rate. The results reveal that technological innovation investment has a positive, albeit marginally significant, effect on NEV and battery sales (p = 0.057); market competition intensity significantly influences market share changes (p < 0.001); and policy support is significantly negatively correlated with inventory turnover rate (p = 0.045). Based on these findings, it is recommended that companies bolster R&D efforts and optimize supply chain management to enhance competitiveness, while policymakers should continue to provide targeted support that guides the industry towards sustainable, high value-added development.