The Chinese Automobile Manufacturers Association (CAMA) has cancelled a section of an agreement signed this week by 16 automakers, including Tesla, that attempted to end the electric vehicle (EV) price wars in China.
Earlier this week we told that Tesla and more than a dozen other Chinese automakers had signed a “letter of acceptance for maintaining fair market order in the automobile industry” at the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) in Shanghai. While it was sold under the guise of promoting fair competition, one of the four pledges in the agreement drew immediate criticism, with many calling it collusion or price fixing. The pledge in question said the automakers would “not disrupt the fair competition order of the market with abnormal prices.”
Just two days later and the CAMA has responded to that feedback, deleting that pledge from the agreement. According to a statement issued by the CAMA on Saturday, they decided to remove it after realizing that pledge “was inappropriate and violated the spirit of the ‘Anti-Monopoly Law’.” (h/t: @Tslachan)
The statement goes on to encourage the 16 automakers to “strictly abide by the anti-monopoly law and related administrative guidelines and rules and set prices independently…”
You can read the full statement below.
