(Yicai Global) May 23 -- SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, a joint venture between China's SAIC Motors and Wuling Motors and US car giant General Motors, cut the official guide price for all models of its micro electric vehicle series by up to 15 percent.

The four-seater, 300-kilometer range Air EV is the model saw the steepest reduction of CNY13,000 (USD1,845), bringing it down to CNY82,800. Other model prices were cut between CNY6,000 (USD850) and CNY10,000. The standard edition of the Hongguang Mini EV is now the JV's cheapest at CNY29,800 through June 30.

The lower prices are an answer to the government's recent campaign promoting new energy vehicle sales in rural areas, the Liuzhou-based company announced yesterday.

The move is probably a response to a sustained decline in its mini EV sales, a product manager at an automaker said. Sales of the Honguang Mini EV plunged 27.4 percent to 18,086 last month from a year ago and 26.5 percent to 87,928 in the first four months compared with the same period of last year.

China's micro EV market is shrinking. In the first quarter, 203,900 were sold, down over 39 percent from a year earlier, data from China Passenger Car Association showed. The growth space for micro EVs is nearing a bottleneck, Ping An Securities said recently.

Moreover, competition in the micro EV market is hotting up. After the Hongguang Mini EV's big success, many other carmakers came out with similar products. Geely Holding Group debuted the Panda Mini, Changan Automobile released the Lumin, Leapmotor Technology introduced the T03, and Chery Automobile launched the Small Ant.

“Wuling has quite a strong ability to define products and can relatively accurately meet the consumption needs of users,” the product manager said. “But mini cars don't have a steep technical barrier, so rivals can easily replicate the success story.”

In the fuel car era, SAIC-GM-Wuling launched many hits, including the Wuling Hongguang, Baojun 730, and Baojun 530. But none of them could maintain high sales after the competition intensified. Whether the automaker can break the ‘competition curse’ in the NEV era is yet to be seen.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Futura Costaglione