(Yicai Global) Nov. 24 -- Chinese carmaker Geely Holding Group today denied that it will raise the prices of vehicles under three of its new energy vehicle brands.

According to a notice circulating online, guide prices for vehicles of three NEV brands under the Hangzhou-based automaker -- Geely, Geometry, and Livan -- will be revised upward by CNY2,000 to CNY6,000 (USD280 to USD841) from January.

The company has never issued such a document, Geely told Yicai Global. A flagship dealer of Geely also said that they had not received the relevant notice.

Yesterday, leading electric vehicle maker BYD announced that it will raise the prices of some of its Dynasty, Ocean, and Denza models by between CNY2,000 and CNY6,000 due to surging raw material costs and the appraching end of government NEV subsidies.

Prior to this, US electric vehicle giant Tesla, Chinese EV startup Leapmotor, Ford Mustang Mach-E and multiple pure-electric models under Beijing Benz Automotive, a joint venture between BAIC Motor and Daimler, announced price reductions.

Tesla is offering insurance subsidies worth CNY4,000 or CNY8,000 to car buyers this month and next. Leapmotor will also provide consumers buying its T03 and C11 models with insurance subsidies worth CNY2,500 and CNY3,000, respectively.

The prices of all models of Ford Mustang Mach-E will be slashed by CNY20,000 to CNY28,000, while the price reduction for the EQE, EQS, AMG EQS 53 models under Beijing Benz will range from CNY50,000 to CNY220,000.

Despite these cuts, there will not be a big round of price reductions for NEVs, according to Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association. NEV subsidies will be withdrawn next year and the NEV market is still relatively hot, so price cuts at this point will make the situation passive for carmakers in future, Cui pointed out.

At the beginning of this year, with the government’s NEV subsidy policy scheduled to end at the year’s close, all NEV makers, including Tesla and BYD, announced price hikes, and then hiked them again due to soaring raw material costs.

At present, the subsidy for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is CNY4,800 per unit, while that for pure-electric vehicles is CNY12,600.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Peter Thomas