China's auto group retracts pledge to avoid 'abnormal pricing'

SHANGHAI, July 8 (Reuters): The China Association of Auto Manufacturers (CAAM), citing antitrust law, on Saturday retracted a pledge to avoid "abnormal pricing" made two days earlier by 16 automakers, including Tesla.

Thursday's CAAM-organised pledge by the companies, including Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers Nio, Li Auto and Xpeng, had been interpreted by some as signalling a truce in a price war that has threatened industry-wide profitability.

But Elon Musk's EV giant Tesla on Friday rolled out a global programme letting buyers get extra incentives through referrals from existing customers, a strategy long used by traditional automakers to boost sales.

In a statement on its website on Saturday, CAAM said it recognised the pricing pledge had violated China's antitrust law and said it would delete it from a list of commitments the automakers had signed, witnessed by an official from Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.