China EV brands Zeekr, Neta inflated car sales to hit targets
That's according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with dealers and buyers.
Documents from recent years show both companies arranged for cars to be insured before they were sold to buyers.
This enabled them to book sales early under Chinese industry car registration practices, so they could hit monthly and quarterly targets, sources said.
Switch Auto Insurance and Save Today!
Great Rates and Award-Winning Service
Affordable Auto Insurance, Customized for You
The Insurance Savings You Expect
Documents show Neta used this method for over 64,000 cars - more than half of vehicles sold from January 2023 to March 2024.
Meanwhile, premium EV brand Zeekr used the same method to book early sales in late 2024, Reuters interviewees said.
Vehicles booked as sold before reaching a buyer are called "zero-mileage used cars" in the Chinese auto industry.
The practice has emerged out of cutthroat competition for sales in the world's largest auto market.
The industry faces a moment of reckoning, with state media calling out the zero-mileage car practice.
Meanwhile, China's cabinet has pledged to regulate "irrational" competition.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Analysis-Out-gunned Europe accepts least-worst US trade deal
By Mark John LONDON (Reuters) -In the end, Europe found it lacked the leverage to pull Donald Trump's America into a trade pact on its terms and so has signed up to a deal it can just about stomach - albeit one that is clearly skewed in the U.S.'s favour. As such, Sunday's agreement on a blanket 15% tariff after a months-long stand-off is a reality check on the aspirations of the 27-country European Union to become an economic power able to stand up to the likes of the United States or China. The cold shower is all the more bracing given that the EU has long portrayed itself as an export superpower and champion of rules-based commerce for the benefit both of its own soft power and the global economy as a whole. For sure, the new tariff that will now be applied is a lot more digestible than the 30% "reciprocal" tariff which Trump threatened to invoke in a few days. While it should ensure Europe avoids recession, it will likely keep its economy in the doldrums: it sits somewhere between two tariff scenarios the European Central Bank last month forecast would mean 0.5-0.9% economic growth this year compared to just over 1% in a trade tension-free environment. But this is nonetheless a landing point that would have been scarcely imaginable only months ago in the pre-Trump 2.0 era, when the EU along with much of the world could count on U.S. tariffs averaging out at around 1.5%. Even when Britain agreed a baseline tariff of 10% with the United States back in May, EU officials were adamant they could do better and - convinced the bloc had the economic heft to square up to Trump - pushed for a "zero-for-zero" tariff pact. It took a few weeks of fruitless talks with their U.S. counterparts for the Europeans to accept that 10% was the best they could get and a few weeks more to take the same 15% baseline which the United States agreed with Japan last week. "The EU does not have more leverage than the U.S., and the Trump administration is not rushing things," said one senior official in a European capital who was being briefed on last week's negotiations as they closed in around the 15% level. That official and others pointed to the pressure from Europe's export-oriented businesses to clinch a deal and so ease the levels of uncertainty starting to hit businesses from Finland's Nokia to Swedish steelmaker SSAB. "We were dealt a bad hand. This deal is the best possible play under the circumstances," said one EU diplomat. "Recent months have clearly shown how damaging uncertainty in global trade is for European businesses." NOW WHAT? That imbalance - or what the trade negotiators have been calling "asymmetry" - is manifest in the final deal. Not only is it expected that the EU will now call off any retaliation and remain open to U.S. goods on existing terms, but it has also pledged $600 billion of investment in the United States. The time-frame for that remains undefined, as do other details of the accord for now. As talks unfolded, it became clear that the EU came to the conclusion it had more to lose from all-out confrontation. The retaliatory measures it threatened totalled some 93 billion euros - less than half its U.S. goods trade surplus of nearly 200 billion euros. True, a growing number of EU capitals were also ready to envisage wide-ranging anti-coercion measures that would have allowed the bloc to target the services trade in which the United States had a surplus of some $75 billion last year. But even then, there was no clear majority for targeting the U.S. digital services which European citizens enjoy and for which there are scant homegrown alternatives - from Netflix to Uber to Microsoft cloud services. It remains to be seen whether this will encourage European leaders to accelerate the economic reforms and diversification of trading allies to which they have long paid lip service but which have been held back by national divisions. Describing the deal as a painful compromise that was an "existential threat" for many of its members, Germany's BGA wholesale and export association said it was time for Europe to reduce its reliance on its biggest trading partner. "Let's look on the past months as a wake-up call," said BGA President Dirk Jandura. "Europe must now prepare itself strategically for the future - we need new trade deals with the biggest industrial powers of the world." (Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; Christian Kraemer and Maria Martinez in Berlin; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Nick Zieminski) Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Toyota's Internal Inertia Stifles Digital Transformation Effort
Inside Toyota Motor Corp., a group of employees are worried about the company's future in an era when a car's software matters just as much as its sheet metal. The world's biggest automaker is known for churning out reliable cars like clockwork, but it's been struggling to keep up with Elon Musk's Tesla Inc., China's BYD Co. and other frontrunners in the industry's shift toward electric vehicles with sophisticated software.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Global Gains, Local Taxes: China Tightens Rules on Overseas Stock Profits
Mainland Chinese investors riding the U.S. bull marketfrom Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)are getting unexpected phone calls. Local tax authorities have started enforcing a long-ignored rule: a 20% levy on global capital gains and dividends. If you've spent more than 183 days a year in China, you're a tax residentand now, you're on the hook. The rule isn't new. But for years, Beijing looked the other way. That's changing fast. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with TSN. What's triggered the clampdown? For starters, China needs cash. The central government raised its 2024 budget deficit to the highest in over three decades. Meanwhile, U.S. markets have soaredup over 60% since early 2022making now a tempting time to reel in offshore profits. China has had access to overseas bank data since it joined the OECD's Common Reporting Standard in 2018. In Hong Kong, banks routinely report account details for clients flagged as Chinese tax residents. Until recently, that information sat quietly. Now, it's being put to work. But not all investors are affected equally. Those trading Hong Kong stocks via the Stock Connect program remain exempt from capital gains taxat least through 2027. Domestic trades are still tax-free too. That policy protects China's capital markets, even as the net tightens around overseas profits. For investors caught off guard, the sting is real. Unlike in the U.S., they can't offset past losses to reduce the bill. The message from Beijing is subtle but serious: if you've made money abroad, now's the time to settle up. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio
