en.Wedoany.com Reported - The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) recently released the "Rules for Vehicle Cost Calculation in China's Automotive Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Rules"), aiming to standardize corporate cost management practices, establish an industry self-discipline mechanism, and curb quality and safety risks arising from vicious price wars among some automakers. This is the first group standard for cost calculation in China's vehicle manufacturing sector.
Currently, the automotive industry is at a critical stage of transitioning toward high-quality development. To capture market share, some companies have shortened R&D cycles, simplified verification procedures, and engaged in irrational cost-cutting and malicious price reductions, leading to an involution-style price war. This has driven industry profit margins below the average level of manufacturing, severely disrupting market order and hindering the global competitiveness of the industry. Industry regulators and CAAM have previously taken multiple measures, but a fundamental solution still relies on an industry self-discipline mechanism.
In March 2026, with support from relevant national authorities, CAAM led 18 leading vehicle manufacturers—including traditional automakers, new energy vehicle companies, commercial vehicle producers, and passenger car manufacturers—in jointly drafting the Rules. After multiple rounds of corporate discussions, expert reviews, and public consultations, the Rules were finalized and officially released within four months. Positioned as a group standard to regulate corporate financial and cost accounting, guide fair competition, and drive industrial upgrading, the Rules also serve as a foundational document for the self-discipline management system of vehicle manufacturers.
According to members of the expert group, the Rules essentially establish an institutional "safety valve" and "navigation system" for the rapidly developing automotive industry. The accompanying "self-discipline management system" includes three components: formulating a group standard for cost calculation; establishing a supervision, inspection, and guidance mechanism to verify improper involution practices in accordance with the standard; and creating an iterative optimization information transmission mechanism to promptly relay technical information to enterprises based on industry technology development and application outcomes, guiding them toward advanced directions while dynamically updating the standard content to ensure scientific rigor and relevance.
The core value of the Rules is reflected in four aspects: guiding enterprises to reasonably reduce production costs and improve profitability through technological innovation, management optimization, full-industry-chain collaboration, and intelligent networking enhancements; strengthening industry self-discipline awareness through post-implementation supervision and management to eliminate false price involution and foster a healthy competitive environment; unifying cost calculation standards to make industry cost data horizontally comparable, providing a consistent data framework for industrial research and policy formulation; and enriching the dimensions of the standard system as an important group standard in the field of automotive industry management, offering a reference for other industrial sectors.
CAAM stated that in the future, through promotion, pilot demonstrations, and dynamic optimization, the Rules will gradually become the common language for cost management in the automotive industry, continuing to play a role in regulating market order and empowering corporate self-discipline management.
