China's electric cars are becoming slicker and cheaper - but is there a deeper cost?

How China made electric vehicles mainstream

The carmaker had on Friday reported that its net profit fell to 6.4bn yuan ($900m; £660m) between April and June, down 30% from a year earlier.

The Shenzhen-based manufacturer is facing an increasingly crowded market, competing against local rivals Nio and XPeng and US carmaker Tesla, which have all slashed prices to draw buyers.

The carmaker's stock fell at the open in Hong Kong on Monday but recovered slightly throughout the day.

Competition in China's car sector has reached a "fever pitch", said

It said "industry malpractices... [like] excessive marketing" played a part in disrupting the market.

EV makers have subsidised car dealers and offered zero-interest loans to buyers as the industry becomes increasingly cutthroat.

It has prompted warnings from Beijing, which urged automakers to stop the aggressive discounts in order to protect the economy.

Average car prices in China have fallen

And despite significant sales abroad,

The company targeted global sales of 5.5 million cars this year, but it has sold just 2.49 million

"[The] drop in stock price trading this morning signals investor's disappointment," she said.

Beijing's push to end the EV price war is tough, as past policies have led to too many players in the sector, said Prof Wu from Nanyang Technological University.

Price cuts may benefit consumers, but they risk creating an oversupply of Chinese EVs in the long run, she added.