Narrowing profit margins due to higher raw material costs have dealt yet another major blow to China’s carmakers as they face shrinking market demand amid a rollback of purchase subsidies and tax incentives. The dire scenario could also dash Chinese consumers’ hopes for steep discounts, despite carmakers’ efforts to reduce their inventories, according to dealers and analysts. “The crux point is that most carmakers are facing squeezed margins and are unable to offer further price cuts to attract...
OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman has signalled that the company was prepared to slash the price of its latest artificial intelligence models, as competition intensifies with US rival Anthropic and a growing wave of cheaper, rapidly advancing Chinese alternatives. In a social media post on Tuesday, Altman noted that OpenAI’s flagship GPT-5.6 Sol was already “half the price” of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5, adding that OpenAI would be “happy to deliver at one-quarter of the price”. OpenAI released...
In the most bearish Chinese car market forecast by an international bank or consultancy, AlixPartners has predicted that deliveries will fall by 10 per cent this year on the back of a shaky economy and softening government support. Weak buying interest was likely to fuel a brutal price war that would ensnare nearly all the country’s 100-odd carmakers, the global consultancy added. It forecast that 24.6 million light vehicles would be delivered by Chinese carmakers this year, with 10 million of...