The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will impose heavy penalties on the issue of product inconsistency, with spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles and false mileage claims becoming the focus.
On June 9, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Organizing and Carrying out the 2025 Supervision and Inspection Work on the Production Consistency of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products". This inspection notice, known in the industry as the "strictest in history", focuses on the "problem - oriented" approach. It mainly spot - checks models that have high public attention and major safety hazards, directly targeting pain points such as the battery safety of new energy vehicles, false range claims, and the reliability of intelligent driving assistance functions.
Against the backdrop of the annual sales of new energy vehicles exceeding 12 million units and the continuous decline of the industry's profit margin, this inspection is not only a precise governance of market chaos but also a crucial turning point in promoting the industry's transformation from "scale expansion" to "quality upgrade".
Consumer Feedback: Quality Issues Bring Continuous Troubles
According to the quality complaint data of new energy vehicles in the first quarter released by Chezhiwang, a leading domestic platform for collecting information on defective automobile products and accepting complaint information, the number of quality complaints about new energy vehicles increased for three consecutive quarters in the first quarter, reaching the highest point in the past year. The total number of complaints approached 6,000, a quarter - on - quarter increase of 18.7%. Different from the continuous rise of quality complaints, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in the first quarter "dived", with a quarter - on - quarter decline of more than 30%, ending the trend of consecutive quarter - on - quarter growth in the previous three quarters.
The complaint - to - sales ratio is an indicator used by Chezhiwang to measure the quality performance of products within a certain period. The value is inversely proportional to the quality performance. This value began to decline continuously from the second quarter of 2024 and reached the lowest point in the past year in the fourth quarter of 2024, showing a continuous improvement in quality performance. However, the data in the first quarter suddenly increased, indicating that the quality of new energy vehicle products during this period was not optimistic.
On Chezhiwang, some consumers said that their purchased vehicles automatically switched to the N - gear and lost speed on the highway without collision or other problems, causing major hidden dangers. Some consumers also questioned the vehicle's range. The vehicle was claimed to have a range of 600 km, but it could actually only travel more than 300 km, which was quite different from the claimed range. Some consumers also experienced various problems including the vehicle's inability to accelerate.
In the analysis of complaints about the battery system of new energy vehicles on Chezhiwang in the first quarter of 2025, inaccurate range became the focus among the fault points in the first quarter of 2025, and the inability to accelerate also entered the top 10 list of complaint issues. In addition, new cars purchased nearly a year ago also had problems such as charging failures, inability to start, and abnormal noises from the motor.
Since 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has carried out annual supervision and inspection on the production consistency of road motor vehicle manufacturers and products, focusing on verifying the consistency between the actual products produced by enterprises and the announced parameters. However, the traditional inspection model has obvious limitations. The upgrade of the 2025 inspection policy is reflected in three dimensions: First, the innovation of the sampling method. For the first time, the "public opinion orientation + hidden danger prediction" mechanism is introduced, focusing on models with frequent spontaneous combustion accidents, models with high - incidence of intelligent driving system failures, and models with concentrated complaints. This targeted sampling model directly addresses the industry's pain points. For example, in 2024, a certain brand of new energy vehicles had multiple spontaneous combustion accidents due to battery thermal runaway, and its relevant models were included in the mandatory inspection list.
Second, the deepening of the inspection content. Twelve new special inspection indicators for new energy, such as battery safety, high - voltage electrical systems, and thermal runaway protection, are added, and false range claims (the actual range is more than 20% less than the recorded value) and false publicity of intelligent driving functions are included in the mandatory inspection scope.
The punishment for this inspection is also unprecedented. Enterprises in violation face "triple punishments": public notification, suspension of sales qualifications (cancellation of the "Announcement" qualification), and freezing of new product listing applications. This directly hits the expansion lifeline of automobile enterprises, especially having a huge impact on brands that rely on rapid iteration. Compared with the fines and rectification within a time limit measures in the regular inspections in previous years, this "triple punishment" mechanism significantly increases the cost of violations.
The Quality Red Line Must Not Be Crossed
Behind the strengthened supervision of regulatory authorities is that under the continuous impact of the price war, the industry's profit margin dropped to 4.3% in 2024 and further declined to 3.9% in the first quarter of 2025, lower than the manufacturing industry's average level of 5.6%.
The root causes of the possible "consistency" problems, safety problems of intelligent driving assistance functions, and excessive publicity of some automobile enterprises lie in the too - fast development speed of the automobile market, the fierce competition situation, and the imbalance between supply and demand. In order to seek a differentiated competitive advantage, enterprises are eager to launch "characteristic technologies" and thus neglect the full verification before the technology is implemented, which to some extent leads to product quality problems.
The analysis of complaints about the battery system of new energy vehicles in the first quarter of 2025 released by Chezhiwang also pointed out that Chezhiwang received a total of 2,653 valid owner complaint messages related to the power battery failures of new energy vehicles, a quarter - on - quarter increase of 40.7% and a year - on - year increase of 12.3%, setting a new record for the number of complaints in a single quarter.
Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motors, said in an interview video that there is a lot of competition that does not abide by business rules in the automobile industry. Some vehicle manufacturers cut corners, which even endangers the safety, lifespan, and reliability of vehicles. The price of some products dropped from more than 220,000 yuan to more than 120,000 yuan. "It is absolutely impossible for any industrial product to reduce the price by 100,000 yuan and still guarantee the quality," Wei Jianjun said. On the other hand, in order to win in the competition, some automobile enterprises are willing to exchange price for volume, and the industry is deeply trapped in the "price war" quagmire. Under the cost pressure, the product quality may not meet the standard. This short - sighted behavior of "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" ultimately leads to heavy regulatory blows.
The strengthening of quality supervision is also accelerating the differentiation of automobile enterprises. Leading enterprises have an advantage with their full - cycle quality control system. In contrast, new - force enterprises and small and medium - sized enterprises face severe challenges. At the same time, the protection of consumer rights and interests has achieved a qualitative leap. The inspection results are becoming the key evidence for class - action lawsuits. The coordinated efforts of this market mechanism and regulatory policies are promoting the industry to shift from "parameter gimmicks" to "safety and effectiveness".
The reshuffle of the supply chain is also inevitable. Battery and intelligent driving system suppliers are included in the inspection scope. This supervision forces supply - chain enterprises to improve their compliance levels, and the industry concentration continues to increase. The market share of the top 5 battery suppliers has risen from 65% in 2020 to 82% in 2025.
When competition returns to the origin of products and technologies, enterprises will have the resources and motivation for long - term investment to ensure the rigor of R & D, production, and quality control. Consumers will benefit from faster technological progress and iteration, more reliable quality guarantees, and more trustworthy service experiences, and the quality and safety will be effectively improved.
In terms of content, the 2025 regulatory policy's targeted sampling mechanism directly addresses market pain points, the new energy special inspection covers the technological frontiers, and the "triple punishment" significantly increases the cost of violations. It is expected that the models in violation will be cleared out in 2025. In terms of industry impact, the quality red line is reshaping the competition pattern. Leading enterprises are expanding their market share with their system advantages, while small and medium - sized enterprises are facing survival tests. In the long - term trend, supervision forces resources to flow to the R & D of safety technologies, and the attribute of automobiles is returning to the "safety standard".
This article is from the WeChat public account "Automobile Market Insights", author: Yang Shuo. Republished by 36Kr with permission.