More than 20 automotive brands are strongly promoting seven-year low-interest loans.

Since the Spring Festival of the Year of the Horse (Bingwu), many automobile manufacturers have successively announced a financial policy of "seven-year low-interest loans", and the lineup of car brands participating in this "financial war" has been growing.

On February 25th, BYD announced a "seven-year low-interest" policy for its Ocean Network, with a daily payment as low as 29 yuan. One day earlier, IM Motors launched a financial plan of "zero down payment for seven years and zero interest for three years", along with a New Year cash bonus of up to 23,000 yuan. Even earlier, brands such as Chery Fengyun and Jetour launched seven-year low-interest long-term loans, with the latter having a minimum monthly payment of 1,321 yuan.

According to incomplete statistics by a reporter from Cailian Press, nearly ten car brands have launched the "seven-year low-interest loan" financial policy in February. In addition to the aforementioned brands, they also include Changan Deepal, Great Wall Haval, Dongfeng Yipai, GAC Aion, NIO, and LeDao. If the statistical period is extended to January and February, this number has increased to more than twenty.

The first automaker to launch a limited-time ultra-long-term car purchase plan in China was Tesla. Tesla China announced at the beginning of this year that customers who place an order for a Model 3 or Model Y can enjoy a seven-year ultra-low interest rate, with an annualized interest rate of less than 1%. For the Model 3, with a down payment of 79,900 yuan, the monthly payment can be as low as 1,918 yuan; for the Model Y, the monthly payment can be as low as 2,263 yuan, and the daily payment is only 74 yuan. "The launch of the ultra-long-term car purchase plan reflects the confidence and recognition of banking institutions in the reliability, lifespan, and product strength of Tesla products. The cooperating banks include the Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, and Ping An Bank," a salesperson at a Tesla store told the reporter.

Subsequently, automakers such as Geely, Xiaomi, Li Auto, and XPeng quickly followed suit. Dongfeng Nissan even launched an "eight-year ultra-long-term low-interest" plan. On the basis of zero down payment, the daily payment ranges from 27 yuan to 81 yuan depending on the model.

In addition to automobile financial policies, there have also been a plethora of other promotional methods in the car market after the Spring Festival of the Year of the Horse. On February 22nd, GAC Honda launched a 50th-anniversary feedback event for the Accord. The repurchase price for old customers of the Accord e:PHEV plug-in hybrid version is 138,800 yuan, a direct reduction of 100,000 yuan, which is a 58% discount compared to the official guide price, with a national limit of 1,000 vehicles.

"On the basis of traditional methods such as official price cuts by manufacturers and terminal discounts, the seven-year low-interest loan has become a new promotional method favored by many mainstream automakers. By offering an ultra-long period plus low interest/interest subsidies, it significantly reduces the monthly payment and has become a mainstream competitive tool beyond the 'price war' in the car market," said industry insiders. They believe that this measure can quickly boost orders, seize market share, and bind customers while maintaining the "dignity" of the guide price. "The overall car market is under pressure and inventory is high. Direct price cuts are likely to cause dissatisfaction among old customers, so financial interest subsidies have become a milder and more flexible promotional method."

The latest data from the Passenger Car Association shows that at the end of January 2026, the inventory of the national passenger car industry was 3.57 million vehicles, a decrease of 80,000 vehicles compared to the previous month and an increase of 580,000 vehicles compared to January 2025, featuring high-level inventory operation. "With the promotion of the 'anti-involution' campaign, the industry inventory decreased to 620,000 vehicles in September (2025). In January 2026, the industry inventory increased to 720,000 vehicles, a decrease of 160,000 vehicles compared to the peak inventory but an increase of 60,000 vehicles compared to December (2025)," said Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the Passenger Car Association. He also mentioned that recently, the inventory of new energy vehicle dealerships at the manufacturer and channel levels has faced a market that falls short of expectations, and the overall inventory pressure in the industry is relatively large.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Cailian Press", written by Zhang Yipeng and published by 36Kr with permission.