China pushes back against talk of automakers moving away from CATL

A publication under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has rejected market speculation that automakers are pursuing a broad move away from battery maker CATL, the South China Morning Post reports. The commentary, published by the ministry’s news centre, responded to talk of “de-CATLisation” as more of CATL’s automotive partners diversify their suppliers or develop batteries in-house. It said supplier diversification and internal battery projects were standard commercial practices.

The publication argued that such decisions should not automatically be presented as deliberate attempts to distance companies from CATL. The commentary appeared as CATL’s shares had recently fallen, according to the report. The supplied material does not give the size of the decline or identify all the automakers involved.

It also does not indicate whether CATL issued a separate response. The ministry-linked publication’s intervention shows that the supplier changes have become a subject of public market discussion, but the available material does not establish how widespread any shift may be.