BEIJING, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle

makers including Nio and Li Auto ( LI ) have followed market leaders

Tesla and BYD in extending buying incentives to the start of

2025, as a price war in the world's largest auto market

continues for a third year.

Li Auto ( LI ) announced on Thursday cash subsidies of

15,000 yuan ($2,055) per car purchase as well as a three-year

zero-interest financing scheme.

Nio launched a similar zero-interest loan plan for

its Nio- and Onvo-branded EV buyers on Wednesday.

The incentives are intended to encourage purchases before

the government subsidy schemes for the new year start. More than

5.2 million cars sold as of mid-December had benefited from

Chinese government subsidies.

China has signalled an extension of consumer goods trade-ins

in 2025, but specifics for the policy implementation nationwide

remain unclear.

Nanjing, the capital city of eastern China's Jiangsu

province, said earlier this week it would continue to provide

subsidies of up to 4,000 yuan per car purchase this year.

Chinese authorities have agreed to issue 3 trillion yuan

worth of special treasury bonds this year, Reuters has reported,

as Beijing ramps up fiscal stimulus to revive a faltering

economy partly via subsidy programmes.

Local EV champion BYD , which could

have outsold Ford and Honda ( HMC ) globally in 2024, has

been offering discounts of up to 11.5% on two models - one

hybrid and one EV - since December.

Tesla, which sparked the price war last year, has

extended a 10,000 yuan discount on outstanding loans for its

best-selling Model Y in China until the end of this month.

Sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids, known collectively as new

energy vehicles (NEVs) in China, surpassed 10 million units last

year, thanks to government subsidised trade-ins of up to 20,000

yuan apiece for NEVs.

Nonetheless, autos-related retail sales contracted by 0.7%

year-on-year in the first 11 months, versus a 3.5% increase in

China's total retail sales, official data showed, pointing to

the impact of price cuts.

($1 = 7.2993 Chinese yuan renminbi)