China’s top maker of electric vehicles (EV) wants to pay a lot less for car parts in the new year, a demand that signals there is no end in sight to a vicious price war nor economic gloom marked by lower wages and uncertain prospects.

BYD has become a relentless discounter in the price war that Tesla started in the world's largest auto market last year. That aggressive stance has helped it unseat its U.S. rival as the world's biggest seller of electric vehicles, even though most of BYD's cars are sold in China.

BYD Co. has asked suppliers to accept price cuts next year in a signal the Chinese electric vehicle maker is preparing for the brutal price war in the world’s biggest auto market to intensify.

Workers work on the assembly line at a factory of vehicle manufacturer BYD Auto in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. File photo: Xinhua. Annual price negotiations with su