I'll admit that this huge price discrepancy does seem a bit high, and is probably due to a number of factors. China is famous for its big duties on imported cars, and BMW and other global automakers have invested billions of dollars on locally based factories to avoid such taxes. Still, the automakers themselves have effectively admitted in the past that they charge high prices in China simply because local consumers are willing to pay such prices.

The case was similar with Starbucks last year. While Starbucks kept a low-profile after the CCTV attack, many consumers came to the company's defense and said it should be allowed to charge whatever prices it wanted. I would say that the case is similar here, especially since any Chinese consumer wanting a more affordable BMW can easily buy a domestically manufactured model. Accordingly, I doubt this latest investigative report will prove too damaging to BMW, though the case does illustrate one of the unique dangers that big foreign companies face in China.

More broadly speaking, BMW made a wise decision by talking about the importance of China's EV market, which it predicted would become the world's largest within five years. That's the kind of message that must sound quite pleasing to Beijing, which has made development of clean-energy vehicles a top priority. Whether China will actually meet any of its ambitious EV targets is another matter completely, since problems still remain in terms of technology and infrastructure. But that doesn't really matter for BMW, which is demonstrating its commitment to Beijing's priorities with its latest EV announcement.

Bottom line: An attack on BMW's high prices by CCTV is unlikely to have a major impact, while its new China EV initiative looks largely superficial but should earn it positive publicity.