The car market is coming to a close for the whole year, and Tesla is rushing to cut prices. On November 25th, Tesla China officially announced the "limited time delivery final payment reduction" policy for Model Y. From now until December 31st of this year (inclusive), orders for rear wheel drive or long-range all wheel drive versions will be completed and delivered, with a final payment reduction of 10000 yuan. The adjusted starting price of 239900 yuan will also bring the Tesla Model Y price to its lowest point since its launch. Meanwhile, Tesla stated that this policy can be combined with the previously introduced five-year zero interest policy.
A Tesla showroom staff revealed that after the official announcement of the policy of reducing the final payment by 10000 yuan at 8:00 am on the same day, the store's order volume in the morning alone equaled last week's full week order volume. If consumers choose 'trade in', they can also enjoy a national subsidy of 15000-20000 yuan, "she said.
Since the beginning of this year, Tesla has conducted multiple rounds of price reductions in the Chinese market. On January 12th of this year, Tesla China adjusted the prices of the Model 3/Y rear wheel drive and long-range versions; In February, Tesla China announced a limited time discount, offering a cash discount of 8000 yuan for the designated version of Model Y; Afterwards, in April and July, Tesla launched different preferential policies for different car models.
While frequently opening price adjustment levers in the Chinese market, Tesla has launched a 3-month free supercharging and FSD (fully autonomous driving capability) discount policy for consumers who want to buy a pre owned car by the end of this year in the US market; In the European market, consumers who purchase Tesla Model Y before the end of this year can enjoy a year of free supercharging services.
In the eyes of the outside world, the reason behind Tesla's global "price cutting" model is due to pressure on sales targets. Data shows that in the first three quarters of this year, Tesla delivered 1.293 million new cars worldwide. During the third quarter earnings call this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that sales will achieve positive growth for the entire year. This means that if Tesla wants to catch up with last year's sales of 1.81 million, it needs to deliver over 500000 new cars in the fourth quarter of this year.
Faced with year-end write off pressure, Tesla has chosen to leverage its prices again in the Chinese market, one of its important sources of global sales. Yan Jinghui, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that the competition in the Chinese automobile market is particularly fierce this year, and consumers' car buying needs are also more diversified. Faced with sales pressure, car companies directly offer cash incentives, which have a greater stimulating effect on sales.
Data shows that in the first eight months of this year, the overall number of discounted brand models in the domestic market reached 173, exceeding the level of 150 last year and even surpassing the total number of discounted brand models before 2022. Since October this year, car companies have taken advantage of the "National Day" holiday, "Double 11" and auto shows to launch varying degrees of discount activities, making the price war in the car market more intense.
In addition to the price war, this year domestic brand car companies are also "chasing" Tesla, all of which have identified Model Y as their direct competitor. Prior to this year's National Day holiday, the Ledao L60, Jike 7X, Avita 07, and the all-new Zhiji LS6 entered the market in clusters, targeting the Tesla Model Y. Among them, the Ledao L60 has directly pushed the starting price into the 150000 yuan range with its BaaS (battery rental service); On the basis of the official guidance price of 239900 to 302900 yuan, the Zhiji LS6 has lowered its price range to 216900 to 279900 yuan through the establishment of an "equity price", which is 33000 yuan lower than the entry-level price of Tesla Model Y.
In the past two years, domestic brands have been intensively expanding their presence in the 200000 yuan new energy vehicle market, putting pressure on Tesla Model Y. Data shows that in the first 10 months of this year, Tesla Model Y sold a total of 448000 units in the Chinese market, a year-on-year decrease of 14.9%. In the eyes of the outside world, the decline in Model Y sales is directly related to the price war in the car market and the influx of a large number of new cars in the same price range. Therefore, Tesla is once again cutting the price of Model Y in order to quickly increase the sales of its flagship models and sprint towards its annual sales target.