Following last week's price increase for the Long Range version of the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla announced an increase in the rear wheel drive version prices for these two vehicles. After this round of adjustment, all models of Model 3 and Model Y have achieved price increases in the Chinese market.
On November 14th, Tesla China's official website showed that the prices of the updated Tesla Mode 3 rear wheel drive and Model Y rear wheel drive versions were increased by 1500 yuan and 2500 yuan, respectively, the same increase as last week's Long Range version.
Earlier on October 27th, Tesla raised the price of the Model Y high-performance version by 14000 yuan.
Unlike this round of price increases, Tesla has significantly reduced the prices of the Model 3 and Model Y since the beginning of this year, with the prices of both models reaching their lowest point. Before the new Model 3 was launched in August, the price of the old Model 3 had already dropped to around 220000 yuan. However, the price of the new Model 3 went against expectations, with the starting price directly rising to 260000 yuan.
Although the prices of the Model 3 and Model Y models have undergone two rounds of price increases, due to the small increase in each round, the current price is still lower than the previous price cuts of 265900 yuan and 288900 yuan at the beginning of the year. In May of this year, Tesla raised the overall price of Model 3 and Mode Y by 2000 yuan. With this round of price adjustments, the starting prices of the two models are currently 261400 yuan and 266400 yuan, respectively.
Previously, Tesla's official customer service personnel responded that the price increase was due to rising costs. From Tesla's third quarter financial report, the overall gross profit margin in the third quarter further decreased to 17.9%, which has fallen to the lowest level in four years.
Tesla explained that the decline in profits was due to insufficient utilization of new factories, increased operating expenses caused by the upcoming electric pickup truck Cybertruck, and expenses for artificial intelligence and other projects. From this perspective, the price increase measures may increase its bike profit margin.
In terms of sales, Tesla delivered only 435100 vehicles in the third quarter, a decrease of 6% compared to the second quarter. The sales of Model 3 have declined during the transition between the new model being launched and the old model being discontinued. In addition, the modified Model Y was just launched in October, and the delivery volume of Model 3 and Model Y in the third quarter was only 419100 units, lower than market expectations.
The expansion of production capacity and the oversupply of the market may provide Tesla with the confidence to raise prices. Tesla stated that since the launch of the new Model 3 and modified Model Y, the current order situation is in short supply.
According to Tesla China's official website, the delivery time for the rear wheel drive versions of Model 3 and Model Y is between 2 and 6 weeks, while the delivery time for higher configuration versions is mostly more than 6 weeks.
In addition, during a recent visit to Tesla's Shanghai super factory, Interface News found that the factory's production line was operating at full capacity. According to official data from Tesla, the actual annual production capacity of the Shanghai super factory has increased from 750000 vehicles in the second quarter to 950000 vehicles, and the time for the complete vehicle to be offline has also been shortened to just over thirty seconds.
Tesla CEO Musk stated in the third quarter financial report call that Tesla will maintain its original annual delivery target of 1.8 million vehicles, which means Tesla will need to deliver approximately 475000 new cars in the fourth quarter to meet its expectations. Whether this round of price increase will affect delivery volume remains to be observed in the future.