This post was originally published on this site
Updated to reflect that more than half of Tesla’s production came from China in 2022.
Tesla Inc. has slashed prices in China for the second time in three months, in an apparent effort to boost sales of its electric vehicles hours after announcing disappointing December deliveries in China.
Prices for the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV were cut by more than 10%, according to Tesla’s website late Thursday, with the Model 3 falling to 229,900 yuan ($33,415) from 265,900 yuan ($38,647), and the Model Y dropping to 259,900 yuan ($37,775) from 288,900 yuan ($41,990). Tesla also announced prices for two models new to the Chinese market: 789,900 yuan ($114,809) for the high-performance Model S Plaid, and 879,900 yuan ($127,890) for the Model X Plaid.
In October, Telsa cut Model 3 and Model Y prices in China by as much as 9%.
Tesla has been under increasing pressure from investors amid reduced output and weaker demand. Earlier Thursday, the Austin, Texas-based EV maker reported it delivered 55,796 vehicles in China in December, a 44% drop from the 100,291 deliveries in China in November and 21% fewer than a year earlier.
Tesla’s Shanghai factory accounts for more than half of the company’s worldwide production, shipping about 710,000 vehicles last year. Tesla paused production at the Shanghai facility in December, and plans to run a reduced production schedule in January, according to a Reuters report.
In early December, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, a Tesla bear, said in a note that “Tesla increasingly appears to have a demand issue,” due to an oversaturated market and more competition, and predicted price cuts in China and the U.S. “to stimulate demand.”
Tesla shares
TSLA,
have plunged 69% over the past 52 weeks, compared to the S&P 500’s
SPX,
19% decline.
