Tesla slashes car prices in China by nearly $2,000, following U.S. price cuts

Beijing:

Tesla has slashed prices on all its models in China by nearly $2,000, following price cuts in the U.S., in response to declining sales and an intensifying electric vehicle (EV) price war, especially for cheaper Chinese EVs.

Elon Musk’s electric car maker has lowered the starting price of its facelifted Model 3 in China by 14,000 yuan ($1,930) to 231,900 yuan ($32,000), its official website showed on Sunday.

Tesla has also made a similar reduction in the starting price of Model Y, which is now 249,900 yuan, the regular version of Model S is 684,900 yuan, and the Model S Plaid is 814,900 yuan. Currently, the regular version of Model X is priced at 724,900 yuan, and the plaid version is priced at 824,900 yuan.

The automaker on Friday cut the U.S. prices of its Model Y, Model X and Model S vehicles by $2,000. On Saturday, the company lowered the price of its fully self-driving driver assistance software in the United States from $12,000 to $8,000.

Tesla reported this month that its global vehicle deliveries fell in the first quarter for the first time in nearly four years as price cuts failed to stimulate demand.

The electric carmaker has been slow to update its aging models as high interest rates sap consumer appetite for big-ticket items, while rivals in China, the world’s largest auto market, are rolling out cheaper models.

Citing Tesla obligations, Musk postponed a planned trip to India this weekend to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The purpose of the trip was to announce Tesla’s plans to enter the South Asian market, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Musk said on Monday that Tesla would cut more than 10% of its global workforce as the company braced for its first decline in annual deliveries.

Previously, Reuters reported on April 5 that Tesla had abandoned its long-awaited plan to develop affordable electric cars and instead developed robot taxis. Musk posted after the report that “Reuters is lying” but did not point out any inaccuracies. He didn’t talk further about the model, leaving investors clamoring for clarification.

Tesla shares have fallen 40.8% so far this year.

Since the end of 2022, Musk has pursued sales growth at the expense of profits, and Tesla has triggered a price war.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)