The American brand announced massive price cuts for some of its vehicles, which clearly did not please everyone.
Hordes of customers poured into Tesla’s Chinese dealerships, but rather than pull out the checkbook to buy an electric vehicle, they started protesting against the brand’s new prices.
A spectacular price drop that goes wrong
After two years of continuous price increases, the manufacturer has announced a very serious price drop on the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y. The basic Model 3 is thus billed at 229,900 yuan (about 31,139 euros, a 13% or 7,000 euros. The Model Y loses almost 10% on its previous price, with a base price of approximately 35,218 euros.
Tesla had no choice but to practice these big discounts to boost its sales in a market strongly contested by Chinese competitors and their much more aggressive prices.
A few hours after the announcement of these new prices, videos have flourished on the web showing considerable crowds rushing into the concessions of the American manufacturer. Good news ? Not so sure.
Tesla explains these reductions by optimizations on the production lines, but no one believes it
In fact, it appears that the majority of people present are in fact current owners of Tesla vehicles, who have come to express their anger at this price drop. The latter have indeed paid for their car at a price much higher than those now practiced by the brand and complain of a depreciation of their purchase.
This is not the first time that Chinese consumers have expressed their anger after price cuts made by Tesla. Already in 2019, owners of American vehicles had shown their annoyance by going to the group’s stores, and the situation happened again in October 2022 for the same reason.
If the brand indicates today, through Grace Tao, vice-president of the brand in charge of the Chinese market, that these price cuts are the result of a reduction in production costs, fans of the brand refuse to believe this explanation. The latter think rather that the brand, as it is used to, prefers to sacrifice its margins to boost sales. Visibly leaves to alienate its first consumers.
Source : Electrek
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