It was slow going for Tesla in China last month, with some questioning whether or not saturation in the market was slowing the company's growth.
But in August, the EV company saw a return to growth as it slashed prices on vehicles even further and Beijing enticed citizens to go EV shopping with tax breaks.
For the month of August, Tesla sold 64,694 vehicles and exported 14,465 vehicles, according to data from China’s Passenger Car Association. This marks month over month delivery gains of 30.9%, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, for the month of August, passenger vehicle sales were up 2.5% year over year to 1.92 million units, China’s Passenger Car Association said in a release out early Friday morning. Sales for the month were up 8.6%, Bloomberg calculated.
It marked the first year over year gain since May 2023, Reuters noted. China's auto marker is also seeing a tailwind from lower rates on existing mortgages and lower rates for first time home buyers, CPCA Secretary General Cui Dongshu noted.
Recall we just noted last month that Tesla had cut the price of its Model S Plaid in China by 19%.
We also noted that Canadian VC and self-labeled "SPAC Jesus" Chamath Palihapitiya was out over Labor Day weekend praising the speed and aggressiveness of Tesla's price cuts, which seem to be working.
"Some companies cut prices, but most keep prices flat or increase them," he added. "Some companies improve products quickly. But no one has actually given you more for less on such a big ticket purchase so frequently."
Tesla's recent price cuts have been a topic of discussion since January because, so far, they have been effective in spurring demand and putting pressure on legacy automakers. Tesla continues to make aggressive cuts, as we wrote about just days ago.
Tesla cut prices on its Model S Plaid vehicle in China most recently, to 828,900 yuan from 1.03m yuan, a cut of about 19%. Bloomberg reported last week that Tesla was also cutting the price of its Model S to 698,900 yuan from 808,900 yuan, its Model X to 738,900 yuan from 898,900 yuan and its Model X Plaid to 838,900 yuan from 1.06m yuan.
These cuts followed additional price cuts in China that took place only about two weeks ago. Recall we reported on August 16 that Tesla's Model S price was being cut 6.7% to 754,900 yuan ($103,477) from 808,900 yuan prior and the company's Model X was priced 6.9% lower at 836,900 yuan, down from 898,900, according to Reuters.
Earlier in August, news broke that Tesla was adding new, lower-range iterations of its Model S and Model X that would be priced $10,000 lower than previous base prices, Yahoo reported. The standard range Model S will start at $78,490 and will offer 320 miles of range and the standard range Model X will now be priced $88,490 and will have a range of 269 miles per charge, the report says.
