While Tesla made a significant drop in its prices a few days ago, it is now the turn of its Asian rival VinFast to consider a revision of its pricing policy. A strategy that two other Chinese brands have also adopted, including Xpeng, which has lowered their prices.
Despite a record sales with more than a million cars delivered in 2022, Tesla had a pretty rough end to the year. In fact, the brand has had great difficulty selling its vehicles in China and the United States, despite several price cuts and the return of the sponsorship program. A lack of love that can be explained by several reasons, among them the recession in the middle kingdom and the desire of US customers to wait until 2023 to take the plunge, due toan advantageous tax change around electric cars.
a hard fall
But while Tesla could live in 2023 the worst year of its existence, then booed by the Chinese manufacturers that arrive in force, the brand has decided to tackle the problem head on. Thus, it carried out a large operation to lower its prices worldwide. The goal is to encourage customers to take the plunge, especially in Europe. Because in France, the amount of the ecological bonus was revised downwards on January 1, which led many buyers to place orders before the end of last year.
Ultimately, prices literally plummeted by more than $10,000 in the space of a single night in our market. A drop that worries everyone, making the Model 3 and Model Y more affordable than ever. A situation that worries the rivals of the American brand, which were quick to react. This is particularly the case for Xpeng, which has just made a significant price cut in China.
The P5 and P7, as well as the G3 SUV, fell from 20,000 to 36,000 yuan, or the equivalent of 2,700 to 4,900 euros according to the current exchange rate. We’re a long way from Tesla’s downfall, but it’s still very impressive. A modification that, however, should annoy customers who have already placed an order at full price, but which is essential. Indeed, and as explained electricfear the specialists a wave of order cancellations among Chinese brands, in favor of models from Elon Musk’s firm.
But the Chinese firm, which is gradually reaching Europe, is not the only one that wants to catch up with its rival. In fact, VinFast also plans set up promotional operations For your customers. This is precisely what a spokesman for the Vietnamese brand explains to the American agency. Reuters. The latter states that ” we are considering many promotional programs that we will announce soon« .
the highest prices
However, the manufacturer has not yet specified whether these operations would include price reductions. However, this is highly likely, since VinFast’s vehicles currently cost more than those sold by Tesla. By way of comparison, the VF8 is shown starting at $59,000 (about 54,413 euros), compared to $52,990 (about 48,870 euros) for the Model Y in the United States.
In France, Tesla’s compact SUV starts from 46,990 euros in its Propulsion version against 62,200 euros for the VinFast VF8. However, we are not immune to a new increase in Tesla, although we know that the brand tends to play yoyo with its prices. Especially since he has reviewed the terms of his contract with the company Piedmont Lithium Inc., in charge of providing him with the necessary lithium for the design of the batteries.
If the rates were blocked before, now they will be reassessed according to the market. However, this tends to increase, while the price of this material has skyrocketed by 1,200% in the last two years. An increase that will logically be reflected in the price of Tesla in the future. But the brand will not be the only one, since all manufacturers should be affected, while specialists fear a battery shortage in the future. In question, the strong demand for materials and their scarcity.
The solution ? Reduce the size of the accumulators, as recommended by Renault, to the detriment of autonomy. But this is the only possibility to consider pending the development of the solid battery, which would allow a lasting fall in the prices of electric cars in the future.
Tesla price change in 2023, and with the new prices, one thing seems clear: the market will be flooded with Model 3 and Model Y. Let’s go back to why and how…
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