Tesla Inc. TSLA has raised the price of the China-made Model Y by RMB 8,000 (about $1,226) with immediate effect, cnEV post reported Wednesday.
What Happened: According to the report, the price hike was announced by Grace Tao, Tesla’s vice president of external affairs, on the Chinese microblogging website Weibo.
Tesla raised the price of the Model Y Long Range in China to RMB 347,900 and the Performance to RMB 377,900. Customers who have previously ordered the vehicles will not be impacted by the price hike, as per the report.
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Many Chinese industry insiders had expected that the price of the Model Y would drop to RMB 300,000 to benefit from China's new energy vehicle subsidies, the report noted.
The Model Y went on sale in China at the beginning of 2021 and garnered enough orders to exhaust supplies for the first three months of the year. At that time, the vehicle was priced at RMB 339,900.
In the U.S., Tesla earlier this month marked up the prices of some of its Model 3 and Model S model vehicles.
While reporting its fourth-quarter results in January, Tesla said that the Shanghai factory can sustain Model 3 sedan production at or above a run rate of 250,000 per year. Model Y production at the factory is in the process of ramping to full capacity.
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Why It Matters: Analysts expect the SUV to boost Tesla’s sales in China, the company’s second-largest market. The U.S. remains Tesla’s largest market and accounted for 48.2% of the company’s revenues last year, while China made up for 21.1% of the automaker’s total sales.
The U.S. automaker faces stiff competition from local Chinese rivals like Xpeng Inc. XPEV, Nio Inc. NIO, Li Auto Inc. LI and BYD Company Limited BYDDF.
Tesla has been working to expand Gigafactory Shanghai to mass-produce the Model Y for sale in China and export to neighboring countries, Australia and parts of Europe.
Price Action: Tesla shares closed about 1.2% lower on Tuesday at $662.16, but rose 0.3% in the after-hours session.
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Photo: Courtesy of Tesla
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