Tesla Inc on Saturday announced that it is going to increase the price of its Model Y Performance car in China by $1,552.
What Happened: According to the report announced on the Chinese microblogging website Weibo, the new price of Model Y will be RMB 387,900.
Tesla reported a rebound in domestic China shipments in August. The company shipped 12,885 units, an increase of almost 50% from July when deliveries plunged 69%.
In March, the company raised the price of the Y Model by about $1,226. The price hike was announced by Grace Tao, Tesla's vice president of external affairs.
In that month, Tesla raised the Model Y Long Range price in China to RMB 347,900 and the Performance to RMB 377,900.
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.
Last month, Tesla's Giga Shanghai reached a production capacity of 1,000 Model Y vehicles per day.
The Model Y production rate at Giga Shanghai is higher than that of the Model 3, which is produced at 800 vehicles per day.
Giga Shanghai has become Tesla's export hub, as was evident from the July China sales data reported by the China Passenger Car Association. The EV giant exported about 74% of the cars it manufactured in China.
Why It Matters: Tesla seems to be losing ground in China with dropping sales and rising prices of its vehicles. The China Passenger Car Association reported that Tesla's sales in China fell to 8,621 cars in July, down nearly 70% from June.
Tesla accounted for 3.9% of July sales of battery electric vehicles in China, down from 12.6% in June.
Tesla faces stiff competition from local Chinese rivals like Xpeng Inc., Nio Inc., Li Auto Inc and BYD Company Limited.
Earlier in April, the company faced protests by Telsa owners at the Shanghai auto show over poor car quality and various safety concerns.