The starting price for Tesla's Model 3 in China was cut to ¥229,900 ($33,427) from the highest point of ¥355,800 in Oct, 2019, and for Model Y was lowered to ¥259,900 from the highest point of ¥316,900 in Mar, 2022.
Tesla cut prices for all versions of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in China by up to 13.5%, according to its Chinese website on Jan 6th, 2023, after its December deliveries of China-made cars fell to the lowest point in five months.
The starting price for Model 3 was cut to 229,900 yuan ($33,427.84) from 265,900 yuan, and for Model Y was lowered to 259,900 yuan from 288,900 yuan, the website showed.
The move followed a price reduction in October when Tesla cut the prices for those models by up to 9%. The company has been offering incentives as much as 10,000 yuan to Chinese buyers since September.
Tesla delivered 55,796 China-made electric vehicles in December, marking a 44% drop from November and 21% fewer than a year ago, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Thursday, as it reduced output and cut prices to deal with rising inventories.
The U.S. company delivered more than 710,000 China-made EVs in 2022, up 50% from a year earlier, accounting for more than half of its global total. But its share of the world's biggest EV market has been ebbing in the face of greater Chinese competition. Chinese rival BYD Co., whose cars are generally cheaper, delivered around 911,000 fully electric vehicles last year, almost three times that of 2021.
Globally, Tesla delivered fewer vehicles in 2022 than it initially targeted, capping a year during which the stock suffered its worst annual performance as demand appeared to soften and Covid-related production disruptions persisted in China. Its share price fell more than 60%, with some investors complaining that Chief Executive Elon Musk diverted his attention from the car company to his newly acquired Twitter Inc.
China accounted for 24% of Tesla's global revenue for the first three quarters of 2022, according to its SEC filings.
Last month, the company doubled down on discounts on the same two car models in the U.S. offering a $7,500 credit and 10,000 miles of free Supercharging on its two most popular models through the end of 2022.
After several price hikes during the first half of 2022 globally, amid surging material costs, Tesla began reducing its electric vehicles' price tags in China in October. In the latest price cuts, Tesla's long-range version of the Model Y saw the biggest reduction, of more than $7,000.
BYD, meanwhile, which also saw soaring sales of its plug-in vehicles, announced last week that official prices will increase between $300 and almost $900 per vehicle starting this year, citing the end of state subsidies for EV buyers. The company's deliveries in December dropped slightly compared with November but more than doubled from a year earlier.