Tesla’s delivery time is longer on some China models after discounts

SHANGHAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Potential Tesla Inc ( TSLA.O ) buyers in China are waiting longer for certain versions of its Model Y car, suggesting the electric car maker’s decision to cut prices is boosting demand in the second-largest the market. .

The wait for orders for the rear-wheel drive and long-haul versions of the Model Y was a week longer on Monday than it had been on Friday, Tesla̵[ads1]7;s website showed.

The company’s shares rose about 8% to $122.20 on Monday after losing 68% over the past 12 months.

The waiting time from Monday was two to five weeks for these models. The wait time for all versions of the Model 3 and the performance version of the Model Y remained at one to four weeks as of Monday.

Tesla cut prices by 6% to 13.5% on Friday in discounts that brought some of its cars close to BYD’s ( 1211.HK ) best-selling models in a move that analysts read as a sign that a price war could build on a time when demand in China has failed.

As of Monday, Tesla had made no adjustment to the January production schedule for the Shanghai factory, with the suspension of assembly lines to start from Jan. 20 until the end of the month, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

“It (the wait) is an early indication that the price cuts are having their intended effect, which is to increase demand,” CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson said.

Nelson added that Tesla’s car production has exceeded sales for three consecutive quarters, and the company has chosen to lower prices and take some extra downtime at the Shanghai factory to bring supply and demand back into balance.

Angry Chinese owners who bought Tesla cars in late 2022 and missed out on the extra discount said they were waiting for a response from the company to their demands for some sort of compensation after a flurry of impromptu protests.

A Tesla representative told Reuters on Saturday that the company has no plans to compensate those buyers for price cuts they had missed. The company did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Some of the buyers in China said they had been led to believe the further discounts would not be forthcoming. Many were also looking to take advantage of a nationwide EV subsidy that expired at the end of the year.

Chinese state media have largely chosen not to cover the protests, which online videos showed took place in cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Xi’an. Reuters witnessed a protest at a Tesla plant in Shanghai.

Comments on Chinese social media were mostly negative towards the protesting Tesla buyers, with many saying online that they should have understood the terms of the contract.

“I’m ashamed that they protested after Tesla cut prices,” commented a popular law blogger named “Wind Blows” on Weibo social media.

Separately, Tesla began offering discounts to buyers in Singapore starting Monday who agreed to buy existing inventory, adding that market of China, South Korea, Japan and Australia to those where it has offered new incentives.

Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Shounak Dasgupta

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.