Tesla owners in China protest unexpected price cut they missed

Hundreds of Tesla owners gathered at the automaker’s showrooms and distribution centers in China over the weekend demanding rebates and credit after a sudden price cut they said meant they had overpaid for electric vehicles they’d bought earlier.

On Saturday, about 200 recent Tesla Model Y and Model 3 buyers gathered at a Tesla delivery center in Shanghai to protest the US automaker’s decision to cut prices for the second time in three months on Friday.

Many said they believed the prices Tesla was charging for its cars late last year would not be cut as sharply or as much as the automaker just announced in a bid to boost sales and support production at its Shanghai plant. The planned expiration of the government subsidy at the end of 2022 has also prompted many to complete their purchases.

Videos posted on social media show crowds at Tesla stores and delivery centers in other Chinese cities from Chengdu to Shenzhen, suggesting a wider consumer backlash.

After Friday’s unexpected discounts, Tesla electric car prices in China are now 13-24% below September levels.

Analysts say Tesla’s move is likely to boost sales, which fell in December, and force other electric car makers to cut prices as well during a time of volatile demand in the world’s largest battery-powered car market.

While established automakers often offer discounts to manage inventory and keep factories running when demand drops, Tesla operates without dealerships and transparent pricing is part of its brand image.

“This may be normal business practice, but a responsible enterprise should not behave like this,” one Tesla owner protesting at the company’s delivery center in the Shanghai suburb of Minhang, who identified himself as Zhang, said on Saturday.

He and other Tesla owners, who said they received delivery in the final months of 2022, said they were frustrated by Friday’s sudden price cut and Tesla’s lack of explanation to recent buyers.

Zhang said the police arranged a meeting between Tesla employees and the assembled owners, where the owners handed over a list of demands, including an apology and compensation or other loans. He added that Tesla employees agreed to respond by Tuesday.

About a dozen police officers could be seen at the Shanghai protest, and most video footage of other demonstrations also showed a large police presence at Tesla sites.

Protests are not uncommon in China, where people have taken to the streets en masse over issues such as financial or property scams for years, but authorities have been on high alert following massive protests in Chinese cities and leading universities in late November against Covid restrictions. -nineteen.

More videos were posted on Chinese social media on Saturday that appeared to be protesting Tesla owners.

One video, which Reuters confirmed was filmed at a Tesla store in the southwest city of Chengdu, shows a crowd chanting “Give back the money, give back our cars.”

In another, apparently filmed in Beijing, police cars arrive to disperse a crowd outside a Tesla store.

Reuters was unable to verify the content of any of the videos.

Tesla has no plans to compensate customers who received shipments before the latest price cut, a Tesla China spokesman told Reuters on Saturday.

He did not respond to a request for comment on the protests.

China accounted for about a third of Tesla’s global sales in 2021, and its Shanghai plant, which employs about 20,000 people, is its most productive and profitable plant.

Analysts are positive about Tesla’s price cut potential to spur sales growth at a time when it’s a year away from announcing its next new Cybertruck.

“Nowhere else in the world does Tesla face such competition as it does here. [in China],” said Bill Russo, head of Shanghai-based consulting firm Automobility Ltd.

“They are in a much larger market for electric vehicles with companies still able to charge more aggressive prices than they can.”

In 2021, Tesla faced a public relations storm after a disgruntled customer climbed into the car at the Shanghai Auto Show to protest the company’s handling of its complaints about its car’s brakes.

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