Written by Hyunjoo Jin, Ethan Wang, and Christoph Stetz
BEIJING/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Tesla Inc has cut prices in a number of its key markets – including China and Germany – after price cuts in the United States – as it faces falling sales and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles. , especially against cheaper Chinese electric vehicles.
The set of price cuts comes after Elon Musk's electric car manufacturer announced this month that its global deliveries of vehicles in the first quarter fell for the first time in nearly four years.
Tesla's official website showed on Sunday that the starting price for the updated Model 3 in China increased by 14,000 yuan ($1,930) to 231,900 yuan ($32,000).
In Germany, the automaker cut the price of its rear-wheel-drive Model 3 to 40,990 euros ($43,670.75) from 42,990 euros, where it had been since February.
A Tesla spokesperson said there are also price cuts in several other countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The automaker cut US prices for its Model Y, Model X and Model S vehicles by $2,000 on Friday. On Saturday, it reduced the price of its fully autonomous driver assistance program to $8,000 from $12,000 in the United States.
The electric car maker has been slow to update its older models, as high interest rates have sapped consumers' appetite for expensive goods, while rivals in China, the world's largest car market, are rolling out cheaper models.
This weekend, Musk postponed a planned trip to India, where he was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, due to his commitments at Tesla. Reuters reported on Saturday that the trip was scheduled to include the announcement of Tesla's plans to enter the South Asian market.
Musk said last Monday that Tesla will lay off more than 10% of its global workforce, as the automaker prepares for its first annual decline in deliveries.
The announcement came after Reuters reported on April 5 that Tesla had scrapped its plan to develop its long-awaited affordable electric car in favor of robotaxis. Musk posted that “Reuters is lying” after the report, without mentioning any inaccurate information. He did not talk more about the model, leaving investors demanding clarity.
Tesla shares are down 40.8% so far this year.
($1 = 7.2403 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 0.9386 euros)
(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Bernard Orr and Hyunjoo Jin, additional writing by Tom Sims; Editing by Michael Perry, William Mallard and Francis Kerry)
