Tesla China's latest price cut of 10,000 CNY; a harbinger for Juniper debut?

Source: Grok render by TeslaTomMY1

On November 25, Tesla China announced a limited time price reduction of 10,000 CNY for orders placed from now until December 31 this year.

Both the rear-wheel drive and long-range all-wheel drive will be eligible for the price cut, reducing the starting price to 239,900 CNY, the lowest price since Model Y launch.

At the same time, consumers can continue to benefit from an ongoing financing policy previously launched with five year 0% interest.

With both promotion in place, the monthly payment starts at 2,667 CNY.

A staff member of Tesla China showroom said that the store’s order volume in the morning of the promotion launch saw a hike that alone equaled the total order volume of the previous week.

If buyers also decide to trade in old cars for a new Tesla, they further benefit from a national subsidy of 15,000 to 20,000 CNY.

On January 12, Tesla China had adjusted prices of the Model 3/Y and further announced limited time discounts in February with a price cut of 8,000 CNY on designated Model Y versions.

Source: Tesla Canada

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that sales will achieve year-on-year growth globally. In the first three quarters, the company has delivered 1.293 million vehicles worldwide.

For his promise to come to fruition, Tesla needs to deliver more than 500,000 cars to outpace last year’s 1.81 million unit sales.

Price cutting and 0% financing are core strategies to increase sales volume, at least until Tesla can debut its Model Y refresh, codenamed Juniper.

Model Y Juniper is expected to come with potentially major design language facelift and key technical upgrades.

From a visual standpoint, the new Model Y could look like this.

In the first eight months of 2024, a total of 173 brand models had price cuts in China, exceeding the 150 or so of 2023 and the number of cuts in 2022.

Tesla is also facing increasingly strong competition in China, with five major SUV debuts from Onvo L60, Zeekr 7X, AVATR 07, Luxeed R7, and IM LS6, all of which are directly targeting the Model Y.

Among them, the Onvo L60 starting price can be further reduced using BaaS policy, from 206,900 CNY to 149,900 CNY.

In the first 10 months of 2024, Tesla China sold a total of 448,000 Model Y, a 14.9% YoY decline compared to the same period of last year.

While Tesla’s end of year’s aggressive price cut and financing policies may be an effort to fulfill Elon’s annual target, it may also be a harbinger for the much awaited facelift to the Model Y.