Price war in China hurts Tesla
Towards the end of 2022, electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla slashed prices in a bid to gain lost market share in China, and sparked a pricing war with other manufacturers.
Recent data from China suggests that the move by Tesla proved counterproductive.
Chinese EV group BYD, alongside 40 other manufactures, followed with their own price reduction to defend market share. Results for the first two months of 2023 showed BYD had a 41% share of “new energy” vehicles whilst Tesla only achieved 8%.
BYD, now stands as the leading EV supplier in the Chinese market, overtaking Volkswagen in February, for the second time in the past four months.
In what was once a strong hold for foreign car makers, in the first two months of 2023, the Chinese market saw a drop in sales volume with a 1% reduction in domestically produced passenger cars whilst those from Germany fell 21%. US car makers dropped by 13% while Japanese manufactures were worst affected with a 40% decline.
Image : BYD Han interior
