Tesla Cuts Model Y Prices In Germany After China Price Cuts

Tesla Inc has slashed prices of its Model Y cars in Germany, where it lost the spot as top electric vehicle seller to Volkswagen in 2023, a week after the carmaker reduced its Model 3 and Model Y prices in China.

Tesla reduced prices for Model Y Long Range and Model Y Performance by 5,000 euros to 49,990 euros ($54,340) and 55,990 euros respectively, representing a discount of 9% and 8.1% compared to the previous prices.

It also cut the price of Model Y rear-wheel drive models by 1,900 euros, or 4.2%, to 42,990 euros, according to data on its website.

In 2023, Volkswagen overtook Tesla as the largest seller of EVs in Germany, taking a 13.5% share of the market compared to Tesla’s 12.1%, according to figures from the German federal motor authority KBA.

The latest price cut comes after Tesla announced last week that it would suspend most of its car production at its factory near Berlin from Jan. 29 to Feb. 11. The company blamed the suspension on the lack of components due to changes in transport routes because of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

It also comes as EV makers have entered a discount race in China, the world’s top car maker, that Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius called “Darwinistic” last year.

Germany’s electrical vehicle subsidy programme, which was originally intended to apply until the end of 2024, ended prematurely last month, a move that was expected to hit German carmakers already struggling to bring down prices to levels offered by Chinese and U.S. competitors.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz, Editing by Michael Perry and Ros Russell)