Published - December 7, 2022 @ 11:34 AM (EET)

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As China continues to grapple with the impact of on-and-off recurrences of COVID-19, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is offering further incentives to the country's customers who buy and take delivery of new cars this month.

In the latest move to boost sales in the world's biggest electric vehicle market, Elon Musk's EV pioneer will subsidize purchases by $860 for Model 3 sedans and Model Y sports utility vehicles, a company representative said Wednesday.

The price moves come after an up to 9% price reduction announced by Tesla in late October. A second price adjustment followed in November when it announced a 4,00-yuan insurance subsidy reduction.

WHY IT MATTERS

Reports earlier this week indicated that Tesla is reducing the production of the Model Y vehicles at its Giga Shanghai plant by 20% in December.  

While Tesla representatives later denied this, the news was enough to send Tesla down by 7.11% in trading. Moreover, the successive price cuts to inventory stock which rose sharply at Tesla's Shanghai plant, support the theory that Chinese demand may be slowing down.

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In November, Tesla delivered a record 100,291 cars from the Shanghai factory, the secretary general of China's Passenger Car Association, Cui Dongshu, said on Monday.

Aiming to lower production costs and improve the appeal of the five-year-old electric sedan Model 3 EVs, Tesla plans to start producing a revamped version in the third quarter of 2023 in Shanghai, Reuters reported earlier this year.

WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING

Elsewhere, Tesla Inc. launched two electric vehicle models on Wednesday in Thailand, its first entry into a market that Japanese manufacturers have long dominated.

In anticipation of delivery starting early next year, the US automaker plans to sell electric vehicles online in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.

Up from 2,000 last year, the market and uptake of EVs have gradually gained momentum. According to the Thailand Automotive Institute, approximately 7,000 battery electric vehicles were registered between January and October 2022.

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