Price Hikes And Delayed Delivery Of Several Models: Can Musk'S "Super Hard Core" Approach Turn The Tide?

Tesla, which takes the direct marketing channel, reflects more and more information from the change of vehicle price.

On September 11, Tesla announced that the price of the model y performance high-performance model was increased by 10000 yuan (the price of the ordered car users remained unchanged), and the starting price of the model after adjustment was 387900 yuan.

There are three versions of model y, including standard endurance, long endurance and performance high-performance. The performance high-performance version that announced the price increase has not yet been delivered.

This is not the first time Tesla has raised prices this year. Before that, the price of model y high-performance version had been raised once, from the initial 369900 yuan to 377900 yuan. In addition to model y, both model s and model X have gone up in price.

Tesla did not specify the reason for the price increase, only explained that it was due to fluctuations in manufacturing costs. Adjusting product prices is often seen as Tesla's marketing strategy, but as the global automotive industry is embroiled in a fragile supply chain, Tesla's price adjustment based on cost has also added a bit of sincerity.

Under the influence of chip shortage and rising raw material prices, Tesla's production has also fallen into a passive position.

Compared with the car price, the more intuitive change comes from the delivery cycle. According to the official website, the high-performance version of model y was originally planned to be delivered in the third quarter, but the latest information shows that it is now as early as the fourth quarter.

The 21st century business reporter also learned that some vehicles of the standard and long-term versions of model y will be delayed. A number of customers who have ordered the car said that they have received a message that due to the shortage of 19 inch wheel hub, the collection time will be four weeks late.

Tesla is improving delivery efficiency through its own efforts- Visual China

Frequently increase the price of high configuration models

Model y high performance is the most expensive version of the model. According to the latest price after adjustment, the model y high-performance version is 40000 yuan more than the long-term version, and more than 110000 yuan more than the standard version.

According to the official website, the model y high-performance version has faster 100 km acceleration time and higher extreme speed. Compared with the regular version, it also has a set of sports kits, including 21 inch wheel hub, more advanced braking device and lower suspension, etc.

Obviously, the high-performance version is not the mainstream version of model y. At present, when the high-performance version has not been delivered, the cumulative sales volume of model y in China has reached 59900 units, with an average of 7487 vehicles per month, occupying the top three sales volume of new energy vehicles all year round.

It is speculated that Tesla's increase in the price of model Y's high-performance version is to make way for more popular models, including model Y's standard and long-term versions, and even model 3. From the price setting point of view, after all, the price of model y high-performance version increased, while the price of model 3 decreased at the end of July.

A person familiar with Tesla said that Tesla would track quarterly sales and would use price adjustment if it found any difference in the trend of orders. From the recent sales performance, the performance of model y is relatively stable, while the performance of model 3 is significantly lower than before.

Tesla has been pursuing sales. From the original million level model s and model x, to the current model 3 and model y, including the possible future models of $25000, Tesla has continued to expand its market base through the continuous price decline. From this logic point of view, it is really helpful for them to sell more vehicles more quickly by raising the price of high-quality models and depressing the lower ones.

In fact, in addition to the high-performance version of model y, model s and model X have also raised the price of some models this year. On July 16, the selling prices of model s and model x long-range models were raised by 30000 yuan respectively. On August 4, the prices of the two models rose by 30000 yuan again.

It should be pointed out that due to the limitation of production conditions, the delivery of model y high performance version has been determined to be delayed. According to the information on the official website, the delivery of this model can not start until the fourth quarter at the latest. As far as Tesla is concerned, if many prospective car owners are eager to use their cars and change the model y high-performance version to a standard version or a long-term version, the final delivery data in the third quarter will be very good.

Tesla's sales in the third quarter are under a lot of pressure. From the perspective of the Chinese market only, according to the data of the China Federation of passengers, Tesla's sales volume in July and August this year was 8621 and 12885 respectively. Although there was a factor of "preferential export at the beginning of the quarter", compared with the controversial second quarter, the delivery volume in the same period also decreased by about 36%.

Tesla's two leading models, model y and model 3, also showed unusual performance, with model y falling out of the top 10 new energy vehicle sales in July and model 3 falling out of the list in August. In August, Tesla's domestic insurance volume was only 2802.

On the one hand, in the past few months, Tesla has been troubled by negative public opinion in China, and its new orders have been greatly affected. After digesting the existing orders in the early stage, Tesla has entered an embarrassing period with relatively few orders; On the other hand, the delivery volume depends not only on the order but also on the production. In the process of the next wave of order accumulation, production is limited and the delivery cycle has been extended a lot. Therefore, the insurance volume in August is extremely bleak.

Tesla in productivity hell again?

Tesla's third quarter delivery is clearly under pressure.

Not only is the high-performance version of model y delayed to the fourth quarter, but the standard and long-term version of model y can't be delivered normally. Recently, the supply of 19 inch wheel hub is in short supply, and the prospective car owners with this type of wheel hub will delay the delivery of the vehicle by one month.

Hubs are just a small part of the supply chain that is strained. Previously, there were media reports that Tesla had 1000 electric vehicles at the Fremont plant in the United States, which could not be delivered on time due to lack of parts. According to another source, due to the lack of key chips, some production lines at Tesla's Shanghai plant were shut down for about four days in August, forcing model y to cut production.

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confessed in an internal email that a "go super hardcore" fix was needed over the next 22 days to ensure a "decent" delivery number in the third quarter.

Usually, Tesla delivers a large number of vehicles at the end of each quarter, and mass deliveries at the end of each quarter occur, but this quarter is more difficult because Tesla encountered "extremely serious" supply chain shortages at the beginning of the quarter, musk said. "This means that we have produced a lot of cars that lack parts that need to be added later."

In order to meet its sales targets for the quarter, musk said September would usher in the largest ever delivery.

Tesla is improving delivery efficiency through its own efforts. In view of the shortage of 19 inch wheels, Tesla proposed a solution to some car owners: replace them with 20 inch wheels, and you can get 180 days of EAP (enhanced automatic assisted driving) function for free. Specifically, owners who place orders from July 26 to September 11 who choose 20 inch wheels and can pick up their cars before October 30 will be given 180 days of EAP free of charge.

Although this measure has caused a lot of controversy in the circle of prospective owners (some people protested that if the order was placed before July 26, but the car was not picked up, why can't we enjoy this gift?), it will obviously reduce the delay impact of the supply chain on delivery to a certain extent.

However, with the exception of wheel hubs, other components, such as chips, batteries and so on, can not be solved in the same way. Mr musk has said Tesla's delivery depends on global chip availability. "There will still be major supply chain turbulence in the coming months," Volkmar dunnar, chairman of Bosch Group's board of directors, said in an interview with 21st century economic reporter that the shortage of chips is expected to gradually ease, But it will not be solved gradually until 2022.

The production capacity shortage caused by the epidemic situation and other factors as well as the rising prices of raw materials have increased the uncertainty of automobile production and increased the cost. Recently, musk also lamented, "it is very difficult to produce and manufacture, and it is even more difficult to have production with positive cash flow."