Tesla cuts vehicle prices in China by as much as $5,000

By Kevin Armstrong
Tesla reduces their prices in China by 5 to 10 percent.
Tesla reduces their prices in China by 5 to 10 percent.
Tesla

Tesla has reversed its most recent price hikes across the board in China — cutting the cost of some models by 5 to 10 percent.

Just last month the company started offering incentives to those who bought Tesla’s insurance. Observers speculate this could signal the beginning of the price war in the country as numerous electric vehicle makers are jousting for the top spot. The implications could be far-reaching as more companies are building EVs, and a recession is looming. Price will be the number one factor for many considering an EV.

Reuters reports Tesla stated, “it was adjusting prices in line with costs. Capacity utilization at its Shanghai Gigafactory has improved, while the supply chain remains stable despite the impact on the economy of China's stringent zero-COVID restrictions, leading to lower costs.” However, the report also claims that retail sales numbers are down, and electric car demand has also slowed.

Interestingly, the slash in prices was reported by The Paper, a Chinese digital newspaper, a month ago. But the media outlet later reported that Tesla China responded to their story, saying “Rumors, false news,” and that customer service “has not received relevant notices.” The drop in prices was remarkably close to the decreases that were rumored a month ago.

There’s been no speculation of a price cut in North America; in fact, the demand remains high with long waiting lists. Elon Musk said during the third quarter earnings call that he doesn’t see that slowing down. He said every vehicle they make would be sold. However, Elon did comment on Twitter back in July of this year saying that Tesla can lower its prices if 'inflation calms down.' We'll have to wait and see if Tesla reduces their prices in any other regions.

However, he did discuss creating a new vehicle that many believe could be the Model 2. This Model is expected to be less expensive, therefore being more competitive with companies who are offering EVs at cheaper prices.

Price Reductions in China

  • Model 3 RWD: reduced by $1,400 USD
  • Model 3 Performance: reduced by $2,500 USD
  • Model Y RWD: reduced by $2,400 USD
  • Model Y Long Range: reduced by $5,100 USD
  • Model Y Performance: reduced by $2,700 USD

While Tesla is the EV giant in North America, and much of the world, it is third place in China. BYD Motor and SAIC-GM-Wuling are the leaders in that country, but Tesla is gaining. The Shanghai factory is producing 22,000 units per week, a jump of nearly 5,000 since June. The company delivered more than 83,000 vehicles last month, the highest output since the factory open in 2019.

China Merchants Bank International (CMBI) told Reuters the price reductions highlight the looming recession and the industry-wide slowdown that is expected in the EV industry in China.  Shi Ji, an analyst with CMBI said, "The price cuts underscore the possible price war, which we have been emphasizing since August." Some Twitter users are posting screenshots of wait lists developing in China just hours after the prices were dropped.

Smart Assistant 'Grok' Coming to Tesla, Demo of Grok 3 Tonight

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

xAI’s Grok AI Model has been receiving rapid updates, similar to Tesla’s FSD. After waiting for a major update, the latest version—Grok 3—is set to launch with a live demo on February 17th.

Grok 3 is supposed to bring big improvements, as xAI has changed its approach to training the Large Language Model (LLM). Unlike many other LLMs, Grok can access real-time information and adapt its answers based on the latest news and discussions happening on X’s platform, making it more suited for current events or breaking news.

At the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Elon also mentioned that Grok 3 is already outperforming its competitors, so there is a lot to look forward to. Let’s dig into the new capabilities and then see why they matter to Tesla drivers.

New Capabilities

This time, Grok is set to feature self-correction, reinforcement learning, and synthetic datasets. Self-correction allows Grok to identify and fix its own mistakes, with human oversight ensuring that the process is guided. This helps refine Grok’s future responses as part of its ongoing training.

Reinforcement learning, meanwhile, rewards or penalizes the AI based on its actions. When it performs correctly, it receives a reward, reinforcing that behavior; penalties reduce the likelihood of undesirable actions. Combined with new synthetic datasets, xAI can accelerate Grok’s training process, much like how Tesla’s AI team has been refining FSD. There’s definitely a lot of overlap between the two.

Voice Support

Grok is one of the few remaining publicly available AIs that doesn’t have a live-voice mode. Its competitors - including Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT - both have live voice response and reasoning and will also integrate and hook into 3rd-party services over voice.

That’s going to be a key feature as Tesla looks to Grok to power its upcoming voice assistant in their vehicles.

Tesla Demo

Musk has previously stated that all Tesla vehicles will eventually receive Grok as a Smart Voice Assistant—one far more capable than the current voice command system.

With changes to the Navigation Voice globally, as well as the “Hi” command finally returning a response, we’re on the verge of Tesla’s integration of a voice assistant.

Tonight’s demo, at 8 pm PT is expected to be live, potentially showing off the integration into Tesla vehicles. Millions of existing Tesla vehicles worldwide could soon take advantage of Grok as a voice assistant. There’s even a rumor of a wake word for the feature — potentially Grok.

Grok’s real-time capabilities mean you could ask it to add a stop to your route for food at the highest-rated local restaurant with minimal wait. Grok would gather and process that information while your car drives itself, then update your route, allowing FSD to take you directly there. You’ll also be able to ask general knowledge questions, such as the weather for tomorrow or the price of Tesla stock.

Controlling the vehicle will also be greatly upgraded. While the current voice command system can handle simple tasks like “Open Charge Port” or “Turn on Defrost,” the new system should be able to handle more complex requests and allow drivers to ask things in a more natural way.

We expect to find out more about Grok in Teslas tonight. Even if the demo tonight doesn’t specifically mention Tesla, a look at Grok’s new abilities could be a first look at what we’ll soon be able to experience in our Teslas.

Tesla Executives Confirm Robotaxi on Track for June

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

At the Tesla Q4 2024 Earnings Call, we found out that Tesla now has a firm date and set location for the first deployment of its Robotaxi fleet. Now, several of Tesla's executives have re-iterated that deployment date and location in several different places.

Like most Tesla fans and investors, we’re excited to see Cybercab make its official debut on the streets of Austin, Texas, sometime in June. That’s potentially less than 100 days away - but who’s counting, right?

Elon Confirms

Elon Musk confirmed on X that Tesla is still on track to launch autonomous ride-hailing (Robotaxi) in Austin this June. Plus, they’re also working on rolling it out to even more cities in the United States by the end of the year.

Tesla’s benchmark for expanding deployments is ensuring that Robotaxi safety surpasses the average human driver by a wide margin. Based on the latest Vehicle Safety Report, Supervised FSD is already making strong progress, outperforming the average driver by 10.5 times—a full order of magnitude.

Franz Confirms

Franz Von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Head of Vehicle Design, also confirmed that Tesla will be offering Cybercab rides in Austin starting in June. What’s key here is that he confirmed the presence of Cybercabs finally deploying - it won’t be driverless Model Ys or Model 3s - it’ll be the Cybercab.

That means an autonomy-first vehicle without a driver’s seat, steering wheel, or pedals will be on the road and driving people from point to point. Major autonomy competitors like Waymo use heavily modified EVs that still have seats and vehicle controls intact. An autonomy-first design increases passenger room and storage while also improving efficiency by reducing vehicle weight.

Are you planning on making your way down to Austin to experience the Robotaxi experience first-hand or are you planning on waiting until it’s deployed in a city near you? Let us know your thoughts in our forums or social media.

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