A significant event in the domestic automotive market in September was Tesla's decision to slash prices. After a hiatus of 19 months, Tesla China unexpectedly announced a price cut on September 7, reducing the prices of all Model 3 variants by 5,000 yuan and all Model Y variants by 10,000 yuan. In addition to these price reductions, Tesla also rolled out a suite of preferential policies for these two models, encompassing 0-interest financing, insurance subsidies, and paint subsidies. This move set a new benchmark for the lowest domestic prices of Tesla's updated models.

Naturally, this news was met with great enthusiasm by consumers who had been on the fence and had not yet made a purchase. For existing Tesla owners looking to trade in their vehicles, the maximum discount offered by Tesla China this time amounted to 50,000 yuan. Reports suggest that Tesla's order volume has surged in recent days.

Media outlets report that a salesperson at a Tesla store in Shandong revealed that on the first day of the official price cut, over 4,000 orders were placed nationwide. In their store alone, more than 60 orders were received, and even test drives now require advance reservations. Apart from Shandong, Tesla stores in Beijing and Hubei also witnessed a spike in orders, with salespeople's phones constantly ringing.

This clearly indicates that Tesla's price cut has had a substantial impact on boosting sales. Objectively speaking, Tesla's sales performance in China has been commendable. The Model Y, in particular, has consistently been the best-selling domestic pure electric SUV and even among all pure electric vehicles. In August, 29,260 Model Y vehicles were sold, showing an increase compared to July.

Although the Model 3's sales have experienced significant fluctuations due to the impact of the Xiaomi SU7, it still managed to sell over 20,000 units in August, with 20,787 vehicles sold and an 894% month-on-month increase. Both the Model Y and Model 3 ranked in the top ten of the domestic model sales chart in August, with the Model Y securing the third spot and the Model 3 the sixth.

Returning to Tesla's price cut, while it has brought joy to some, it has understandably caused frustration among others. Some Tesla owners who took delivery of their vehicles on the afternoon of September 6 regretted their purchase the very next day. A Model Y owner expressed that they had chosen Tesla primarily due to its transparent nationwide pricing, never anticipating a 10,000 yuan loss immediately after purchase.

It is noteworthy that Tesla owners who took delivery of their vehicles before September 7 reported that salespeople did not mention any potential short-term price reductions during the purchasing process. Consequently, they hope that Tesla can at least offer compensation in the form of charging or service benefits to consumers who purchased vehicles shortly before the price cut.

However, Tesla's official customer service and related store staff stated that they were only informed about the price cut on the day it was announced. Tesla's official customer service responded that the campaign was issued on a temporary basis, and both customer service and offline store sales only received the news that day, without any prior knowledge of the campaign's schedule. Users who have already taken delivery of their vehicles cannot retroactively benefit from the discounts, but users who have placed orders but not yet taken delivery can have their deliveries adjusted accordingly.

In essence, this implies that those who have already taken delivery of their vehicles should not anticipate any compensation, while there is room for negotiation for those who have placed orders but not yet taken delivery.

After discussing the rights protection of car owners, let's examine how other automakers responded to Tesla's significant price cut.

Firstly, Xiaomi Auto, a direct competitor of Tesla, did not lower its official guidance prices but introduced 3-year and 5-year 0-interest financing policies. It also reduced the prices of wheel and intelligent driving option packages, along with offering exterior package gifts and free maintenance, resulting in comprehensive discounts nearing 50,000 yuan.

Nio introduced 6,000 yuan cash discounts for the ET5T and ES6 models, offered an 8,000 yuan option package fund and repurchase trade-in rewards for the entire LeDao lineup, and provided intelligent driving services and free battery swap quotas.

Li Auto's L series models also introduced 3-year 0-interest financing policies, along with free upgrades to air suspension. The price of the new MEGA model was reduced by 50,000 yuan.

AITO's M7/8/9 models introduced a series of policies, including 21,000 yuan trade-in subsidies, 20,000 yuan cash discounts, insurance reductions, free chassis upgrades, and lifetime three-electric system warranties, resulting in comprehensive discounts of approximately 65,000 yuan.

Xpeng Motors offered 8,000 yuan cash discounts for the P7, provided intelligent driving and charging benefits for the X9, and introduced 0-down payment financing policies and trade-in interest subsidies for the MONA series models. The Zeekr 8X also introduced a 5-year 0-interest financing policy and 10,000 yuan insurance subsidies, resulting in comprehensive discounts of 20,000 yuan.