On March 29, related news revealed that Tesla’s first-quarter market report was officially released, with 180,993 cars sold in the first quarter of 2023, taking 8th place in the American market, with a year-on-year growth of 39.5%. According to reports, Tesla has become the fastest growing new energy vehicle brand.
Tesla’s price reduction strategy has sparked widespread public outrage since the beginning of this year. Many old car owners believe they have been “stabbed in the back” and have sought compensation from Tesla. However, sales figures show that Tesla’s price reduction strategy is attracting more new customers. Tesla ranked eighth in terms of sales volume, ahead of General Motors, Ford, and Toyota, while Volkswagen and BMW ranked ninth and tenth, respectively.
Tesla, in fact, broke the long-standing sales stalemate in the US auto market in 2022. “German” automakers, primarily Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and other brands, have long dominated the luxury car market in the United States, and the emergence of Tesla makes these manufacturers nervous. According to Experian, Tesla generated 480,000 new car registrations in one year with only four models, surpassing successfully Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi. Tesla, of course, has its own troubles, and the upstarts Rivian and Lucid are doing well.
In addition to the price reduction strategy, Tesla is also preparing to release an all-new model this year or early next year, which is expected to sell for under 200,000 yuan, targeting the lower end market. Despite the fact that the new car is clearly aimed at the lower end of the market, its core features, such as FSD, display screen, and performance specs, are not discounted, which is Tesla’s biggest advantage. In fact, when looking at the global market, Tesla’s position in the category of new energy vehicles is not stable. Chinese automakers, led by BYD, began to enter European and Southeast Asian markets, achieving excellent sales results.
Anyway, Tesla has mastered the change in market wind direction after years of brand development and control of consumer psychology, and has decisively slashed prices when it is appropriate to do so, allowing it to be in the process of rapid expansion. Tesla’s reputation, however, seem to have declined since then. The next area that Tesla needs to focus on is how to strike a balance between sales and reputation.