It seems Tesla will take advantage of insurance incentives to provide discounts to buyers in China. According to the company's official Weibo page, the discounts will apply to inventory models, but only in the case where the car insurance is provided by one of Tesla's official partners in China.
While Tesla and CEO Elon Musk continue to insist and reiterate that the US electric automaker doesn't have a demand problem, it's becoming increasingly clear that Tesla wants to improve that demand. Clearly, there's a big difference between a "demand problem" and a simple softening of demand. When you're essentially the global leader selling exponentially more EVs than most rivals, small ups and downs in demand may not impact you as much as competing brands.
At any rate, Tesla is working to increase demand in China ahead of the end of the year, which could help lead the company to record-shattering sales growth in 2022. This will all come amid a pandemic, war, and political and economic turmoil across the globe.
Recently, Tesla lowered the prices of its Model Y crossover and Model 3 sedan in China. At the same time, the company started a new referral program. According to Electrek, this marked the first time in some two years that Tesla reduced its prices.
If you've been watching closely, you probably know that Tesla continues to increase its prices even though critics cite demand concerns. Regardless of the higher prices, Tesla has continued to deliver a record number of EVs each quarter.
With all of that said, Tesla is adding a new insurance incentive to new EV purchases in China, and the program has been tweaked so that it entices shoppers to get their orders in sooner rather than later.
Based on information from Reuters, Tesla was previously offering an insurance incentive worth 7,000 yuan (the equivalent of about $970) for orders placed from October 1 through December 30, 2022. Tesla just raised the incentive to 8,000 yuan for November orders, though it's down to 4,000 yuan for December orders.
Basically, buyers in China will receive a cash rebate for insurance coverage via Tesla's insurance partners, and they can use it to pick up an inventory model nearly immediately.
