Tesla was reported to have slashed up to US$14,000 off its Model X in China after Beijing announced major tariff cuts for imported cars.
The carmaker will lower prices of its Model S and Model X cars by just over 6%, a Beijing based sales representative told Reuters on Wednesday.
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China said on Tuesday it would cut import tariffs for automobiles to 15 percent from 25 percent, a boost for premium brands like Tesla and BMW which import a significant number of vehicles.
Tesla said on Tuesday any of its cars sold in China would be subject to adjusted prices, even before the tariff change comes into effect on 1 July.
The price of a top Model X would be cut to CNY1.3m ($203,830) but that remains well above the $140,000 cash tag before savings for the priciest version in the United States – Tesla's Model X P100D, Reuters noted.
Imports, however, only make up a fraction of the overall Chinese market and tend to be upper end models, the news agency's report noted.
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By GlobalDataYale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight, said price cuts by foreign premium brands would likely force them to adjust the price tag for vehicles they produce locally in China. This in turn would gradually impact the price of more affordable, mainstream cars – even local Chinese brands.
"With imminent price adjustments in the higher end segment, that will over time lead to a pricing adjustment for the entire market," Zhang told Reuters.
Other carmakers, including Toyota and BMW, said after the tariff cut that they would look at adjusting their retail prices in China to provide competitive offers to consumers, the report added.
