Tesla is turning on the charm in China by offering new discounts and perks amid changes in perception as a result of recent negative press.
Over the last few months, Tesla has been hit with bad press in China with news of crashes involving Tesla vehicles, protests at its Shanghai Motor Show booths, and concerns over data collections.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas warns that “anti-Tesla sentiment” in China can be a big deal:
How serious is the risk of anti-Tesla sentiment in China going forward? This is a big deal, in our opinion… especially if we look beyond the near-term headlines. Today, Tesla derives a very significant portion of overall profit from its China business. Long term, many investors see Tesla as occupying a very large market share in the PRC, if not a dominant share. In our view, such an assumption is not in alignment with our views of the interplay between global auto manufacturing, mobility services and national security.
Last quarter, almost 30% of Tesla’s revenue came from China.
Tesla is well aware of the importance of the Chinese market, and to help, the automaker is now doing something that it rarely does to help its position in the market: offer discounts and new perks.
For the China’s Labor Day or May Day, Tesla is offering several new perks:
- 45 days of free Enhanced Autopilot
- Free Supercharging for five days
- 25% discount on air filter replacements
The automaker made the announcement on its official Weibo page in China:
In North America, Tesla doesn’t sell Enhanced Autopilot anymore as it’s been replaced by its Full Self-Driving (FSD) packages.
However, since the city street driving feature of FSD is not expected to reach every market soon, Tesla has been offering a less expensive Enhanced Autopilot package with most of the features found in FSD as a compromise.
Free Supercharging is a perk that Tesla has offered in the past, but the automaker has been moving away from it as its fleet grows rapidly and the demand for charging grows with it.
As for discounted air filter replacement, Tesla has strong air filtration in its vehicles, and it’s a feature that the automaker has used in its marketing in China, where air pollution is a serious concern.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
