"My stock fell again, I felt bad, I wanted to throw up, I was ready to cut the flesh."
"The recent stock market crash, you see you are not smart, if you want to engage in investment, you have to buy some novel financial products."
"You'd better stop talking nonsense to me, I'm in a bad mood right now."
"Buy a Tesla, how many times have you seen it rise since the end of last year?" Order one directly and sell it later. ”
"I knew your dog couldn't spit ivory out of its mouth."
......
In the past, Tesla was jokingly called "cutting leeks" because of successive price cuts, and even car owners who bought cars before the price cuts, labeled their cars with "I am leeks" to mock themselves. Now the situation has come to a big reversal, Tesla ushered in N consecutive rises, after the price increase of some models on March 10, Tesla raised prices again in just five days. By yesterday afternoon (March 17), the model Y rear-wheel drive version that had previously escaped the disaster was also raised by 15,060 yuan, and the price was 316,900 yuan, an increase of about 5%, which is consistent with other versions. Comparing the parameters of the various versions of the Model Y, it can be found that the previous price increases were all models that used ternary batteries, and the model Y rear-wheel drive version using the lithium iron phosphate battery pack has now ushered in a price increase.
Due to Tesla's super influence, coupled with Musk's recent remarks on social media, the price increase of Tesla models this time has caused more divergent discussions. Is the price increase to please the old car owner? Is the price increase because Tesla wants to make an energy revolution? In fact, the main reason behind it is the rise of raw materials.
People familiar with electric vehicle batteries may know that increasing the nickel content at the cathode can increase the energy density of the battery, thereby improving the endurance performance, while LG supplies Tesla with more than 90% nickel content, and the high purity first-class nickel produced by russian mining company Nornickel for electric vehicle batteries accounts for 20% of the global market. Due to the current international situation, the market is worried that russia, as the main producer, nickel exports will be affected. On March 14, the international market transaction price of nickel materials reached $48,211 per ton, which is already eight times the price of the same period last year. At the same time, the price of lithium has doubled.
The cost of raw materials has risen sharply, which is a crisis that all electric vehicle companies cannot escape, but Tesla's way of dealing with the problem this time is very clever. Still taking the Model Y model as an example, in three different versions, the main sales force has always been the lowest priced single-motor rear-drive version, which far exceeds the two-motor all-wheel drive version. On the surface, Tesla first raised the price of the dual-motor version, and then raised the single-motor version, and the impact on most consumers was delayed as much as possible.
But in fact, the rear-wheel drive version of the Model Y has risen once at the end of last year, in fact, the price increase of the single-motor version is in the front, and the price of the dual-motor version is in the back. The order of price increases is actually the opposite of the surface, and the price increase is mainly for single-motor models with large sales. The cost has risen, the price of the car will naturally rise, how to make the price increase as little as possible to cause consumers to resent, while reducing the impact on sales, the price cleverly increased on the best-selling models? In the face of the crisis, Tesla fully demonstrated the advantages brought by the direct operation model this time.
As far as IHS Markit's current forecast is concerned, the price increase of electric vehicles is likely to continue into 2024. In the field of electric vehicles, Tesla, which has obvious advantages in both technology accumulation and brand influence, obviously has the confidence to continuously increase prices, and the current sales of the Tesla brand have not been greatly affected. For other brands, the price increase may not be so direct. Rivian's imitation of Tesla's direct increase in the price of existing models has seen a cliff-like decline in order volume. In the next two years, we may see major electric brands begin to play the "fancy price increase" routine.
Write at the end:
The price cut is accused of "cutting leeks", the price increase is called "passing on inflationary pressure to consumers", and Tesla, which has been standing on the cusp of public opinion, has also been criticized. However, objectively speaking, in the face of a sharp rise in raw material prices, car companies are actually sandwiched between suppliers and consumers. Tesla's direct operation model in the global market has removed many intermediate links, and the entire channel is controlled by Tesla itself. The biggest beneficiary of eliminating information opacity is actually the consumer. Now, the price increase is inevitable, since it is going to rise, it is better to rise directly like Tesla.