Chinese Tesla owners protest another round of price cuts Tesla owners in China took to the streets in protest this weekend over another round of price cuts they claim means they overpaid for their model Y and 3 vehicles. Early reports indicate the change is part of an effort to increase demand at Tesla's Shanghai factory, its largest production hub, in the face of low Chinese …
The Chinese don't seem to have got the hang of capitalism yet :/
I'm sure the majority of commentards here know all too well the immediate depreciation of hi-tech gear, especially cutting edge stuff. You buy a CPU, GPU etc and a month later, almost certainly the price is lower, barring a silicon shortage or similar. A year later...
Add that up over the years. Hang on... I could be worth a bomb! Hey! AMD, let's chat...
The Chinese don't seem to have got the hang of capitalism yet
What a fatuous remark! They understand capitalism probably better than most Americans, which should be obvious from the growth of the economy over the last 40 years.
This is why, having realised they've been sold a turkey, they're so annoyed. They were promised that they were getting a scarce, luxury product but it turns out the warehouses are full of unsold vehicles. They have form here as with some of their actions in the housing and investment market illustrate. Almost invariably companies, not least due to pressure, offer to make good.
What a fatuous remark! They understand capitalism probably better than most Americans, which should be obvious from the growth of the economy over the last 40 years.
To be honest, it is easy to grow a consumer economy that started from virtually zero with a huge population of potential consumers. Similar to the way the Industrial Revolution spiked Britain's economy to unmatched heights.
e.g. tech as prices always seem to be going down & you can get the same thing cheaper down the line. What is the eye wateringly expensive "latest & greatest" now is a far more affordable also ran in a years time. .. or with recent high end graphics card prices, they were nightmare priced when the last "shortage" hit and even now they have dropped a bit its possible they may spike again, but its always caveat emptor
Tends to happen for most things, certainly does for conventional cars where in UK cars with "last years plates" get offered at cheaper (but still high prices) by dealers.
And if Chinese are removing incentive schemes & EV makers want to sell decent volumes than price cuts are obviously a thing you could likely predict. When UK removed its incentive scheme for solar, there was a price drop (some just "natural" due to ongoing tech getting cheaper, but some to try and stimulate sales)
Occasionally you may be lucky in some purchases (e.g. in UK for a long time house prices increased over the years so older people who could buy when prices were affordable vs average pay did very well at "earning asset value") but its always a gamble....
I was thinking about houses too. If the precedent were set that you could get money back on an item with a price cut, then a seller could say that they want more dosh from the buyer when the house is worth more.
But, when would it stop? Do the Chinese Tesla owners think they can get some more cash back every time the price drops?
Yep ordered some curtains between Christmas and new year and got a 10% discount. A week later they are advertising a new sale with up to 30% off.
I haven’t gone back and checked but as I was happy with the price when I ordered it I can’t see any point - they are being custom made and I am waiting for the dispatch date which should be this week.
Happens all the time you buy something and it is cheaper a few weeks later but occasionally you can be smug as the price rockets up.
Just bought a new 3 piece suite at the start of December. It was written into the contract that if the price dropped within 30 days they would honour the new price and refund me. That was an interesting and unexpected experience. As it happens, the price did drop, but only by about £10 so I didn't bother claiming the refund.
I can kind of see their point if they've paid and Tesla havn't delivered their car yet. I'd be annoyed too - though likely not annoyed enough to actually go protest.
The house price example is an interesting one because in England both sides generally _can_ pull out of a property sale (or attempt to renegotiate) between accepting the sale price and actually handing over the money and getting the keys.
" both sides generally _can_ pull out of a property sale" Tell me about it. We are in the process of moving. Before Xmas, we had accepted an offer on our house, and had an offer accepted on a house we wanted to buy, so all good. Then our buyer got cold feet, and pulled out. Now our vendor has put their house back on the market as we are no longer under offer, and they are impatient. So we could lose the house, but will still have to pay our solicitor for the work they have done, so could be out a few grand. Plus we rented a shipping container to store stuff to make moving day less of a hassle. So I'm getting rained on by both parties.
" both sides generally _can_ pull out of a property sale" Tell me about it. We are in the process of moving. Before Xmas, we had accepted an offer on our house, and had an offer accepted on a house we wanted to buy, so all good. Then our buyer got cold feet, and pulled out. Now our vendor has put their house back on the market as we are no longer under offer, and they are impatient. So we could lose the house, but will still have to pay our solicitor for the work they have done, so could be out a few grand. Plus we rented a shipping container to store stuff to make moving day less of a hassle. So I'm getting rained on by both parties.
Sorry you got caught in this mess.
INAL, but isn't there some provision for damages from your cold feet buyer? Either an escrow of enough earnest money on deposit to make you whole if the buyer backs out, or what Musk ran into, "specific performance", a court ordering the buyer to complete the purchase unwilling or not. As to the seller backing out, depends on the contingencies in the offer.
OTOH, you could have been in a worse mess if only the buyer backed out. Carrying two mortgages, or even just the maintaining expenses, on two properties is no fun.
OTOOH, if your house does sell, and the house you had your eye on is back in the market after your seller backed out, one could re-offer at a lower price. That would be a bit of hardball with the seller, but if it stays on the market I would be inclined to teach them the "a bird in the hand" motto.
Not sure if anyone has been around long enough to know that high iphone prices in the past was unsustainable. iPhone used to cost a lot more than today when there were shortages and high demand. As it hits a saturation point and with used devices available you could get iPhones at MSRP and used ones below. Now we're getting to that point there are lots of used Teslas and new Teslas are competing with other EVs.
When did iPhones cost more than today? Can you point to something showing the price for some time in the past and compare with today's pricing? Because I call bullshit on this claim, they have if anything risen slowly over the years.
Unless you are comparing old models, i.e. iPhone 12 price at launch vs price today.
The entry model iPhone cost $499 when it was released in 2007; according to the US Bureau of Labour CPI calculator that is equivalent to $713 now (actually Nov 22 when last data is avail).
The entry level model of the current (16th generation) - the iPhone 14 comes in at $799 - so on the face of it they have got a bit more expensive - BUT when the iPhone was released it could only be bought with a 2yr contract whereas the current $799 price is contract free - so given that with later models (iPhone 3G) buying contract free added an extra $200-$300 dollars it could be argued that they are actually cheaper.
In the context of the Tesla issue it is worth while noting that within 3 months of launch Apple cut the price significantly - and after complaints - gave a credit to the early purchasers.
Some electronics manufacturers would complete recent past orders at the new price when they dropped their prices. Some retailers would pass the savings on to recent customers. This was advertised as promise to convince people to buy now rather than wait for the inevitable lower prices.
I did not see a promise from Tesla in advance and I would not expect Tesla buyers to get much sympathy from the man who recently won the record for the largest personal fortune loss ($182B-$200B depending on who you ask).
...that government incentive schemes push the prices of the incentivised good upwards. How else could Tesla manage such huge price cuts if they weren't marking the goods such only the incentive payments made seem affordable? Maybe Europe and the US could learn from this? Lesson 1. Not all incentives work and need to be carefully controlled, adjusted and eventually removed . Lesson 2. Everyone stop buying Teslas and wait for the price to fall, THEN buy one (Assuming you want a Tesla, (other and better EVs are available and would likely also fall in price)
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