Is there no one standing up for their rights after Tesla's price cut? That's not true.

On the early morning of September 7, the topic of "Tesla cuts prices" immediately topped the hot search lists on all major social media platforms.

On that day, Tesla announced the launch of a limited-time promotion: customers who place an order and take delivery of a Model 3/Model Y before September 30 can enjoy a RMB 5,000 discount and RMB 10,000 discount respectively. Combined with benefits including limited-time 0% interest for 5 years, optional paint packages and charging credits, these two models have hit their "all-time lowest price".

Another topic that hit the hot search list the same day is "No one defends rights after Tesla's price cut".

Obviously, this is not the truth! In the past, the scale of rights protection by Tesla users was far larger than that of current owners of Chinese new energy vehicle brands. Although such cases are much fewer now, car owners definitely do not want to be the "sucker".

Why are so few Tesla owners willing to stand up for their rights? What kind of demands do car owners have after this round of price cuts? Why does Tesla insist on cutting prices even if it is criticized? Today, we will make all this clear.

Old owners are totally exhausted!

Five or six years ago, the voice of Tesla owners' rights protection was absolutely loud.

In March 2019, Tesla suddenly adjusted its prices across the board in China, with a maximum price cut of RMB 340,000, which is equivalent to old owners losing an Audi A6 overnight. This triggered large-scale user rights protection on the Internet, with consumers from all over the country pulling banners offline and creating memes online, keeping Tesla on the hot search list for several consecutive days.

In September 2022, after Tesla "cut prices in a disguised form" in the name of insurance discounts, it adjusted the prices of Model 3 and Model Y again in October, with a price reduction range of RMB 14,000 to RMB 37,000.

As soon as the news of the price cut came out, a large number of users criticized Tesla online, saying things like "the price dropped by 8,000 yuan one week after taking delivery, and 14,000 yuan in one month", "lost 30,000 yuan one week after picking up the car"... Some old owners not only pulled banners to protest in front of Tesla stores, some were even so angry that they chased and beat the store sales staff.

Facing the owners who were defending their rights, Tesla also felt aggrieved: "We don't only cut prices. When we raised prices, we never saw any owners insist on coming to pay us extra money!"

Indeed, the prices of Tesla's models are flexibly adjusted due to factors such as exchange rate fluctuations and raw material costs. Back in 2023, the company even raised prices three times within a single month.

The volume of "rights protection" protests was so loud that Tesla had to recruit a large number of legal staff in a short period of time, sending lawyer's letters everywhere and suing people who posted negative comments.

However, no matter how much owners complained, almost every price cut by Tesla brought a boost in sales.

Later, Tesla got tired of ignoring owners' complaints, and the owners gradually became resigned. The company adjusts prices so frequently that people get exhausted. Within a few months, a few weeks, or even a few days, there could be a price change of five figures.

In addition, even after the price cuts, Tesla's resale value is still relatively competitive compared with rivals that "launch a new generation every year" or even "three new generations a year".

New owners are also furious!

This time, Tesla owners are not without resistance.

Shortly after the topic "No one defends rights after Tesla's price cut" left the hot search list, two topics "Tesla owners are collectively enraged by the price cut" and "Tesla owner loses 10,000 yuan just one day after picking up the car" went viral on the hot search list.

The sudden price cut without any warning left many Tesla users who had just taken delivery of their cars completely confused.

Multiple owners complained on social platforms: Some people had just picked up the car for one day when Tesla cut the price by 10,000 yuan; some people took delivery of their new car on September 5, before they even charged it once, the joy of buying a new car was gone...

Some netizens said that they called Tesla customer service, and the other side said: this price adjustment policy was issued temporarily, and both customer service and offline store sales received the notice on the same day, and had no knowledge of the activity arrangement before. Sales staff at multiple Tesla stores also said they only learned about the relevant preferential policies that day.

In response to the compensation issue, customer service feedback said that users who have already taken delivery of their cars are confirmed to be unable to retroactively enjoy the discount; however, users who have placed an order but not taken delivery can be contacted and handled by the delivery staff.

This kind of response is obviously difficult to satisfy users. What owners complain about is not the "price cut", but the lack of prior notice, and the lack of care schemes for users who have just taken delivery of their cars.

Owners hope that either the price difference will be refunded to users who have just taken delivery of their cars, or relevant benefits such as charging credits, optional interior packages and FSD will be provided. At the same time, they also called on the enterprise to establish a short-term price protection mechanism, and release signals appropriately in advance for major preferential policies.

Up to now, Tesla has not made an official response to the demands of new owners. Even if some owners defend their rights online, shouting that they are "stabbed in the back", their voices still did not stay on the hot search list for long.

It can only be said that the volume of Tesla owners' rights protection this time is still too small.

Tesla is in a hurry!

It's not that Tesla wants to trick old owners, I'm afraid they are also anxious.

In July and August 2026, Tesla's wholesale sales were about 94,000 units and 86,000 units, up 37.9% and 3.6% year-on-year respectively.

The figures look impressive, but in the domestic market, the retail sales in July and August were only 27,000 units and 50,000 units respectively, down 32.9% and 12.5% year-on-year.

Not only did sales decline, but the stock price also fell.

On September 3, Tesla officially released the mass-produced Cybercab driverless taxi. The next day, the company's stock price fell sharply, with a maximum intraday drop of 6.2%, and the market value evaporated by about 100 billion US dollars, equivalent to more than 670 billion yuan.

From the perspective of boosting sales and stock prices, the price cut is very reasonable.

A more reasonable speculation is that it may be time to clear inventory.

On August 30, the cheap version of the Tesla Model 3 was officially launched in Hong Kong and Macau. The price in Hong Kong is as low as 205,000 Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to about 176,000 yuan.

The cheap version has reduced configurations in terms of seats, audio systems, steering wheels and other aspects, but the core three-electric system and intelligent functions still maintain the standard. Obviously, for most consumers, Tesla's configuration is already "bare-bones", and they don't care about these further reductions.

As early as October 2025, Tesla launched the standard version of Model 3/Model Y in the US market, which is the so-called cheap version, with the starting price reduced by 5,000 to 5,500 US dollars (about 33,500 yuan to 36,900 yuan) compared with the previous entry-level version.

After that, the cheap version of Model 3/Model Y entered more and more markets, driving Tesla's global sales to continue to rise.

It is worth mentioning that most of the cheap models sold overseas are produced at the Shanghai factory, but they have not been sold in mainland China for a long time. Some industry insiders believe that this is because the non-cheap versions can also be highly sought after by the market.

Now, Tesla's sales have been declining for several consecutive months, and perhaps it is time for the cheap version of the model to meet consumers in mainland China.

Conclusion

Although users who have just taken delivery of their cars feel disappointed, consumers who are about to buy cars are very excited.

According to feedback from a salesperson at a store in Jinan, due to the strong promotion, the number of people coming to the store has increased significantly. He also revealed that after the activity started, consultation volume surged, and more than 4,000 orders were sold across national stores in a single day.

From this phenomenon, if the cheap version of Tesla enters the market, the car buying boom it triggers may be even greater.

Do you think the cheap version of Tesla is attractive?

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Auto Market Story" (ID: autostinger), written by Zhang Yuzhe, published with authorization from 36Kr.