Tesla’s response to cheaper Chinese electric cars? ‘They haven’t overtaken us yet’
Chinese brands have set bold targets – and aggressive prices – for their new electric cars, but Tesla believes customers will pony up for “technology and quality” in its vehicles.
Tesla has played down the bold ambitions of a wave of new Chinese electric-car brands at the bottom end of the electric-car market, and believes Australian customers are willing to pay for “technology and quality” in its vehicles.
Thom Drew, Tesla Australia country director, told Drive the US car giant is happy with its positioning “at the premium end of the mid-range” market, and does not want to compete on price alone.
The executive has ruled out returning to the “very substantial” price cuts Tesla rolled out throughout 2024, which slashed the RRP of the least expensive Model Y by nearly $10,000 in the span of two months.
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Once offering some of the only electric cars on sale in Australia, Tesla’s stranglehold on the market has been chipped away at by a wave of new rivals, many cheaper than it – and most from China.
Among them is the Geely EX5, which starts from $40,990 plus on-road costs – about $18,000 less than the cheapest Model Y – while the Leapmotor C10 costs less than $50,000 drive-away.
Many of those brands have made clear their intentions to ascend the sales charts – and overtake the US car giant in the electric-car market – despite only selling a fraction of the vehicles Tesla has to date.
“A good point is that we have brought down the price of EVs. Today, I guess we sit kind of at the premium end of the mid-range, as far as our price points go, and I do think that it’s a good space to be,” Drew said.
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“There has been a lot of activity in the lower price range. I do think it’s interesting. I think there’s a price threshold where people actually want to go for technology and quality.
“And if we are looking at those segments, not to take anything away from those vehicles, [but] they haven’t come in and overtaken us yet.”
Tesla deliveries are down 62 per cent so far this year – due in part to a lack of Model Y stock in the switch from old to new models – but it has handed over more than 130,000 electric cars since launching 15 years ago.
About 90,000 of those have been sold since the start of 2023 – including about 38,000 last year, and 5660 so far in 2025.
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In comparison, newcomer Geely has delivered 500 examples of its EX5 so far this year, Leapmotor has sold less than 200 of its sub-$50,000 C10 SUVs, and even BYD has delivered 3500 electric cars in 2025 across four models, compared to only two Teslas.
Drew said Tesla does not intend to return to the aggressive price cuts rolled out by the brand this time last year, which saw the RRP of a Model Y RWD drop from $65,400 to $55,900 in a two-month period.
“I think we’ll continue to see refinements to our pricing structure, incentives, and so on, as all manufacturers do,” he said.
“[But] I think we’re well past the days of those very significant changes that we’ve previously made.”
The post Tesla’s response to cheaper Chinese electric cars? ‘They haven’t overtaken us yet’ appeared first on Drive.
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