By Michael Elkins
Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are down 2.13% in pre-market trading on Friday after the automaker increased the starting price of its Model Y crossovers. According to an update to its online configurator today, the company increased the price of its standard range Model Y by 0.8% to CNY 261,900 ($38,577.11) in China. The price increase follows aggressive price cuts at the beginning of the year that ignited demand and started what analysts are calling an EV Price War.
Tesla planned to step up output at its Shanghai plant over the next two months to meet demand stoked by aggressive price cuts. Its market share in China's battery electric car sector rose to 12.5% in January from 9% in December.
Tesla raised the price for the rear-wheel drive version of Model Y by CNY 2,000 from CNY 259,900 previously, according to the price information listed on the company's Chinese website on Friday. Tesla kept the prices for other versions of Model Y and Model 3 cars unchanged.