By George Glover

Tesla and its Chinese rival BYD Co. have reignited their price war, with both EV makers offering big discounts as they battle for supremacy in the world's biggest auto market.

Tesla said in a post on the social-media site Weibo last week that it would be cutting the price of its Model Y car by 10,000 yuan ($1,370) until the end of this month, and offering five-year interest-free loans. BYD is offering discounts of between 1,000 yuan ($137) and 3,000 yuan ($412), Bloomberg reported, citing a post by the auto consultant Sun Shaojun on the same platform.

It's all part of a push by the two companies to meet their end-of-year sales targets, which could in turn boost their shares. Tesla and BYD are locked in a bruising battle to be the world's top EV seller, although it looks like BYD is pulling ahead: over the three months ended Sept. 30, its quarterly revenue passed Tesla's for the first time ever.

Other EV makers including ZEEKR Intelligent Technology and Li Auto have also waded into the price war by offering zero-interest loans, according to Bloomberg.

Tesla stock rose 1.3% to $349.70 ahead of the open Monday after jumping 3.7% Friday.

As of Friday's closing bell Tesla's stock had climbed 39% this year, compared with a 26% rise for the benchmark S&P 500 index. BYD's U.S. shares were up 20% since Jan. 1.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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December 02, 2024 06:29 ET (11:29 GMT)

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