BEIJING, March 17 (TMTPOST)— Tesla Inc hit consumers with series of price hikes, a new evidence of the severe inflation pressure on raw materials that the auto industry, including the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) producer, is facing.

Source: Visual China

The Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive (RWD), an entry-level variant of Tesla’s affordable model renamed in January, now costs RMB316,900 (nearlyUS$50,000), suggesting a jump of RMB15,060 (US$2,373), according to Tesla China’s website on Thursday.

This is Tesla’s third price-raising in China in a week, and all the versions sold in the country but the Model 3 RWD saw the price hike in the period. The company increased prices for three versions including the Model 3 Performance, the Model Y Long Range, the Model Y Performance by RMB10,000 (US$1,575) each on March 10. Five days later, it raised these version’s prices again. On Tuesday, the Model 3 Performance and the Model Y Long Range’s prices have each risen by RMB 18,000 (US$2,836), and the Model Y Performance price by RMB20,000 (US$3,151). The same day, the listed prices of Model X, Model S, Model 3 Performance and Model Y sold in the United States climbed by US$10,000, US$5,000, US$3,000 and US$4,000 respectively.

The move came after Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed his serious concern over inflation. “Tesla and SpaceX are seeing significant recent inflation pressure in raw materials and logistics,” Musk tweeted on Sunday.

Tesla’s competitors at home and abroad also mulled similar move. Lucid, the U.S. EV maker, is considering raising prices for future models, its CEO Peter Rawlinson told Reuters on Thursday. Earlier that day, BYD, a Chinese EV manufacture backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, announced to hike prices by RMB3,000 to RMB6,000 due to the ongoing cost increase of raw materials.  Sina News learned the same day that Xpeng would raise prices from next Monday, with the increase range between RMB10,000 and RMB20,000. The BYD’s domestic rival later responded that it didn’t have any immediate information about price hike.

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