With Elon Musk clearly preoccupied with trying to make changes on Capitol Hill, it’s sometimes easy to overlook what his companies are doing.
In the case of Tesla (TSLA) , the answer is complicated. Musk’s electric vehicle (EV) company enjoyed significant growth in the weeks following Donald Trump’s election in November 2024, making it clear that investors saw Musk’s proximity to Trump as a bullish indicator.
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However, TSLA stock has been trending downward recently, as the enthusiasm that boosted it only a few weeks ago has turned to cautious skepticism about the company’s CEO. As of this writing, shares have fallen roughly 27% over the past month.
Tesla recently made an announcement that may excite some drivers, but it doesn’t concern the U.S. market. This new initiative is unfolding in China, the company’s second-biggest market.
Elon Musk’s Tesla has struggled lately as share prices have declined. The company is facing new problems in China as it tries to roll out new technology.
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Tesla may be on the verge of a war with its strongest rival
Much of Tesla’s dominance in the global EV market can be attributed to its strong presence in China. The company made significant advances for years, helping usher in a new era for the Chinese industry until a local automaker called BYD Company (BYDDF) started outselling it.
A prominent Chinese manufacturing conglomerate, BYD has shown the world that Tesla is far from invincible. It has outsold Tesla for multiple quarters, blowing past it to become the world’s largest EV producer in late 2024.
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While both companies have been engaged in an EV price war for some time, now it seems they are entering a new battle phase. Business Insider reports that a software update log shows that Tesla is introducing some driving-assistance features to vehicles sold in China shortly after BYD opted to include similar technology in all its vehicles.
Tesla fans have been waiting to see the company roll out its full-self driving technology for some time. However, this isn’t exactly it. BI reports that this launch “does not incorporate all of Tesla’s FSD features, including autonomously navigating complex urban environments such as parking lots,” nor is it branded as full-self driving (FSD) tech.
This move from Tesla is likely an attempt to keep pace with the company that has repeatedly outshined it. However, there is a key difference in what they are doing: BYD is adding its assisted driving technology to its cars at no extra cost to consumers. Tesla’s features come with a price tag of roughly $8,800.
As the outlet notes, that’s almost as much as BYD’s least expensive EV, priced at roughly $9,500.
Joe Giranda, director of sales and marketing at CFR Classic, spoke to TheStreet about why he believes BYD has a strategic advantage over Tesla. It comes down to superior technology and more reasonable cost.
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“Tesla’s Full-Self Driving technology is less sophisticated and more expensive than BYD’s DiPilot,” he states. “Tesla’s Level 2 autonomy requires constant driver supervision and costs $8,800 as an add-on feature, while BYD’s “DiPilot,” which includes AI-powered assistance through DeepSeek, comes standard in vehicles priced from $9,555.”
Has this Tesla-killer already won the self-driving war in China?
As Giranda also highlights, China is a price sensitive market, seemingly more so than the U.S. This could put BYD in a highly strategic position as it looks to outmaneuver Tesla in China, a market in which it already has home field advantage.
Related: Tesla treats customers in China much differently than in the U.S.
In his words:
“Unlike the U.S. or European markets, where brand prestige could transcend price sensitivity, affordability and practicality take precedence over brand value among Chinese consumers. BYD’s inclusion of advanced features at no additional cost resonates strongly with local buyers and may very well establish new industry benchmarks.”
It doesn’t stop there. Giranda notes that Tesla is likely to face new pressure in China to offer more value to consumers as BYD makes advanced driver assisted technology available to a wide audience by eliminating additional costs while its vehicles are already substantially less expensive.
As he sees it, Tesla is facing the unique problem of “being perceived to be overcharging for comparable features” at a time when the company is already facing regulatory hurdles in China’s market.
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