(Yicai Global) March 15 -- Not all customers benefit from China’s New energy vehicle price cuts and quick updates driven by technology progress and carmakers’ desire for a larger market share, as several vehicle owners have used the opportunity of World Consumer Rights Day to complain about benefits that only affect subsequent customers.

The disgruntled clients bought models of different brands, including Li Auto, Tesla and Zeekr, only to regret they had not waited to discover price cuts.

An owner of Li One said to Yicai Global that two months after the purchase, the crossover sport-utility vehicle model got CNY20,000 (USD2,900) cheaper. The Chinese car startup even launched a new hybrid model L8 with a lower price tag while owners of older models were given CNY3,000 (USD435) fuel vouchers to compensate for the shift in pricing strategy.

A buyer of a Zeekr car said that less than a month after delivering the product, the electric vehicle brand owned by Geely Automobile Holdings launched a new model that costs the same but has CNY33,500 worth of additional features.

A Tesla owner said that less than a week after buying a Model Y, the price of the SUV was trimmed between CNY29,000 and CNY48,000 to an all-time low in China.

It is common in the automotive industry to enhance model features and cut prices, according to Zhang Xiang, dean of a research academy under the Jiangxi New Energy Technology Institute. Manufacturers push major upgrades in gas-powered models every five to six years but the cycle is just one or two years for NEVs. 

Still, it is hard for NEV buyers to accept that they paid hundreds of thousands of Chinese yuan for a product that is now sold like an electric equivalent of fast-moving consumer goods, Zhang added.

Fast price cuts and more features in quick updates in NEVs are not only driven by technology progress, but also pushed by intense market competition. Carmakers tend to reduce prices or offer more features or rights to buyers to snatch a bigger market share, when its survival is threatened.

And this strategy works. Visits and orders increased a lot in second- and third- tier cities after Tesla cut prices earlier this year. The US carmaker’s sales reached 66,000 in January, and further increased to 74,000 last month. Li Auto ranked first among NEV startups with a sale of 15,000 units in January and 16,000 ones last month.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi