Tesla’s Profit Rose in the Second Quarter as Price Cuts Spurred Demand

Tesla reported a rise in profit for the second quarter after the company led by Elon Musk cut prices in response to increased competition and higher borrowing costs for car buyers. The company said on Wednesday that it earned $2.7 billion from April through June, compared with $2.5 billion in the first quarter of this year and $2.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022. Sales rose 7 percent, to $25 billion, from last quarter. Lower average sales prices, as well as the cost to produce a new pickup truck,…

China’s Car Buyers Have Fallen Out of Love With Foreign Brands

For years, foreign automakers in China had a bead on customers drawn to luxury brands, like the Cao family in Shanghai. Not anymore. Ben Cao and his wife, Rachel, both 36, are trading down from two Porsches to one, a gasoline-fueled $290,000 Porsche 911 sports car, and buying their first electric vehicle, a $70,000 sport utility vehicle designed and manufactured in China by a company called Li Auto. “If you’re sitting in a Li Auto, the first feeling is of luxury,” said Mr. Cao, a business consultant. The rapid rise…