(Yicai) Nov. 21 -- Tesla may start lowering prices in China later this year to boost sales, The Paper reported industry insiders as saying, after the US electric vehicle builder raised them for the fourth time in a month.

“Tesla's gross profit margin is under pressure now, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t room for price cuts,” the report said, quoting one of the people.

Tesla today announced its fourth price increase in China in the past 30 days. The Model Y Long Range All-Wheel-Drive is increasing by CNY2,000 (USD280) to CNY304,400 (USD42,649), the Austin-based company said on Weibo. Just 12 days ago, it raised the prices of its China-made electric sport-utility vehicles by CNY2,500.

Tesla began hiking prices on Oct. 27, when the company said it would add CNY14,000 to the cost of a Model Y Performance in the Asian country, bringing it to CNY363,900.

Tesla's third-quarter results fell short of market expectations. Net profit plunged 44 percent to USD1.9 billion from a year ago while revenue rose 9 percent to USD23.4 billion, according to the earnings report it released on Oct. 18. After a series of price reductions in the first half, gross profit margin shrank to 17.9 percent in the third quarter from 25.1 percent a year earlier.

In addition to boosting gross profit margin, increased demand for Tesla cars may also be one of the reasons for the price increases. Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai delivered about 72,100 vehicles last month, and more than half of those were exported, according to the China Passenger Car Association. In the first 10 months of this year, the plant delivered about 771,000 units, more than the whole of last year.

Unlike Tesla, Chinese carmakers generally cut prices at year-end to meet annual sales targets. Since the beginning of this month, many local producers, including new energy vehicle giant BYD and startup Leapmotor, have lowered their prices or launched sales promotions.

Editor: Emmi Laine