Benzinga | Aug 19, 2020 04:03PM EDT

Tesla Denies Affiliation With Pinduoduo Group Model 3 Purchase In China

One part of Tesla Inc's (NASDAQ:TSLA) process that sets it apart from legacy automakers is the electric vehicle manufaturer's direct sales approach.

Other cars are sold to a dealership, and customers must go through a dealership and deal with paperwork and overhead before purchasing.

When buying a Tesla, a person can simply go online, build their car and click buy. The price is what's displayed, with no discounts or haggling.

So when Chinese company Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD) offered a group buy for up to 10,000 people for the made-in-China Tesla Model 3 last, it raised some red flags, according to the Tesmanian blog.

Tesla China responded, alerting people that the action by Pinduoduo was unauthorized, even though Pinduoduo said Tesla was in on the group buy deal. The offer claimed savings of nearly $3,000 per purchase of the standard range plus Model 3.

Tesla released another update Wednesday, after an employee from Pinduoduo tried to purchase a Model 3 and said they were denied for no reason.

Tesla said they stopped the purchase because it was being made by the company, possibly for resale, and not the individual.

Benzinga's Take: To anyone familiar with Tesla's sales model, the Pinduoduo sales sounds obviously unsanctioned by Tesla. The company is firm on its no-haggle sales model, with CEO Elon Musk claiming even he and his family pay full price for their vehicles.

Photo courtesy of Tesla.