Tesla, the American electric vehicle manufacturer, has lowered the
prices of its electric cars for the sixth time this year, just before its
next earnings report. The automaker quietly reduced the price of its
rear-wheel drive variant of Model 3 to $39,990, which is $2,000 less
than what buyers had to pay earlier this month. In recent weeks,
Tesla had already cut $1,000 off its price, selling it for $41,990.
Earlier this year, the automaker drastically cut the prices of its
entire lineup, with some models receiving a price reduction of up to
20%.
However, Tesla has mentioned on its website that after the US
government's change in guidelines that took effect on April 18th,
the rear-wheel drive Model 3 only qualifies for $3,750 in tax credits.
This is due to the US cutting off China as an approved trading
partner, which resulted in EVs using China-made batteries losing tax
credits. On the other hand, Tesla's other cars, including Model Y
vehicles that also received a price cut, are still eligible for the full
$7,500 tax credits.
The Long Range and Performance Model Y vehicles, along with the
base model, are now $3,000 less expensive than before. The base
Model Y is now priced at $46,990, while the Long Range and
Performance models cost $49,990 and $53,990, respectively. In
January of this year, when Tesla reported its earnings for 2022, CEO
Elon Musk stated that the company was seeing orders "almost twice
the rate of production." However, according to Bloomberg, Tesla was
unable to maintain that rate of demand, and in the first quarter of
this year, it made the lowest number of deliveries since 2021. These
price cuts are likely an attempt to sell existing inventory and to
generate demand going forward, given that the company reportedly
produced thousands of vehicles more than it delivered to customers.
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