Tesla cuts EV prices again following production and delivery downturn

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: Tesla has slashed prices on its Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles after revealing third quarter delivery numbers that failed to impress. The starting price for a new Model 3 has fallen to $38,990 for a rear-wheel drive model, which is down from the previous base price of $40,240. A similar $1,250 discount is also in effect for the long range model, bringing it down to $45,990.

The Model 3 performance variant now starts at $50,990, down from $53,240 previously – a savings of $2,250.

Tesla's Model Y long range, meanwhile, is down to $48,490 and the Model Y performance is priced at $52,490 after $2,000 price cuts to both models.

It is not uncommon for Tesla to tweak pricing, but the latest cuts coincide with declining numbers. In its most recent vehicle production and delivery report, Tesla noted it produced 430,488 vehicles and delivered 435,059 examples in the third quarter. Those figures are down from the 479,700 EVs produced and 466,140 Teslas delivered in the second quarter.

Tesla said the decline in volumes was caused by planned downtimes for production facility upgrades. As such, the company's volume target of roughly 1.8 million vehicles in 2023 remains unchanged. Despite the slowdown, Tesla's stock value has increased in the days since the latest numbers were released and is up more than 135 percent year to date.

Back in August, Tesla started selling Model S and Model X variants for $10,000 less than before, albeit with shorter ranges and slower acceleration. Today, a dual-motor all-wheel drive Model S starts at $74,990 while the Plaid variant commands $89,990. A Tesla Plaid is the quickest accelerating production car available today.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in July that he believes it does make sense to sacrifice margins to drive volume growth. Doing so also puts the pressure on rival EV makers that simply may not have the ability to match Tesla blow for blow when it comes to price cuts.

Image credit: Makara Heng, Soly Moses

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100431-tesla-cuts-ev-prices-following-production-delivery-downturn.html

 

[RudyBob]

I hope folk are wising up or they are going to have a Delorean in the closet

 

[GhostLegion]

I hope folk are wising up or they are going to have a Delorean in the closet

I'll take a nuclear powered time traveling car if you are passing them out

 

[RudyBob]

I'll take a nuclear powered time traveling car if you are passing them out

Yea! Let me check my closet

 

[yRaz]

Yea! Let me check my closet

You left a few at my wife's house

 

[hahahanoobs]

Don't pay full price for a Tesla. Wait for inevitable price drops.
Noted.

 

[scavengerspc]

More and more competition, and with higher initial build quality, so not exactly a surprise.
EVs are seeing huge growth and passed 10 million vehicles in 2022, up from 6.6 million just 1 year earlier.

Electric vehicles - IEA

Although the global share of electric mobility is still small, the EV fleet is expanding quickly. Ambitious policy announcements have been critical in stimulating the electric mobility transition in major vehicle markets.

www.iea.org

"The share of electric car sales has more than tripled in three years, from around 4% in 2020 to 14% in 2022"

And that figure can easily go near 20% just at the end of 2023.
Only the most reasonably priced, well-built, and reliable EVs will stand out and survive.

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

Considering the economy is so bad that people can't afford rent or food I'm not surprised car sales are down

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Considering the economy is so bad that people can't afford rent or food I'm not surprised car sales are down

The economy isnt though. Job creation is way out of expectation (in a good way). Without cheap debt, most consumers are just royally screwed because your average consumer is as financially literate as a pear.

 

[cristianm]

The economy isnt though. Job creation is way out of expectation (in a good way). Without cheap debt, most consumers are just royally screwed because your average consumer is as financially literate as a pear.

It seems that governments have the same reliance on debt as the average consumer

 

[Bobbydpue]

More and more competition, and with higher initial build quality, so not exactly a surprise.
...
Only the most reasonably priced, well-built, and reliable EVs will stand out and survive.

I was also going to say it was competition coming from the big car makers, and some smaller ones, that have better quality and will likely allow people to work on their own cars without disabling features or the cars themselves.

 

[Bobbydpue]

Considering the economy is so bad that people can't afford rent or food I'm not surprised car sales are down

A healthy middle class has allowed people to raise prices without going out of business. If literally no one could afford to buy a house the prices would drop, but they haven't.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

Those who wanted electric cars have pretty much already purchased one. So many used ones for sale 2 years later at half the price. They are finding out just how restricting they are if no used for local commuting.

You all ought to follow TheDealerShipGuy. Great info about the market.

People want ICE engines that they can fill up anywhere and quickly. Reliable and don't need a 10k battery pack replacement.

 

[Uncle Al]

Still waiting for some bright young person to hack their system, turn on ALL the features & extended mileage so the buyer gets ALL the features they paid for .....

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I read that some dealerships are having issues moving EV so they've been declining purchasing them from manufacturers. I don't know the exact reasoning behind this, but I'm sure it's a culmination of reasons.

It doesn't surprise me that price cuts keep happening.

Personally, for my own driving needs, I could probably get by with an EV based on how much I drive a year - however the issues they have in cold climate are enough to keep me away from them forever. Got a guy at work that has a Tesla, long stretch of extreme cold weather left his car unable to take a charge for weeks, he had to rent a (gasp) "gas guzzler" until he could get his Tesla to take a charge once it warmed up enough.

 

[yRaz]

The economy isnt though. Job creation is way out of expectation (in a good way). Without cheap debt, most consumers are just royally screwed because your average consumer is as financially literate as a pear.

With **** jobs. This happens every fall with seasonal workers, they get paid garbage wages and then get laid off after Christmas

 

[Jeff Schmidt]

With **** jobs. This happens every fall with seasonal workers, they get paid garbage wages and then get laid off after Christmas

And people don't read the jobs reports. They just see the X number of jobs created. Most are part time positions and most people would rather have one full time position instead of multiple part time positions. Inflation is still too high on basic stuff and people are scared the fed is going screw up the economy with all the rate hikes. It will be too expensive to get any credit if they keep going.