Tesla slashes car prices except for the Model Y

Tesla has just slashed the prices of its electric car lineup except for the Model Y compact SUV — the price cuts start from $2,000 on a Model 3 to $5,000 on Model S and Model X vehicles.

Tesla has also withdrawn the ‘Unlimited Supercharging offer’ with the purchase of a Model S or Model X as a result of the latest price reduction.

This move comes from after getting the plant back to work after almost 2 months of shut-down due to the COVID-19 situation, according to experts and long-term investors like Rob Maurer (his Tesla Daily Podcast video below).

This price drop might be an indicator of a temporary slump in demand due to the global health crisis that has halted most buyers in purchasing new and expensive stuff.

The following table shows the new and old prices and the amount of price drop for each model and variant:

Vehicle	New Price	Old Price	Change	Percent
Model 3 Standard Range Plus	$37,990	$39,990	$2,000	-5.0%
Model 3 Long Range	$46,990	$48,990	$2,000	-4.1%
Model 3 Performance	$54,990	$56,990	$2,000	-3.5%
Model S Long Range	$74,990	$79,990	$5,000	-6.3%
Model S Performance	$94,990	$99,990	$5,000	-5.0%
Model X Long Range	$79,990	$84,990	$5,000	-5.9%
Model X Performance	$99,990	$104,990	$5,000	-4.8%

Data: Tesla Inc.

Most of the European countries have not benefited from this change but the prices have also dropped in China, although much less in percentage compared to the North American region.

After scoring a record Q1 this year, Tesla (TSLA) has to come up with a strategy in order to make its long-term investors happy even in the wake of the current crisis and the fact that Tesla was the last automaker allowed to start production in the United States, there needs to be some damage control.

Since there is no solid information available that the $2,000 price reduction has transitioned to the $35k Model 3 Standard Range (only available off-menu i.e. in physical stores) — the Standard Range Plus variant of the Model 3 is now very closely priced to this, most customers won’t even bother going for the base variant if prices stick at this level for a long period of time.

However, it is totally possible that Tesla increases the Model 3 prices back to the original ones as soon as the demand stabilizes again, as we have witnessed this in the past (visually represented in the following graph for the Model 3 base price history).

Tesla Model 3 base price history. Graph by Aldrich Bautista.

There was a time when the Ludicrous Mode upgrade was a $20,000 purchase alone but last year Tesla decided to give it for free with the purchase of the Model S or X Performance variant. Now the fastest accelerating car in the world that goes from 0-60 mph in just 2.3s is even cheaper.

Latest: Tesla increases the prices of Model Y and Model 3 in Oct 2021

More on Tesla:

By Iqtidar Ali

2 replies on “Tesla slashes car prices except for the Model Y”