Tesla lowers prices on its entire lineup for the third time this year.
Tesla has slashed prices on its lineup of electric vehicles, marking the third time this year that the company has reduced prices on at least some of its models.
The Associated Press reported that the reduced prices were posted on Tesla's website on Friday. The Model S and Model X show discounts of up to $5,000 and the Model 3 up to $1,000. The Model Y was effectively reduced by $3,000 with the addition of a new base model starting at $49,990. Previously, the least expensive Model Y was the long-range version at $52,990, but that price remains unchanged.
This follows price cuts of up to 20% across Tesla's lineup in January. Tesla then cut prices on the Model S and Model X by up to $10,000 in March. This is quite a change from 2022, when Tesla raised prices several times. Tesla has not publicly stated the reason for the price cuts.
Tesla reported that it delivered 422,875 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023. This total was 4% higher than the previous quarter and 36% higher than the same quarter a year ago, but this is the second consecutive quarter that Tesla has produced significantly more vehicles than it has delivered to customers. In the past four quarters, Tesla has produced approximately 78,000 more vehicles than it sold.
As the AP notes, this trend is occurring as Tesla continues to build out its manufacturing capacity. In addition to the Fremont, California plant and new plants in Austin, Texas and Shanghai, Tesla has a German plant coming on line in 2022.
In February, market analysts predicted a price war for EVs, but prices outside of Tesla have been mostly stable. The Ford Mustang Mach E dropped up to $5,900 in January, and Ford recently raised the price of its F-150 Lightning pickup truck for the fourth time.