Tesla has provided a New Year boost for drivers resolving to switch to an electric car in 2019. The company is cutting prices in the US by $2,000 for the Model X, Model 3 and Model S vehicles.
The move has been made to offset the slashing of tax incentives for e-car buyers, which were designed to encourage wider adoption of the technology. At the time of writing it doesn’t appear as if the company is planning to extend the price cuts outside the US.
Stateside, the most affordable Model 3 sedan will be available from $35,950 for the forthcoming base model. Meanwhile, the Model S base price drops to $66,750 and the Model X SUV starts at $72,950.
Drivers had been entitled to a tax credit of $7,500 until the end of 2018, but that number has now been halved from January 1 to June 30 2019. From July 1 to December 31 2019, the credit will fall to $1,875. From 2020 onwards, there’ll be no tax credit available to drivers.
Related: Tesla December 2018 update
The price cut comes as Tesla announces record sales during the last three months of 2018. The firm sold 90,700 vehicles overall during the period, which included 61,394 Model 3 sedans. Overall in 2018, the company sold just shy of a quarter of a million cars (245,240), which is by far the firm’s best year.
2018 was the year the company got on top of the production bottlenecks that had led to long delays for the 400,000+ drivers who pre-ordered the Model 3 vehicle, which is available at near-mainstream prices.
The price cuts haven’t been greeted enthusiastically by the company’s shareholders, with the price of shares dropping around 10% following the announcement.
Overall, it has been a great year for Tesla in terms of sales, despite some Elon Musk-related controversies. However, the company is still far from reaching profitability.
Are you considering a Tesla purchase in 2019? Is the time right for the company to cut prices, given the stock market uncertainty? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.