(Bloomberg Opinion) – Tesla Inc. has slashed prices of its most expensive models again, days after Elon Musk said cuts earlier this year sparked interest in the company’s electric vehicles .
Prices for the Model S and X now start at $89,990 and $99,990 in the US, down 5.3% and 9.1% respectively, according to Tesla’s website. The company has reduced the prices of the higher performance Plaid versions of each vehicle by 4.3% and 8.3%.
At $109,990, the Plaid versions of the S and X are now $26,000 and $29,000 less than they were in early January.
Musk said last week that the desire to own Teslas was “indistinguishable from endless” and that demand “will go crazy” as the company makes its cars more affordable. Recent price cuts for the Model S and X suggest those vehicles may have had less of a boost from the cuts the company made to its lineup seven weeks ago.
“We’ve found that even small price changes have a very large effect on demand,” Musk said at Tesla’s March 1 Investor Day.
Model S and X accounted for just over 5% of Tesla’s vehicle shipments last year, so changing their price will have less of an effect on the company’s bottom line and EV market dynamics than cost adjustment for higher volume vehicles. Still, the cuts are consistent with comments Musk and other executives made last week about cutting spending on how he designs, builds and manufactures vehicles to unlock more demand.
Nota Original: Tesla cuts prices of Model S and X for the second time this year (2)
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