Zig-zag at Tesla: prices are back up

U.S. electric car manufacturer continues its chaotic pricing policy: Tesla has announced an increase in its vehicle prices worldwide by three per cent after they had only just been reduced by an average of six per cent a few days ago.

++ Kindly find an update to this article below. ++

The move is apparently due to Tesla’s decision to keep significantly more stores alive than initially planned, despite wanting to relocate all of its sales online: The Californian company will close only about half as many stores as initially planned, which is why the cost savings will only be about half as high. Around ten days ago, the plan was to keep just a few heavily frequented locations open in the future, which would only function as exhibition rooms and information centres.

Prospective buyers now have until 18 March to place their orders at the old prices before the price rise. The three per cent surcharge does not apply to the new Model 3 variant for 35,000 dollars, but to the more expensive variants of the volumetric flow unit, the Model S and the Model X. The new Model 3 variant will be sold at the same price.

Meanwhile, Tesla is also launching its Model 3 in Mexico. The opening event took place on Friday in the capital, Mexico City.

Update 12 March 2019: Talking about going back and forth, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Tesla is using $13 million in shares to buy into a logistics company. The vehicles should deal with the ongoing delivery challenges Tesla has been experiencing. Already in November, CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his company had acquired a trucking company but never confirmed which company this was. Now it sounds like Tesla is merely stocking up on conventional diesel auto-carriers from a fellow Californian company, Central Valley Auto Transport, so not outright buying the company but instead acquiring a significant part of their fleet. Tesla has made not made any statement regarding the longer-term emissions objectives of their new delivery fleet, and until the Semi electric truck arrives, it does not sound like it is going to anything clean for the time being.

tesla.com (price rise), teslarati.com, insideevs.com, electrek.co (launch in Mexico), teslarati.com (trucks)