Matti Robinson
12 Mar 2019 10:58
Only a week or so ago Tesla was moving towards closing brick and mortar stores and focusing on online sales. Now the company has backtracked and intends to keep some of the stores open.
Tesla car prices go up ~3% next week, except for $35k Model 3. Order online at https://t.co/46TXqRrsdr before then for current prices.
This also means that the savings coming from closing stores, that were going to be directed at providing more competitive prices, are not going to happen. In fact, Elon Musk has revealed that the prices of most Tesla models are going up soon.
Just under two weeks ago Tesla was going to decrease the prices of their cars an average of six percent. The new plan instead moves the price up three percent, except for the $35k Model 3 which won't see a price hike.
At this point there is no reason given to the sudden change of mind. Musk, however, commented on Twitter that stores are still closing but at a slower pace, which is why they can only afford half of the price drop.
This indicates that prices would have gone up significantly more (perhaps around 10%) if the store closing plan didn't proceed at all.
Clearly Musk still believes in streamlining the sales to largely online with just few showrooms, but perhaps it was a little too much a little too soon for the board.