In its home market, Tesla has once again lowered retail prices for the third time this year. The company wants to expand its output aggressively and tries to keep demand rising as competition is building up. The Model S and X each drop by 5 000 dollars, the Model 3 by 1 000 dollars, and the Model Y by 2 000 dollars.

Elon Musk already hinted at the importance of price cuts to entice demand, claiming that “a lot of people want to drive a Tesla but can’t afford it”.

The new pricing can also be read as anticipation to demand slowing down, a trend witnessed in the world’s largest BEV market last year: China. According to broker RBC, these discounts mount up to 17-21% over a period of half a year.

Secure customer orders

Tesla’s reviewed pricing strategy sent shockwaves through the industry when they were announced for the first time late last year. As two of its newest factories, in Texas and Germany, are ramping up production, the company sees a remedy in its adapted price policy to secure customer orders. Also, the raw material prices of lithium are cooling down, which makes this move better motivated.

The results showed off in the latest quarterly results when it delivered a record number of cars (422 875 units), beating analysts’ forecasts. The company wants to leverage its annual output of 1,2 million cars to 2 million in the short run.

10 000 Megapacks

The current focus of Tesla on growth instead of product development is also demonstrated by the plans to set up a second battery factory for Megapacks in China. This news was confirmed by Xinhua news agency on Sunday.

This factory will have an initial capacity of 10 000 Megapack batteries per year and is expected to begin production “in the second quarter of 2024”. Tesla’s Megapacks aren’t built for cars but are designed to store energy and stabilize power to electrical grids. The claim is that they can store more than 3 megawatt-hours each.

Straubel is back

More good news for the American EV maker was announced on the HR front. One of the company’s founders, JB Straubel, regarded as the master brain behind several product breakthroughs at Tesla, is returning to the board of directors.

Straubel was the engineer behind essential milestones like the Model S and the Semi truck and was one of the original founding fathers of Tesla before Elon Musk bought himself in. He returns after a four-year break from the company and will supervise the technological development.

His arrival is also good timing as the media are sharply focused on the privacy scandal. Some employees have shared sensitive videos recorded by the cameras on customer cars.

These compromising images revealed nudity and the precise recording of a Tesla running over a kid on a bicycle. Tesla has been officially accused of violating privacy ruling.

The court statement claims that the clips were used for “the tasteless and unlawful amusement of Tesla employees and possibly externs”.