Tesla to cut the price of its Model S “Long Range” electric car in the US down to US$69,420 according to information gotten from the company’s website which followed a tweet made by the company’s CEO Elon Musk earlier on Wednesday.
This will be the second cut this eek for the high-end sedan after an initial 4% cut which brought the price down to US$71,990 on Tuesday.
Tesla’s shares closed 3.3% higher at US$461.30 on Wednesday which was a bit changed after-hours trade according to reports we got from Reuters.
The company also slashed the price of the Model S by 3% in China where it had previously cut the starting price of its Model 3 sedan.
The Model S made its debut back in 2012 and was one of the top high-end electric vehicle as at that time but had continuously face more competition from other companies who are eyeing the EV industry. The Model 3 on the other hand made its debut back in 2017 and its current price tag starts from US$37,990
The Model S currently make up only around 5% of Tesla’s unit volume, said a Credit Suisse analyst in a client note on Wednesday.
According to analyst, the sudden price cut of the Tesla is said to being linked to that of Lucid Motors which has continuously being touted as “Tesla killer” by some. The company’s luxury sedan Lucid Ar model has a starting price of about US$69,900 which includes a US$7,500 U.S. electric vehicle tax credit which Tesla vehicles are no longer eligible for.
The price cuts also come as competition in the electric vehicle market – long dominated by Tesla – heats up, with several automakers launching new electric vehicles next year.
As the industry’s competition gets more fierce, other companies have scheduled to release their own EV with the likes of German automaker giants such as Daimler AG scheduled to release an electric version of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the EQS next year.
Being a luxury brand, analysts expects the EQS to be quite pricier than the Model S meanwhile the normal gasoline variant which is the current version is priced at about US$117,500.