In a move it’s calling a “price adjustment,” Tesla is marking down the prices of its most popular cars in the US by $3,750.
Over at Electrek, Tesla-watcher Fred Lambert seems to believe that the price cut is intended to encourage people to take delivery in Q4 of ’22, rather than wait for the new Federal tax credits outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act (which amount to approx. $7500) to take effect in 2023.
We, on the other hand, notice that the price cuts come just days after reports that site traffic for Tesla product pages are down significantly, and hours after two different studies found Tesla’s public approval rating going negative for the first time in the company’s history, with the electric automaker starting 2022 with a net-positive score of 5.9%, then peaking in May at 6.7% before falling to -1.4% in November.
While it’s tempting to point to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s reinstatement of alt-right and white supremacist on his newly-purchased Twitter platform, The Wall Street Journal explains that the political angle here is a bit more complicated. “self-described liberals now view Tesla more negatively than conservatives,” writes the WSJ, “though conservatives also have a negative view of the brand on average.”
“Owning the libs” isn’t enough, on its own, to convince conservatives to embrace EVs, it seems – as, just one year ago, Kelley Blue Book’s quarterly Brand Watch Report found that 75% of electric car shoppers were considering a Tesla. Last quarter, the number of EV shoppings willing to consider a Tesla fell to 64%.
If you ask us (you didn’t), that number – not the IRA tax credit – has a lot more to do with Elon’s price cuts than anything else. That’s just our take, though. Let us know what you think in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: ELECTREK, KBB.
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