Tesla is the most profitable car company on Earth, but that hasn’t stopped them from raising prices by $6,000 on some models.
The world’s most valuable automaker by market cap, Tesla (TSLA) pocketed a whopping 32.9% profit margin— which is more than double the margins of legacy firms like GM, Ford, and Toyota. Despite raking in record amounts of cash and helping to make Tesla’s de-facto CEO, Elon Musk (whose official title is “Technoking and Czar of Coin”), one of the richest men in the world, the company has decided that the time is now for a staggering price hike across all of its electric vehicle models.
The hot-selling Model 3 saw the smallest increase in price, with only the Model 3 Long Range impacted by the changes with a $2500 price hike from from $54,490 to $57,990.
From there, some of the most popular Model Y versions saw a $3000 increase, while the more premium Model S sedan saw $5000 and the Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive Long Range version of the top-shelf, falcon-winged Model X crossover climbing from $114,990 to $120,990.
It’s enough to make you wonder what they need the money for.
More Trouble in Paradise
News of the price hikes comes amid a virtual tornado of bad news for Tesla, which— despite continued growth— struggled to meet production goals in China in Q1, is facing increased scrutiny over a flurry of fatal car crashes involving its advanced Autopilot ADAS features, and has been seen laying off thousands of workers while, at the same time, recruiting “streetfighter lawyers” to fight some upcoming legal battle or other (there are plenty to choose from, it seems).
Add to that the “distraction” of Elon Musk’s attempts to buy Twitter with stock debt while TSLA’s share price tumbles and new product launches suffer delay after delay and it’s no wonder that rumors of bigger, unseen troubles are swirling.
And, like, ordering your untrained sales staff to perform repair and maintenance jobs on customers’ cars is a totally normal thing for carmakers to do, too, right?
What do you guys think? Is Tesla just trying to stay ahead of inflation while maintaining the course, or are these surface-level troubles indicative of something deeper? Give it some thought, then scroll on down to the comments and let us know!
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