Tesla announced that they are closing down most of their physical stores in order to cut down on company costs. Only a few stores in busy areas will remain open, acting as galleries and “information centers." Elon Musk says the shift to online exclusivity is intended to reduce the price of all Tesla cars by 6%.<doc-sep>Tesla’s price cuts have been so significant in some regions that it devaluated some recently purchased vehicles by over 40% and it pushed some owners to literally organize protests. When launching the base Model 3 and changing its sales strategy to online-only last week, Tesla also made some significant price and option changes to its Model S and Model X lineup. We reported on those changes, which include a new Model S battery pack and some up to $12,000 massive price drops in the US. Tesla has been justifying those price reductions by saying that the shift to online sales is going to result in cost savings. Overseas, the price reductions are even more significant. In some markets, the higher-end versions of Model S and Model X have seen overnight price reductions of over $30,000. One of those markets is Taiwan, where the price of a Model S P100D was cut almost in half by Tesla’s latest price changes – resulting in about $100,000 in savings. It angered some owners so much that they organized protests at Tesla stores and Superchargers: Did anyone see what’s happening in Taiwan? Taiwan Tesla Owners protesting about the price adjustment outside of the Supercharger Station and Store/Service Centre in Taiwan. Have they solved the issue? @TeslaOwnersTwn #Tesla #TeslaTaiwan $TSLA pic.twitter.com/mIKPFPigAf — JayinShanghai (@ShanghaiJayin) March 4, 2019 In China, the price reductions have also been quite significant and indignation over the decision started trending on Weibo (China’s Twitter). It made it into Chinese media. Global Times reported some of what Tesla owners were saying in China: “I received Tesla’s Model X on February 25, and I only drove this car for five days before Tesla announced a price reduction of 174,300 yuan ($25,989.87). I’m probably the most unlucky new buyer … That’s unfair,” Some of them went as far as protesting in front of Tesla stores and installing signs on the windows: It roughly translates into “don’t buy now, buy tomorrow at a discount”. Owners in many other markets expressed their disappointment over how Tesla is handling the situation, but the situation seems to have escalated more significantly in China and Taiwan. Other Tesla fans and owners are defending the company saying that price reductions are always good regardless of how they are being introduced. Electrek’s Take I’ve been saying it for a while, Tesla’s pricing structure makes them look like amateurs. Those massive sudden price changes can’t be only justified by moving sales online. Tesla used to push this idea that their pricing was better than regular dealerships who try to negotiate different deals with different buyers. They say that everyone pays the same price. That’s true as long as everyone buys at the same time. I completely understand why those owners are angry. They see the value of their car plummeting overnight and not because Tesla introduced new features, but because it suddenly decided to change its pricing structure with little to no explanation. That said, I don’t think those protests are the right way to go about it, especially those blocking access to Supercharger stations. That’s only affecting other Tesla owners who had nothing to do with Tesla’s decision. I think Tesla should work to reduce prices, but they should do it in a more structured way and not with sudden massive changes like that. They should also do a better job at explaining the reason they are reducing prices. Without any reason, recent buyers feel like they were just tricked into paying more. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.<doc-sep>Tesla teases the Model Y. Source: Tesla. Tesla's onslaught of announcements is starting to make analysts wonder if customers are losing interest in its cars. CEO Elon Musk said Sunday that Tesla's upcoming Model Y crossover vehicle will be unveiled on March 14. While it could be a great vehicle with high demand, RBC analyst Joseph Spak said the timing of the announcement raises concerns. Musk tweeted the news days after the company made considerable price cuts to its other models and said Tesla needs to close some showrooms and cut sales staff. It also spent nearly $1 billion paying off debt last week. On Thursday, Tesla unveiled its long-awaited $35,000 Model 3, reduced prices on upgrades to its Autopilot automated driver assistance system and made significant price cuts to its Model S and Model X vehicles after saying it will only sell its vehicles online to lower costs. Its shares fell nearly 8 percent Friday and slid by another 3 percent in midday trading Monday. All of this suggests Tesla is rushing to strengthen demand for its products, which could be waning in the U.S., Europe and China, Spak told investors in a research note Sunday. "A Model Y announcement so shortly after the $35k [Model 3] suggests that consumer reaction toward the $35k Model 3 may not have been as strong as the company had hoped," Spak said. "We believe there has been a fall- off in U.S. demand and softer than expected demand in Europe/China." The price cuts on Tesla's three models, the X, S and 3, backs up the idea that demand has softened, he added. It is important to note that Musk has teased mid-March as a possible date for the unveiling of the Model Y before. He had said as far back as May 2018 that the Y could be revealed on March 15. "I just made that up, because the Ides of March sounded good," Musk said on Twitter. Musk tweet Investors have long worried about whether Tesla can sustain interest in its cars at their current high prices. Tesla is somewhat boxed in by the need to keep prices high enough to recoup its massive investments and turn a profit, while keeping them low enough to compete with bigger manufacturers that are pouring money into electric vehicles.<doc-sep>
Some owners saw the value of their vehicles drop by almost $100,000. Bad Timing Last week, Tesla announced plans to cut the prices of eight of its vehicle models. That’s great news if you’re looking to buy a Tesla. But not-so-great if you already own one. Some owners saw the value of their EVs decrease by tens of thousands of dollars overnight, leading to a slew of Tesla protests overseas — and the outrage could hurt Tesla’s chances of success in the world’s most promising EV market. Slashed Prices On Thursday, Tesla announced that it was finally selling a long-promised $35,000 Model 3. In addition to that price reduction, the company also cut the starting prices of its Model S and Model X vehicles by $12,000 to $18,000, and other versions of the vehicles saw their prices decrease by up to $18,000. That’s nothing compared to the impact of the new pricing on some overseas markets, though. According to an article by Electrek, some Model S and Model X vehicles now cost more than $30,000 less, and in Taiwan, the price of the Model S P100D dropped by almost $100,000. Upset that Tesla cut the value of their vehicles overnight, some owners began railing against the company through social media. “I received Tesla’s Model X on February 25, and I only drove this car for five days before Tesla announced a price reduction of 174,300 yuan ($25,989.87),” wrote Weibo user Luweijuzi, according to a report by Chinese newspaper The Global Times. “I’m probably the most unlucky new buyer.” Some owners posted banners critical of the new prices at Tesla’s physical stores, while others staged in-person protests at the company’s Supercharger stations. Did anyone see what’s happening in Taiwan? Taiwan Tesla Owners protesting about the price adjustment outside of the Supercharger Station and Store/Service Centre in Taiwan. Have they solved the issue? @TeslaOwnersTwn #Tesla #TeslaTaiwan $TSLA pic.twitter.com/mIKPFPigAf — Jay in Shanghai (@ShanghaiJayin) March 4, 2019 A Lot to Lose Various experts have predicted explosive growth for China’s EV market in the near future — some believe the nation will account for 50 percent of all EV sales by 2025. Solidifying a place as a leader in that market could be huge for Tesla, and just a few days before the pricing announcement, The Global Times published a piece noting how Tesla’s future in China looked bright thanks to the nation’s growing middle class. However, if these protests lead to any sort of anti-Tesla sentiment in China, the company could lose its momentum in the country long before then. READ MORE: Tesla owners literally protest over drastic price cuts [Electrek] More on Tesla: Tesla Finally Slashes Model 3 Price to $35,000 As a Futurism reader, we invite you join the Singularity Global Community, our parent company’s forum to discuss futuristic science & technology with like-minded people from all over the world. It’s free to join, sign up now!