New year, same old Tesla, or is it?
Tesla has once again decided to slash prices globally on all its electric vehicles by up to 20 percent in an attempt to extend its aggressive discounting strategy to compete with its rivals. The problem is, since Tesla is not sold directly here in Malaysia and is only available through third parties, will Malaysia also enjoy these discounts.
Moreover, this comes at an odd time and marks a reversal for the tried and tested “we do not offer discounts” strategy that Tesla had employed up until a couple of months ago and after company CEO, Elon Musk, warned the world that 2023 would see the car industry experience a recession and higher interest rates.
So is this why Tesla has decided to double down on its strategy to offer discounts? Well, the answer may be a bit more complicated than that. What’s more, the real question in all of this is, will Tesla models sold as third party AP imports also be discounted? That would be a hard no, here’s why.
On top of that, since Tesla does not directly have any sales centres in Malaysia and most Tesla models are AP imports, it would stand to reason that any discounts (or lack thereof) offered would be up to the dealer and not Tesla. This is why I think there will be no discounts whatsoever unless the dealer intends to give us some discounts.
Additionally, Musk even stated towards the tail end of last year that car prices had become “embarrassingly high” and that this would hurt demand for new cars so, on the surface, this seems like the reason he is lowering the prices of Tesla cars but anyone who has been following the news recently knows there are more reasons.
From Musk no longer holding the title of richest man alive to him losing millions everyday from his purchasing of Twitter and everything in between, Elon Musk has been falling through a downward spiral over the past few weeks and it seems like he has finally hit rock bottom. This is likely why Tesla is offering discounts.
Furthermore, Tesla has lowered prices of its vehicles across the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa recently. This follows a series of price cuts throughout Asia which analysts see as the brand firing against rivals which have been aggressively ramping up production of their electric vehicles (EVs).
Well, regardless of the “why,” the important thing here is that Tesla is offering discounts for its cars so if you live in a country where Tesla sells directly and you were eyeing a new Tesla car, now is the time to get that new car you’ve been wanting. As for Malaysian buyers, nothing much has changed in terms of prices.
