Yet another round of price cuts for Tesla, but not in Australia – report
Just weeks after Tesla cut prices of its popular models in North America and Europe, the electric-vehicle specialist has slashed prices in Japan.
Sales of the Tesla Model 3 have jumped by 25 per cent in Japan, following a substantial price cut for the electric vehicle.
Japanese buyers now have to wait much longer to receive their Tesla Model 3, with waiting times doubling from a minimum of six-weeks to as much as 16 weeks.
According to business news outlet Bloomberg, earlier this year Tesla dropped its prices in Japan by up to 24 per cent for the Model 3 in an effort to spur lagging sales.
At this stage there's no indication Australian buyers will enjoy discounts offered in North America, Europe, and now Japan.
Despite being the world's most valuable auto maker by market capitalisation, Tesla has struggled to find buyers in Japan – a country Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted would be the company's number two sales stream.
While official sales figures are not released by the US company, a July 2020 article in Forbes magazine reported around 90 per cent of the 1378 imported electric cars sold in Japan in 2019 wore a Tesla badge. Earlier this month Bloomberg revealed 2020 sales for the brand remained under 2000 vehicles.
To improve those figures, Tesla Japan applied a 17 per cent price reduction to the Model 3 Standard Range, and dropped the price of the Model 3 Long Range by as much as 24 per cent.
For comparison, a Tesla Model 3 Long Range is priced at AU$83,201 before on-road costs in Australia, whereas the same model is on sale in Japan for ¥4,990,000 – approximately AU$60,000.
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