The company’s website shows that American electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc. has reduced the price of its Model S “Long Range” sedan in the United States to $69,420.
The price cut is Tesla’s second price cut for high-end cars this week, after a 4% price cut to $71,990 on Tuesday.
Tesla shares closed up 3.3% on Wednesday to $461.30, with little change in after-hours trading.
The company also lowered the price of its Model S in China by 3% on Tuesday, after it had previously lowered the starting price of its Model 3 sedan in China.
Now, the Model S starts at a thousand times the price that Tesla has sold the pair of red satin shorts for “$69.420” starting in July, in order to mock the company’s opponents.
Tesla launched the Model S in 2012, but in recent years, the car has faced cheaper competition from automakers. The latter was launched in 2017. The mass market Model 3 sedan currently starts at $37,990. Credit Suisse analysts said in a customer report on Wednesday that Model S only accounts for about 5% of Tesla’s car sales.
The analyst said that the Model S price cut is likely to be the result of an electric car startup Lucid Motors, which sells its luxury sedan Air models starting at $69,900. This includes a US government electric vehicle tax credit of $7,500, which Tesla Motors no longer meets the conditions for.
At the same time as price cuts, competition in the electric car market, which has long been dominated by Tesla, has become increasingly fierce, and several automakers will launch new electric cars next year.
Germany’s Daimler AG plans to release an electric version of its Mercedes-Benz S-Class luxury sedan EQS next year. Analysts expect that EQS will be much more expensive than Model S, while the latest version of the gasoline-powered S-class retail price exceeds 100,000 euros ($117,500).
