The full $7,500 federal tax credit for Tesla’s electric vehicles was halved when the clock struck midnight on December 31st, 2018. The tax credit was a big incentive for customers looking to ditch their gasoline cars for a Tesla. The company wants to offer some respite to those who didn’t take advantage of the full credit when it was available so it has decided to cut the price of the Model 3, Model S, and the Model X by $2,000 in the United States.
Customers won’t save as much as they would have with the full $7,500 credit even after this price cut, but as they say, something is better than nothing after all.
There’s another reason for Tesla to try and increase sales. Its deliveries at the end of last month did not meet market expectations. It has delivered 90,700 electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2018. That’s an 8 percent improvement compared to the company’s previous all-time high but not in line with market expectations. The market was anticipating higher deliveries due to improved production.
So this price drop is going to serve another purpose for the company. It may keep the sales chugging along even though there’s not as much of a tax credit on offer as before.