Today is the day of the big Tesla Model S Plaid delivery event, and it means the brand new Tesla Sedans will be hitting the road anytime now. Unfortunately, it has also coincided with a major price increase.
Before today you could pre-order the Model S Plaid for $119,990, but as of today that price is $129,990 — exactly $10,000 more.
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This news comes on the back of several Tesla price hikes. Over the past few months both the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y have had various price increases, to the point where both cars cost around $2,000 more than they did back in March. According to CEO Elon Musk, these price increases were down to cost pressures from the supply chain.
Meanwhile Tesla's ‘Full Self Driving' (not actually fully driverless autonomy) Autopilot add-on has seen its price rise since this time last year. Originally $7,000, the price rose to $8,000 in July and then to $10,000 in December. According to Musk the price will continue to increase as the add-on gets closer to “full self-driving capability with regulatory approval”.
It’s not clear what the reasoning is for the Model S Plaid’s increased price, or why it’s risen by such a large amount. Perhaps this hike is related to the cancellation of the $149,900 Tesla Model S Plaid Plus.
The fact the price change happened on the same day as the car’s ‘Delivery event’ can’t be a coincidence. It seems likely that the previous price tag was lower to try and pull in pre-orders, while this new price is more reflective of what the car was originally supposed to cost.
Or perhaps Tesla has been seeing a lot of demand for the Plaid, especially after it stopped taking orders for the Plaid Plus. Raising the price might cause some would-be buyers to hold off on placing an order. That way Tesla wouldn’t end up with a huge number of orders it has a hard time fulfilling, causing delays to delivery. Because that situation has happened before.
With the Model S Plaid’s delivery event set to kick off at 7pm PT, we should be learning more very soon.
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