Tesla Reports Record Profit But Cuts Prices
Tesla Inc on Wednesday cut U.S. prices for all its vehicles to offset lower green tax credits, and also fell short on quarterly deliveries of its Model 3 sedan.
The company announced a $2,000 price cut for the Model S, Model X and Model 3 cars, in a move that could be translated as a response to low demand in the United States.
Chief Executive Elon Musk has previously promised to make Tesla profitable in the third quarter, but the company is unprofitable for the first nine months of 2018.
Musk has been under intense pressure to deliver on his promise of stabilizing production for the Model 3. The company said it was churning out almost 1,000 Model 3s daily, broadly in line with Musk’s promises. The company said it would begin delivering Model 3s to Europe and China in February.
Tesla sales benefited from a $7,500 federal tax credit on electric vehicles throughout 2018, but that full credit expired at the end of 2018, and new buyers will now receive only half that amount. In the U.S. , tax credits that lower the cost of electric vehicles are available for the first 200,000 such vehicles sold by an automaker. The tax credit is then reduced by 50 percent every six months until it phases out.
Tesla said it delivered 63,150 Model 3s in its fourth quarter, an increase of 15 percent from the third quarter.
Total deliveries rose from the third quarter to 90,700 cars from 83,500 in the third quarter
The automaker’s third-quarter pre-tax profit was around $3,200 per vehicle delivered.
Overall, total production rose 8 percent to 86,555 vehicles, 8 percent above the company's previous high. The company churned out 61,394 Model 3s, up from a total of 53,239 Model 3s in the third quarter.