Tesla has again raised prices of its vehicles in its U.S. home market—this time amounting to price hikes of $2,000 to $6,000, but sparing some models.
The popular Tesla Model Y base price has been boosted by another $3,000, to $67,190 (all including the mandatory $1,200 destination fee), while the Performance version of the Model Y is now $71,190.
These prices are far, far beyond the expected 2020 debut prices for the Model Y.
Tesla Model Y
The costs of other models have soared, too. The Model S now starts well in the triple-digits, at a $106,190 base, while the Model X starts at $122,190.
Tesla’s most affordable model, the base Model 3, now powered by lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry, appears to have been spared. It remains at $48,190—where it landed after a March price hike—but the base price of the Model 3 Long Range has been boosted by another $2,500, to $59,190.
2022 Tesla lineup (Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.)
Based on several reports, the automaker had been delaying the deliveries of many of its Long Range and Performance models over the past week, while those with LFP batteries appeared to continue mostly on-schedule. That’s an unusual pattern, as near the end of a quarter Tesla usually aims to pull some deliveries up. It’s unclear whether that’s due to a particular raw-material pinch or a matter of far greater production demand for the higher-priced vehicles.
Tesla prices in 2021 into 2022 were increasing by so much, so often that we essentially stopped covering each incremental step. But Tesla’s last big noteworthy price bump came in March 2022—when we calculated another price change of $2,000 made the Model 3 cost a third more versus a year earlier.
Blame supply-chain pinches and inflation, partly. But with Tesla, it’s not entirely that; it’s what every automaker otherwise dreams of: Intense demand.
As Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn explained last year, part of the issue is that demand for the brand’s vehicles is ramping up faster than the company can ramp up production. Tesla has been saying that it’s still targeting 50% annual sales growth despite recent supply-chain challenges, but that might not be enough to satisfy demand.
Giga Texas opening – April 2022
Tesla has about 18 months, as Bloomberg pointed out last week, before the industrial juggernaut of other global automakers—VW specifically—may start to overtake it in EV sales. For Tesla, continued success in feeding demand just the right amount may depend on the rapid ramp of its plants in Germany and Texas.
