Over the weekend, Tesla again cut prices on its Model S sedan and Model X SUV.
The company already lopped $10,000 off the price of the Model S in January, as part of sweeping price cuts across the entire lineup; now it’s cut another $5,000. With this, an even greater cut applies to Model X prices; they’re now $10,000 lower than they were last week.
As they are Monday, the Model S starts at $91,380, including the mandatory $1,390 destination fee. That’s for the Dual Motor version offering a 405-mile EPA range and claimed 0-60 mph time of 3.1 seconds. The Dual Motor version of the Model X starts at $101,380 in five-passenger form, while six- and seven-passenger versions are available at extra cost.
These prices, while much lower than they were last year, remain far higher than in late 2020, when the company dropped prices on the Model S in an apparent effort to match the Lucid Air. Both models have since hiked prices; the Air starts at $94,400 in its dual-motor Pure version, rated at 410 miles of range.
2023 Tesla Model X – Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
Also of note: The top-performance Tesla Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid both now start at the same price—$111,380. Tesla claims that the Model S Plaid, with a 396-mile range rating, remains the quickest accelerating car in production today (0-60 mph time of 1.99 seconds and quarter-mile time of 9.23 seconds), while the Model X Plaid achieves a 333-mile range rating and is claimed to be the quickest-accelerating SUV in production today. Both Plaid models have a tri-motor, 1,020-horsepower propulsion system, plus upgraded brake pads and a carbon-fiber spoiler.
Tesla continues to offer its $15,000 Full Self-Driving package—now labeled Full Self-Driving Capability—on both of these models. Up until now that has included the Full Self-Driving Beta system allowing Autosteer on City Streets, but last month the company issued a recall on that system after federal regulators said that it poses “an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety.”
Tesla hasn’t yet delivered the required firmware update to vehicles, and it’s reportedly halted new software installations of Full Self-Driving beta software ahead of the update.
2023 Tesla Model X – Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
The move could wreak further havoc on the used Tesla market—or help make used Teslas more affordable, depending on your outlook. Amid signs that the Tesla demand bubble had burst, used Tesla prices were already dropping in the later half of 2022 before the January price cuts, and prior to those Tesla offered a discount on the Model 3 and Model Y of up to $7,500.
At Tesla’s Investor Day last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk batted back the possibility that the market may be getting tighter, quipping that demand is “indistinguishable from infinite.”
However Tesla might want to see this, the price cut represents how competitive—and crowded—the premium EV field has become, with entries from Rivian, Lucid, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Cadillac, and others gaining EV market share.
