Over coming months, electric car pioneer Tesla will shut down most of its showrooms, a move that it says is necessary in order to achieve lower prices to enable it to reach a wider market.
The EV maker has just announced that the cheaper “mass market” Standard Range Model 3 is finally available, a goal which CEO and founder Elon Musk has been working towards for some time now.
To achieve that, Tesla has undertaken several cost-cutting measures in order to remain financially viable while delivering on Musk’s promise.
This has already, controversially, involved laying off 7 per cent of its full time staff and all non-critical contractors and temp staff. At the same time it raised Supercharger prices – before slightly lowering again in a response to customer feedback.
It has also cut its referral program which allowed Tesla owners to refer friends in return for 6 months worth of free charging.
But it’s all for good reason – by moving all sales to online only, it says it will be able to drop all its electric vehicle prices by an average of 6 per cent.
Read the full story on RenewEconomy’s electric vehicle-dedicated site, The Driven…
