Photo: Tesla
At the beginning of March, Tesla finally announced the introduction of the long-promised $35,000 Model 3. To support the launch of the model and its price, the carmaker said it will be closing all of its stores, with only a handful to survive. A week or so later, Tesla had a change of mind.
This weekend, Tesla said it has decided “to keep significantly more stores open than previously announced,” and will even reopen some of the ones it has already shut down, albeit will less crew on deck.
“In addition, there are another 20% of locations that are under review, and depending on their effectiveness over the next few months, some will be closed, and some will remain open,” Tesla says in a statement.
In all, only half as many stores as initially planned will be closed. The ones that remain open will act as information hubs for potential buyers, but will also carry cars in their inventory to be used for test drives and even sales.
This latest announcement contradicts Tesla’s already stated plan of completely moving its sales online and turning the few remaining stores in galleries and information centers. It also contradicts its intention to give up test drives because of the existing 1,000 miles or 7 days return policy.
It’s not yet clear what prompted Tesla to backtrack on its initial announcement, but this latest decision will be mildly offset by an 3 percent increase in the price of cars worldwide, on average. The carmaker says the $35,000 Model 3 will not be affected by the increase, which will be felt exclusively by buyers of “the more expensive variants of Model 3, as well as Model S and X.”
The price increase will be applied starting March 18, which means Tesla customers have about a week to place their order and pay as per the current prices.
“In addition, there are another 20% of locations that are under review, and depending on their effectiveness over the next few months, some will be closed, and some will remain open,” Tesla says in a statement.
In all, only half as many stores as initially planned will be closed. The ones that remain open will act as information hubs for potential buyers, but will also carry cars in their inventory to be used for test drives and even sales.
This latest announcement contradicts Tesla’s already stated plan of completely moving its sales online and turning the few remaining stores in galleries and information centers. It also contradicts its intention to give up test drives because of the existing 1,000 miles or 7 days return policy.
It’s not yet clear what prompted Tesla to backtrack on its initial announcement, but this latest decision will be mildly offset by an 3 percent increase in the price of cars worldwide, on average. The carmaker says the $35,000 Model 3 will not be affected by the increase, which will be felt exclusively by buyers of “the more expensive variants of Model 3, as well as Model S and X.”
The price increase will be applied starting March 18, which means Tesla customers have about a week to place their order and pay as per the current prices.
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