Tesla is already in ‘full discount mode’ in the US despite being only a few weeks into the quarter – just as the CEO claims that Tesla’s sales are at an “all-time high”.
Generally, the best time to buy a Tesla is at the end of a quarter.
Due to its direct-to-consumer model, Tesla doesn’t sell to franchise dealers, and it only recognizes revenue from the sale of a vehicle once it is in the hands of customers.
It means that if Tesla sits on any significant inventory at the end of the quarter, it reflects quite badly on its financial performance – to the point that it is willing to discount and offer other incentives to encourage people to buy and take delivery by the end of each quarter.
However, Tesla has been introducing those discounts and incentives sooner and sooner in each quarter in 2024.
Tesla has now introduced new inventory discounts of up to $4,000 on Model Y:
Tesla regularly has discounts on new inventory vehicles, but it generally only deepens them at the end of a quarter.
Several vehicles saw their discounts double to $3,000 and $4,000, and those are brand-new vehicles. Tesla is also selling “demo vehicles”, which happens regularly for higher mileage demo vehicles, but Tesla is also already selling some low mileage demo vehicles at a discount.
We haven’t found a consistent method to assign discounts to each vehicle as some vehicles have them and others don’t in a seemingly random way.
But the discounts are stacking up.
We reported that Tesla already brought back its 0% APR loans for Model 3 and Model Y. Tesla used this as an incentive to buy by the end of the last quarter, but it brought it back a week later.
Tesla also brought back its FSD transfer, which is an incentive for current Tesla owners to upgrade to a new vehicle.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla is likely trying to go all out this quarter in order to try to not be down on deliveries for the whole year.
Tesla would need to deliver 515,000 vehicles in Q4 in order to not be down on deliveries for the whole year. It’s not impossible to achieve, but it would be difficult. The only way to get there is to start the discount now rather than in December.
So Elon might not be wrong when he says Tesla is seeing “all-time highs” for sales, but it is coming at a cost. Tesla has already lowered its vehicle prices to the lowest they have ever been, and they are now subsidizing 0% APR loans, which will likely cost the company hundreds of millions this quarter.