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Tesla price cut - Canada too?

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wayner

Active Member
Oct 29, 2014
4,294
1,787
Toronto
I see that Tesla dropped the prices of all of their cars in the US by $2000. Did they cut the price in Canada as well? Or maybe we are lucky that they have just held off on increasing prices given the CADs recent fall.
 
I see that Tesla dropped the prices of all of their cars in the US by $2000. Did they cut the price in Canada as well? Or maybe we are lucky that they have just held off on increasing prices given the CADs recent fall.

I agree l don’t expect a cut up here at all. With the CDN $ decline I was expecting an increase up here early this year. With the US cut and keeping CDN prices where they are absorbs part of the $’s decline.
 
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Two ways to look at it. Take your pick.

1) Bad. Price cut due to lower demand although Model 3 production is more than ever.
2) Good. Tesla is able to lower costs and will be able to sell more cars without incentives.

This is just a short term gyration. The slowing in sales growth was not unexpected as the US Federal incentive declines. LR reservations in the US/Canada are probably being exhausted and Tesla is switching to focus on European and China LR deliveries now. What will be more relevant is when they can deliver a profitable, cheaper SR model to convert remaining reservation holders and lure more potential buyers.

Canada is probably lucky to not see a price increase due to the falling CAD.
 
I actually think the price drop was a smart decision (despite the markets reacting otherwise...). The price cut just 'cushions' some of the blow of halving the incentive, so someone ordering today will still pay more than someone who received their car before the new year. They dropped the price by 2k on a ~ 60k car, so if this 'stunt' results in selling 1 extra car for every 30, then it makes smart business sense.

There will be some pain points when incentives start to dry up, and some will get stuck in the middle. In my case, I was initially going to order a RWD but figured I had no chance to get the rebate so went AWD. Fast forward and by the end of the year after Tesla stepping up to the plate everyone in my province that ordered a RWD LR and cancelled will end up getting their rebate. That's almost a $20k 'premium' for my AWD now, but hey that's the way the cookie crumbles. Still love the car, but if you told me 6 months ago I would get the rebate with a RWD, I would have been happy with the lower performance of RWD vs AWD....heck, I waffled on going PAWD, but the price delta was too much, and now they effectively dropped that price by 5k and folks that ordered PAWD are getting refunds from Tesla.

I also agree that in theory there should likely be a price increase in Canada due to dollar conversion....but hopefully not since that will hurt sales in Ontario even more. Will be interesting to see what happens in the next year with EV sales in Ontario.
 
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You can already see some of the effect in sales after June from the fleetcarma Q3-2018 report:
canada-ev-sales-september-2018.png
 
You can already see some of the effect in sales after June from the fleetcarma Q3-2018 report:
That graph is at least potentially misleading though as you should expect that a decent portion of the spike in May and June was from people who would have otherwise ordered later in the year but moved up their purchase to ensure they got the rebate. So, that inflated May and June and depressed July and August. I'm sure there was a net decrease as a result of ending the Ontario rebate, but it wasn't as drastic as that graph would suggest. If you average the sales across those four months (May, Jun, Jul, Aug) you get just a little bit under 4,800 cars/month
 
@mociaf9 - You are probably right to a certain extent but it wasn't a certainty that the subsidies would end, unlike the situation in the US where it has been known for a long time that the subsidies would end on Dec 31. Certainly it was highly likely that DOFO would win the election and probable that he would kill the incentives, but that wasn't know with the same certainty.
 
It looks like the shift in exchange rate from (say) Oct through late December was very approximately equivalent to the Jan 1st USA $2K price cut, so if Tesla maintain their CAN$ prices regardless of that exchange rate shift, Canadians will be on roughly similar ground, and late Q4 purchasers got the benefit.
 
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I would be curious to see how much the number drops off in Q4.

I really surprised out "eco-warrior" "pipeline owning" Prime Minister does not use his carbon tax to fund Federal EV incentive program, just simply removing the 5% Federal HST portion would be a good start

This.
Rebates and incentives that come from the tax payers does not sit well with many.
Simply forgoing the federal sales tax would be a great incentive all by itself.
 
I agree l don’t expect a cut up here at all. With the CDN $ decline I was expecting an increase up here early this year. With the US cut and keeping CDN prices where they are absorbs part of the $’s decline.

But the Canadian dollar is up today. Shouldn't Tesla adjust the price daily? (Sorry, I'm being snarky as this debate has been ongoing now for years). ;)
 
I actually think the price drop was a smart decision (despite the markets reacting otherwise...). The price cut just 'cushions' some of the blow of halving the incentive, so someone ordering today will still pay more than someone who received their car before the new year. They dropped the price by 2k on a ~ 60k car, so if this 'stunt' results in selling 1 extra car for every 30, then it makes smart business sense.

There will be some pain points when incentives start to dry up, and some will get stuck in the middle. In my case, I was initially going to order a RWD but figured I had no chance to get the rebate so went AWD. Fast forward and by the end of the year after Tesla stepping up to the plate everyone in my province that ordered a RWD LR and cancelled will end up getting their rebate. That's almost a $20k 'premium' for my AWD now, but hey that's the way the cookie crumbles. Still love the car, but if you told me 6 months ago I would get the rebate with a RWD, I would have been happy with the lower performance of RWD vs AWD....heck, I waffled on going PAWD, but the price delta was too much, and now they effectively dropped that price by 5k and folks that ordered PAWD are getting refunds from Tesla.

I also agree that in theory there should likely be a price increase in Canada due to dollar conversion....but hopefully not since that will hurt sales in Ontario even more. Will be interesting to see what happens in the next year with EV sales in Ontario.

Hey @pcons, that is exactly my story as well. Would have probably gone RWD if I had known I could get the incentive after all. But I really do love the AWD! Did the 30 day EAP trial and ended up getting it. Makes my commute so much more relaxed. Agree with all your points on the NoA, but I have faith it will keep improving. Love having a vehicle that upgrades itself!
 
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