While Tesla’s situation needs to be monitored, the manufacturer is beginning a major seduction operation with companies. The American firm now wants to encourage them to opt for its electric cars in their fleets. A first: Tesla would now make reductions.
With more than 1.8 million cars sold in 2023 and a broken record, Tesla remains the world number 1 in electric vehicles, surpassing BYD and Volkswagen. But all is not rosy.
Companies in the crosshairs
The American manufacturer must now face growing competition from Chinese brands, as specialists had already predicted some time ago. And this despite significant price reductions, since the battle should be even more intense in the coming months according to its great rival BYD, whose innovative technologies we were able to discover during our trip to its native lands.
In addition, Tesla has been experiencing significant disenchantment in recent months from one of its major customers, the rental company Hertz. The latter has decided to get rid of its electric cars, whether its Polestar 2 and its Model 3, because of excessively high maintenance costs. Not to mention either the very strong depreciation suffered by these cars, whose second-hand value drops very sharply, which does not allow the company to make them profitable upon resale.
But of course, This does not please Elon Musk’s firm at all, who wants to act to limit the damage. Because in addition to having a direct impact on its registrations, this decision also harms the image of the manufacturer and its reputation. The latter therefore decided to put an end to the phenomenon, as indicated by the British press agency Reuters. The latter explains that Tesla implemented unofficial discountsin order to encourage companies to buy its cars for their fleets.
A person close to the case announces that “ From mid-2023, Tesla offered end-of-quarter discounts on Model 3 and Model Y, up to 2,000 euros, for leasing companies, if these cars were in stock » before adding that “ for several months, these discounts have been available throughout the year“. A first for Tesla which never gives discounts (unlike a traditional dealership), except sometimes on cars in stock at the end of the quarter.
These price reductions are offered on cars already available in stock, but without the firm providing precise information on the discount rate. And for good reason, no official communication has been made on the subject, and these reductions are probably negotiated on a case-by-case basis, depending on the number of cars, but also on the company purchasing them. But this is not the only effort that Tesla is prepared to make to attract potential professional customers.
Discounts, but not only
Indeed, it is also said that the American manufacturer, now based in Texas, has also decided toimprove your after-sales service for businesses, even though many of them complain about the latter. The firm tends to ignore problems and take a long time to repair vehicles, which obviously creates some problems for companies, which need to have operational cars in all circumstances. Especially in the case of companies specializing in rental.
These efforts are being made in a difficult context for Tesla, where the situation is said to be chaotic and which has made numerous layoffs. Not to mention Chinese manufacturers, who also have every interest in turning to the fleet market, which represents approximately half of registrations in Europe. According to an anonymous source employed by a company specializing in automobile leasing, Elon Musk’s firm would have offered discounts of up to 2,000 euros on the Model 3 in 2023, unofficially.
However, we know that the residual value of the brand’s cars drops very sharply, which causes the companies that resell them to lose a lot of money. And the discounts offered by the manufacturer would unfortunately not be sufficient. Not to mention the fact that repairs cost more than for thermal cars and compared to other electric models, while insurance should also be taken into account in the equation. Tesla will therefore have to be even more generous, especially since certain companies are considering turning to Chinese brands.