Throughout 2021, Tesla has gotten into a habit of randomly increasing prices for its vehicles. These price hikes seemingly happen for no reason at all, but thanks to some insight from Elon Musk, there's now at least some understanding as to why prices have been creeping up month after month.
Tesla price increases this year have been — frequent — to say the least. Regularly changing prices isn't something new for the company, but this year seems to have brought more volatility than usual. Take the Tesla Model 3, for example. The Standard Range Plus unit was available for just $36,990 earlier this year, but as of June 2021, that same configuration now costs $39,990. The same can also be said of the Model Y. The Long Range model could be purchased for $48,490 at the beginning of the year, but at the time of publication, it's now going for a hefty $51,990.
After months of this activity with no end in sight, one Twitter user reached out to Elon Musk and asked him about this. User @Ryanth3nerd said, "I really don't like the direction Tesla is going raising prices of vehicles but removing features like lumbar for the Model Y." He also commented on rumors of Full Self-Driving increasing from $10,000 to $14,000 later this year, further driving home the point that price increases have become a norm for the company. Musk, as he often does, did respond. In regards to the Model Y price increases, specifically, he says, "Moving lumbar was removed only in front passenger seat of 3/Y (obv not there in rear seats). Logs showed almost no usage. Not worth cost/mass for everyone when almost never used." It's a reasonable explanation that Tesla could have addressed in a press release, but since the company's PR department was dissolved last year, folks are now reliant on these random tweets from Musk to clear the air on things.
The Chip Shortage Is Also Affecting Tesla Prices
Musk also commented on price increases in the bigger picture, saying, "Prices increasing due to major supply chain price pressure industry-wide. Raw materials especially." This is in response to the global computer chip shortage that's been going on for months at this point, resulting in worsened availability of game consoles, computer GPUs, laptops, cars, and more. There's currently enormous demand for all types of products that use these chips, suppliers can't keep up with it, and that's why buying a new Tesla or PS5 has proven to be so difficult lately.
This is something Tesla has been thinking about recently, as evident by a report from a few days ago. It's said that Tesla has been considering a couple of options for staying ahead of the shortage, including buying its very own chip plant. The likelihood of this actually happening is pretty slim, but it's evidence that Tesla is potentially worried about the long-term effects of the shortage.
For the immediate future, it's safe to expect more of the same. Prices will likely keep creeping up every so often, delivery times will continue to be pushed back by weeks or months at a time, and those patterns may continue until chip suppliers can get back to some level of normalcy. Industry leaders like Nvidia and TSMC have suggested that may not be until 2022 or 2023, so it could be a rocky few months ahead for anyone looking to buy a Tesla between now and then.
Source: Elon Musk