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发帖数: 1932 | 1 Tesla Says Never Mind: It Raises Prices and Keeps Most Stores
nytimes
Just days after saying that it would close most of its stores, Tesla is
making an abrupt U-turn.
In a message posted on its blog just before midnight Sunday, the electric-
car maker said it had decided to retain many of the locations it had shut
down or was planning to close. And it said it would raise most of its
vehicle prices about 3 percent worldwide, just weeks after cutting prices.
“Over the past two weeks we have been closely evaluating every single Tesla
retail location, and we have decided to keep significantly more stores open
than previously announced as we continue to evaluate them over the course
of several months,” the company said in the blog post. The price increases,
it said, are necessary to make up for the loss of savings that was
anticipated from the store closings.
The flip-flops are the latest sign of turmoil surrounding the company and
its chief executive, Elon Musk.
“This reversal is bizarre and indicates a lack of actual planning in the
earlier announcement,” said Mike Ramsey, a Gartner analyst. “Their retail
stores still serve a real need.”
Until last month, Tesla had been rushing to expand its network of showrooms
and mall galleries, which display its cars but take no customer orders.
On Feb. 28, Mr. Musk told reporters in a conference call that Tesla would
start offering a long-awaited version of its Model 3 sedan with a starting
price of $35,000. Previously, the least expensive Model 3 cost $43,000
before tax incentives.
Mr. Musk said closing its stores would allow Tesla to cut costs enough to
make the Model 3 profitable at the lower price. But he would not elaborate
on those calculations, and he said Tesla would lose money in the first
quarter, contrary to previous forecasts.
As part of the cost cutting, he said, Tesla would henceforth take orders
only online. Tesla affirmed the online approach in its announcement Sunday
night, saying its stores would serve as a way to introduce potential buyers
to Tesla vehicles, provide a test drive on request — another reversal from
its earlier announcement — and show how to make a purchase.
“Stores will also carry a small number of cars in inventory for customers
who wish to drive away with a Tesla immediately,” it added.
In a recent email to employees, Mr. Musk said 78 percent of Model 3 orders
were already placed online. Buyers can get full refunds if they return cars
within seven days and have driven them less than 1,000 miles.
Tesla has been in retreat in recent months, scrambling to shore up flagging
investor confidence. Along with layoffs of 7 percent of its work force in
January, the news of store closings appeared to underline the challenges for
a newcomer breaking into an old-line manufacturing industry. The company
has struggled to make a few thousand cars in a week — a feat that
established automakers can do in a day.
Asked to elaborate on the company’s latest moves, a Tesla spokesman
declined to comment.
The weeks of tension have taken a toll on Tesla shares. On Monday they rose
2.4 percent, closing at $290.92, but they are down 9 percent since Mr. Musk
said the company would be unprofitable in the first quarter.
The twists on the marketing front have coincided with renewed upheaval
surrounding Mr. Musk himself.
Less than a month ago, Tesla’s general counsel quit a day after Mr. Musk
said on Twitter that the company expected to sell 500,000 cars this year, an
increase of 100,000 from the estimate it made public in January.
The Securities and Exchange Commission contended that the tweet violated an
agreement it had reached with Tesla in September to settle a securities-
fraud case, and it asked a federal court to hold Mr. Musk in contempt. Under
the settlement, the company was to “put in place additional controls and
procedures” to oversee Mr. Musk’s communications.
In a response filed with the court on Monday, Mr. Musk’s lawyers argued
that there were no grounds for a contempt citation. They said that the Tesla
chief “correctly used his discretion” to determine that nothing in his
Twitter post was material and that “under no fair reading of the
materiality standard” did the post alter the information available to
investors.
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The response also said that a contempt citation “would raise serious First
Amendment issues” and that the S.E.C.’s request represented “
unprecedented overreach.”
Even with its financial and regulatory challenges, the company is moving
ahead on new initiatives.
On Thursday, Mr. Musk is scheduled to unveil the Model Y, a sport utility
vehicle that Tesla is counting on to fuel further growth. David Whiston, a
Morningstar analyst, said the big question for Tesla’s business prospects
was when the Model Y would be available for sale. “Thursday is just for
show,” he said.
And in a move meant to address its logistical challenges in delivering cars
to customers, Tesla said in a filing with the S.E.C. on Monday that it had
purchased trucks and car-hauling trailers from a California company in
exchange for stock worth $13.8 million. In November, Mr. Musk said on
Twitter that Tesla had bought “some trucking companies,” but provided no
details.
Mr. Musk has portrayed the Model 3 as a mass-market offering crucial to
Tesla’s future. In the last three months of 2018, Tesla opened 27 sales and
service locations to keep up with rising demand. Over all, the company had
more than 100 stores and showrooms in the United States, and others overseas.
In its announcement Sunday night, Tesla said it had already closed 10
percent of its locations. Those stores did not have “natural foot traffic,
” it said, though some will reopen with a smaller staff. The company said
an additional 20 percent were under review for potential closing in the
coming months.
The automaker also said the $35,000 version of the Model 3 would not be
affected by the price increases. They will apply to the higher-end Model X
and Model S — cars on which Tesla only recently had been dropping prices —
as well as for more expensive versions of the Model 3.
The company said customers would have a week to place orders at current
prices. |
