- even with its tax credits expiring at the end of the year, tesla adds another $500 to the price of the model 3.
- the change hits both the dual motor long range and standard range plus versions.
- if you've already ordered your model 3, you're protected from this increase.
just as there are no company-sanctioned model year designations for tesla electric vehicles, there's no standard msrp, either. tesla just likes to do things differently. that's why, without fanfare—and usually just by changing numbers on the order pages for its vehicles—the california automaker has a tendency to adjust the price of its evs. this time, it's the direction of the most recent change that's drawing attention.
we just got a tesla model 3 long range for a 40,000-mile test, and as we noted in the introduction to our long-term-test coverage, tesla is well known for deviating from various automotive norms. this has been a successful approach for the all-electric automaker, which has been able to sell more electric vehicles so far in the u.s. than any other company. so many, in fact, that tesla is going to be the first automaker to run out of federal income tax credits for its buyers.
each automaker is limited to 200,000 of the full-value credits, worth $7500, and once these are gone, tesla buyers became subject to a phase-out period that first reduced the value of the credit to $3750 and then $1875 and finally, at the end of this month, all the way to zero. so, with the tax credits going away, you might think tesla would reduce its prices to stay competitive with evs from other companies. instead, tesla has increased the price of its lowest-cost ev, the model 3, by $500. the increase affects both the model 3 dual motor long range (which is now $48,990) and standard range plus versions ($39,990). the price change only affects new orders for model 3 evs, which tesla currently estimates will be delivered in five to eight weeks.
first noted by electrek, this most recent model 3 price increase follows a lot of adjustments throughout 2019. in january, tesla cut the price of the model 3 (and its other vehicles) by $2000. in july, tesla dropped its lowest-priced models, effectively raising the price of the cheapest model s and model x models while also offering more range. also in july, the company changed the price for the full self driving option from $6000 to $7000.
if nothing else, what we've learned over the past year is that you can't count on a tesla price tag to remain constant for too long.