On Monday, Tesla (TSLA.O) raised prices in the $290 range in Canada, China, Japan and the United States, its website showed, after slashing the prices of its best-selling cars. since the beginning of the year.
The increase was Tesla’s first over its two best-selling models at the same time in multiple markets, though prices across its lineup are much lower than they were in January, after a round of discounts.
Chief Executive Elon Musk said last month that the company will prioritize sales growth before margins and look to profit later as it rolls out self-driving programs for a larger fleet of vehicles.
Since January, Tesla has shifted to a real-time pricing model that’s closer to airlines or ride-sharing than the traditional automaker’s flat pricing model.
Musk said the company is willing to sacrifice margin for sales volume, but is also looking to get prices back up, where possible, to match deliveries with production.
By Monday, Tesla’s website showed it had raised the starting price point by $250 on the base Model Y and Model 3 in the US.
And those sites showed that prices changed by about the same amount in its second-largest market in China, as well as in Canada and Japan.
It was the first time since January that Tesla raised the price of its cheapest car, the Model 3, in the US.
The entry-level, rear-wheel drive Model 3 is still about 14% cheaper in the US than it was at the start of the year. The long-running version of the Model Y remains about 24% cheaper in Tesla’s largest market.
In Canada, Tesla raised prices by C$300 ($222) for performance versions of its Model 3 and Model Y. In Japan, prices for the entry-level Model 3 increased 37,000 yen ($269).
The website showed that Tesla increased the price of the variants in China by 2,000 yuan ($289).
Tesla sparked a price war in the world’s largest market when it began cutting prices last year in China, where it along with other automakers faces growing competition from a group of domestic electric car brands led by BYD Co Ltd (002594.SZ).
($1 = 6.9110 CNY)
($1 = 137.5400 yen)
($1 = 0.9102 euros)
($1 = 1.3532 Canadian dollars)
Additional reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Edited by Rashmi Aish
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