Tesla, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) price cuts have had a margin-eroding effect on the company without producing the desired effect of lifting volume. After stalling the cuts and modestly revising up EV prices recently, the company reportedly has discounted prices in several of the geographies it operates in.
GLJ Research’s Gordon Johnson, who is bearish on Tesla, on Thursday shared ion X, formerly Twitter, a screenshot showing Tesla offering EVs at discounts in many European Union countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway.
Taking a swipe at the company, Johnson said, “But who’s counting, am I right? There’s infinite demand for $TSLA’s cars, right.” He also tagged Tesla bulls Wedbush Daniel Ives, Morgan Stanley, and Future Fund’s Gary Black to the post.
And ALL new Model Y variants in inventory in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland & Norway (to name a few EU Countries) are seeing discounts; but who’s counting, am I right? There’s infinite demand for $TSLA‘s cars, right @DivesTech/@MorganStanley/@garyblack00? https://t.co/CHBKimtiAb pic.twitter.com/1DbUgsbD11
— Gordon Johnson (@GordonJohnson19) November 16, 2023
Tesla has also offered discounts on all new inventory Model 3 variants in the U.S.
Given the price reductions are continuing, Tesla’s margins could continue to remain under pressure. Black, however, shrugged off the discounting as a non-event. Replying to a post by a Tesla influencer on the discounts, the fund manager said inventory discounts are very different from configurator discounts.
He said the latter has a bearing on valuation, adding that inventory discounts go into analysts’ models only for that quarter. “Configurator discounts are incorporated into analyst models in perpetuity,” he said.
Tesla ended Wednesday’s session up 2.29% at $242.84, according to Zenger News Pro data.
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