Kia is offering a crazy incentive to steal Tesla drivers, and Elon Musk has words for it.
Kia is offering $1,000 off an EV6 or $1,500 off an EV9, but the deal is exclusive to Tesla owners or leasees. It’s an effort to take Teslas off the road in favor of Kia’s EVs, which have garnered good reviews from their owners.
Incentive programs have been lingering for the past few years, catered specifically to bring Tesla drivers in and give up their cars for another brand. BMW launched a similar program several years ago:
BMW launches $1,000 incentive to attract Tesla, other EV drivers
Lucid also reportedly hung around Supercharger sites, giving test drives to Tesla owners in an effort for them to switch.
Kia’s program, first reported by CarsDirect, is an interesting strategy, considering EV car buyers already receive sizeable rebates and incentives through government programs.
However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk found that the incentive program was rather humorous, especially considering the fact that the incentivizing only goes one way:
But here’s the rub, Tesla never has to bribe Kia drivers to buy a Tesla … https://t.co/I9LfJKAJRa
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 10, 2024
For comparison’s sake, Tesla is a far more chosen brand than Kia in terms of EVs, but it is important to note that Kia has not been involved in the EV sector as long, nor does it offer as many cars as Tesla does.
In 2023, Kia sold nearly 155,000 EVs for the full year, while Tesla achieved 1.81 million units.
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