News
Tesla appears to be making gains after declaring a price war on rivals
Tesla’s price war against both electric vehicle makers and traditional automakers in the United States appears to be working. While it’s too early to tell which company will come out on top, there are signs Tesla is making some early gains.
In January, Tesla rolled out an aggressive price reduction strategy across its entire lineup. Even best-selling vehicles such as the Model Y Dual Motor AWD, which is already selling well to begin with, saw a price reduction of about 20% to $52,990. The price of the Model Y Dual Motor has climbed a bit since then, but its cost today is still far lower than in the previous quarter.
Tesla also lowered the prices of its Model S sedan and Model X SUV in mid-January, before lowering them again in early March. Presently, the basic Model S sells at $89,990, 14% less than its initial price at the start of the year. The entry-level Model X now costs $99,990, which is 17% lower than its previous cost.
Other automakers have followed suit. Ford also cut its prices recently, with the Mustang Mach-E seeing price reductions between 1% and 8.8%. Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar, noted in a comment to Insider that Tesla’s competition at this point lies far beyond just other EV makers. Tesla’s completion is other automakers that make combustion-powered cars.
“Tesla’s competition isn’t just other EV makers. It’s other carmakers. They’re cutting prices so that the Model 3 can eventually compete with other sedans, and the Model Y can compete with other SUVs,” Goldstein said.
During the Q4 and FY 2022 earnings call, Elon Musk noted that Tesla saw a rise in demand following its price cuts in January. Jessica Caldwell, the executive director of insights at the car-shopping website Edmunds, corroborated Musk’s statement. This trend was also hinted at in research from AllianceBernstein, which showed that the waiting times for new Model Y orders have climbed since January.
“We saw interest spike for the Model 3 and the Model Y after the price cuts, so it definitely did move the needle,” Caldwell said. She also noted that Tesla’s pricing strategy is advantageous to the electric vehicle maker since the company does not utilize a dealership model. As per Caldwell, it’s a “lot more complicated” for traditional carmakers to implement price cuts “because they are selling to their dealer who has final say in the price, whereas Tesla doesn’t operate like that.”
But Tesla is not done just yet. As per the company during its 2023 Investor Day event, a more affordable next-generation vehicle is in the works. And as per Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, the upcoming vehicle, informally dubbed “Model 2” today, could very well be Tesla’s “golden goose.” “The lower-priced future Model 2 is key to going after the masses, with the golden goose being a sub-$30,000 vehicle. It’s Tesla’s world with everyone else paying rent,” Ives said.
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Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
