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Tesla loses another fleet customer due to price cuts and value fluctuation

Credit: @Gf4Tesla/Twitter

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Tesla is losing yet another fleet customer due to price cuts and value fluctuation, as SAP said today that the changes are too much of a risk due to wiping out resale values.

Tesla has lost some of its large fleets, including Hertz, which announced it would be eliminating a large number of EVs from its rental inventory and selling them off, and SIXT, a German rental company.

Credit: Hertz

SIXT is getting rid of Tesla altogether, trading them in for Stellantis EVs, it announced in January.

Now, the SAP, which has 29,000 vehicles in its fleet, appears to be doing the same, according to a report from Handelsblatt, a German media outlet. SAP said that Tesla’s price fluctuations are becoming a risk to the value of the fleet while noting that the company’s need to change prices to remain competitive and help with demand is understandable.

SAP said it would remove Tesla from its list of company car suppliers.

Steffen Krautwasser, the Fleet Manager at SAP, explained the choice to Handelsblatt:

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“The list prices fluctuate more at Tesla than at other manufacturers, which makes planning more difficult and poses a higher risk for us. From Tesla’s perspective, this is understandable, but it causes problems for us.”

Varying Decisions

Hertz’s main concern with EVs in its most recent Earnings Report indicated that demand for EVs was lower than expected. It was also struggling with higher-than-expected repair costs, which cut into its adjusted corporate EBITDA.

Hertz said:

“It is expected that the planned reduction in the EV fleet and reinvestment in additional ICE vehicles will improve Adjusted Corporate EBITDA across 2024, as vehicles are rotated, and in 2025, by which time all of the vehicles included in this plan are expected to be sold.”

Meanwhile, SIXT’s reasoning was similar to that of SAP. Price cuts across Tesla’s lineup hurt the resale value of the fleet altogether. SIXT is still investing in EV rentals, but it is avoiding Tesla specifically due to the uncertainty with pricing across its vehicle lineup.

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Tesla Price Adjustments

Tesla’s price adjustment were frequent in early 2023, but they have slowed down considerably since. Although the most recent price adjustment took effect this morning on the Model 3, this is the first in the U.S. in some time.

However, Tesla did adjust the prices of the Model Y in Germany and Sweden in mid-January. In Germany, all the prices were reduced, which is great for consumers, but tough for companies that have bought a large number of units.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla Europe rolls out FSD ride-alongs in the Netherlands’ holiday campaign

The festive event series comes amid Tesla’s ongoing push for regulatory approval of FSD across Europe.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Europe has announced that its “Future Holidays” campaign will feature Full Self-Driving (Supervised) ride-along experiences in the Netherlands. 

The festive event series comes amid Tesla’s ongoing push for regulatory approval of FSD across Europe.

The Holiday program was announced by Tesla Europe & Middle East in a post on X. “Come get in the spirit with us. Featuring Caraoke, FSD Supervised ride-along experiences, holiday light shows with our S3XY lineup & more,” the company wrote in its post on X.

Per the program’s official website, fun activities will include Caraoke sessions and light shows with the S3XY vehicle lineup. It appears that Optimus will also be making an appearance at the events. Tesla even noted that the humanoid robot will be in “full party spirit,” so things might indeed be quite fun. 

“This season, we’re introducing you to the fun of the future. Register for our holiday events to meet our robots, see if you can spot the Bot to win prizes, and check out our selection of exclusive merchandise and limited-edition gifts. Discover Tesla activities near you and discover what makes the future so festive,” Tesla wrote on its official website. 

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This announcement aligns with Tesla’s accelerating FSD efforts in Europe, where supervised ride-alongs could help demonstrate the tech to regulators and customers. The Netherlands, with its urban traffic and progressive EV policies, could serve as an ideal and valuable testing ground for FSD.

Tesla is currently hard at work pushing for the rollout of FSD to several European countries. Tesla has received approval to operate 19 FSD test vehicles on Spain’s roads, though this number could increase as the program develops. As per the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT), Tesla would be able to operate its FSD fleet on any national route across Spain. Recent job openings also hint at Tesla starting FSD tests in Austria. Apart from this, the company is also holding FSD demonstrations in Germany, France, and Italy.

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Tesla sees sharp November rebound in China as Model Y demand surges

New data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows a 9.95% year-on-year increase and a 40.98% jump month-over-month.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla’s sales momentum in China strengthened in November, with wholesale volumes rising to 86,700 units, reversing a slowdown seen in October. 

New data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows a 9.95% year-on-year increase and a 40.98% jump month-over-month. This was partly driven by tightened delivery windows, targeted marketing, and buyers moving to secure vehicles before changes to national purchase tax incentives take effect.

Tesla’s November rebound coincided with a noticeable spike in Model Y interest across China. Delivery wait times extended multiple times over the month, jumping from an initial 2–5 weeks to estimated handovers in January and February 2026 for most five-seat variants. Only the six-seat Model Y L kept its 4–8 week estimated delivery timeframe.

The company amplified these delivery updates across its Chinese social media channels, urging buyers to lock in orders early to secure 2025 delivery slots and preserve eligibility for current purchase tax incentives, as noted in a CNEV Post report. Tesla also highlighted that new inventory-built Model Y units were available for customers seeking guaranteed handovers before December 31.

This combination of urgency marketing and genuine supply-demand pressure seemed to have helped boost November’s volumes, stabilizing what had been a year marked by several months of year-over-year declines.

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For the January–November period, Tesla China recorded 754,561 wholesale units, an 8.30% decline compared to the same period last year. The company’s Shanghai Gigafactory continues to operate as both a domestic production base and a major global export hub, building the Model 3 and Model Y for markets across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, among other territories.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla bear gets blunt with beliefs over company valuation

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla bear Michael Burry got blunt with his beliefs over the company’s valuation, which he called “ridiculously overvalued” in a newsletter to subscribers this past weekend.

“Tesla’s market capitalization is ridiculously overvalued today and has been for a good long time,” Burry, who was the inspiration for the movie The Big Shortand was portrayed by Christian Bale.

Burry went on to say, “As an aside, the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots — until competition shows up.”

Tesla bear Michael Burry ditches bet against $TSLA, says ‘media inflated’ the situation

For a long time, Burry has been skeptical of Tesla, its stock, and its CEO, Elon Musk, even placing a $530 million bet against shares several years ago. Eventually, Burry’s short position extended to other supporters of the company, including ARK Invest.

Tesla has long drawn skepticism from investors and more traditional analysts, who believe its valuation is overblown. However, the company is not traded as a traditional stock, something that other Wall Street firms have recognized.

While many believe the company has some serious pull as an automaker, an identity that helped it reach the valuation it has, Tesla has more than transformed into a robotics, AI, and self-driving play, pulling itself into the realm of some of the most recognizable stocks in tech.

Burry’s Scion Asset Management has put its money where its mouth is against Tesla stock on several occasions, but the firm has not yielded positive results, as shares have increased in value since 2020 by over 115 percent. The firm closed in May.

In 2020, it launched its short position, but by October 2021, it had ditched that position.

Tesla has had a tumultuous year on Wall Street, dipping significantly to around the $220 mark at one point. However, it rebounded significantly in September, climbing back up to the $400 region, as it currently trades at around $430.

It closed at $430.14 on Monday.

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