Tesla only sells online

Elon Musk tweeted again - and this time it should be the staff his stores didn't like: The Tesla boss announced that the middle class model of the type M odel 3 only for sale online. This is indispensable in order to make the vehicles cheaper and thus keep them competitive. Finally, Musk mentioned in the same breath that there would now finally be the $ 35,000 entry-level model (currently around 30,770 euros) for the US market.

Some stores are becoming showrooms

It is not yet known when and how many stores are about to go out. The Tesla executives will decide over the next few weeks who can continue. To do this, they look at how many so-called walk-ins (i.e. visitors to the shop) there were, how many visitors then took a test drive and who then bought a car. Should the balance be positive, the location will remain - but only as a showroom with advisory staff that also enables test drives - the customer can only make purchases online. From Tesla it says that customers would be used to ordering things online anyway. At least in the USA, customers should have their Tesla delivered within a day of buying it online. If he returns it after a week and a mileage of no more than 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers), he will be reimbursed the full purchase price.

There are currently 22 Tesla stores in Germany - some were only opened in 2018 opened. When asked, their employees do not comment on the future of the business and bravely refer to the Tesla press office. Musk is hoping to cut costs by around six percent by closing the stores.

The Model 3 has been shipping in Germany since mid-February 2019

One with 3,000 Tesla Model 3 loaded freighter is in early February 2019 from the USA arrived at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. The coveted electric cars are currently being driven by articulated lorries to dealers throughout Europe and then handed over to customers. In Germany, delivery has been running since February 14, 2019. Tesla does not disclose how many Model 3s were delivered in Germany alone.

If you reserved your Model 3 early,sometimes had to wait three years for his car. That should now be over in one fell swoop: Every week, thousands of Model 3 ships arrive in Zeebrugge. Those who have reserved are given priority. But if the configuration fits, customers who have ordered at short notice will also receive their Model 3 almost immediately. A customer from Hamburg who ordered his Model 3 in January 2019 was able to receive it yesterday. So the long wait seems to be over for the time being.

Second price cut in 2019 in the USA

Tesla is reducing the US prices for the Model 3 for the second time in 2019. With this, the group is trying to cushion the dwindling state electric car purchase subsidies. From January to June 2019, the grants are halved to 3,750 dollars (currently the equivalent of around 3,304 euros), in July they fall to 1,875 dollars (1,652 euros). The Model 3 price reduction of 1,100 dollars (969 euros) became possible, according to Tesla boss Elon Musk, because the recommendation program expired on February 1, 2019. As part of this program, customers were able to recruit other customers as Tesla buyers and, depending on their success, received rewards up to Tesla models. According to Musk, this program was much more expensive than expected for Tesla.

The cheapest Tesla Model 3 is now available on the manufacturer's US website for $ 34,850 (30,703 euros). However, Tesla has already priced in $ 3,750 in “potential incentives” and $ 4,300 in fuel cost savings for the next six years. Without the prints, the price is $ 42,900. For the performance variant, the American company would like to have 60,900 dollars (53,654 euros) without deductions. As before, Tesla promises on its website, in 'four to six months' to bring the basic model announced for years for 35,000 dollars (30,836 euros) without subsidies on the market. When asked about it by a Twitter user, Musk complained that the manufacturer would try everything, but that it was a difficult goal to achieve.

Buy autopilot and not get it for now

European customers currently buy the 5,200 euro “Autopilot” assistance system, but according to a report by Los Angeles Times the system remains deactivated due to a lack of approval from the Dutch authorities. Opposite the technology magazine The Verge informed Tesla, however, that they plan to activate the system from next week. Tesla has received an autopilot operating license for the large Model S sedan and the Model X SUV. The system misleadingly called 'Autopilot' is aAssistant package that enables autonomous driving according to level two - fully autonomous driving would be level 5. At level two, permanent monitoring by the driver is necessary, who has to keep his hands on the steering wheel. If he takes his hands away for too long, various warnings appear. These warnings can be deactivated in Tesla models with the so-called autopilot buddy. That is why the US road safety authority NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) banned the autopilot buddy in June 2018.

Model X and Model S are massively more expensive

As always came the message from Tesla boss Elon Musk on Twitter: The entry-level variants of the SUV Model X and the large sedan Model S will be omitted on Monday January 14, 2019. These are the models with a 75-kilowatt-hour battery. Tesla will take orders for the two models until Sunday night. Tesla does not explain why the entry-level versions are omitted.

No e-car bonus

From Monday, only the models with the large 100 kilowatt-hour battery can be ordered. This goes hand in hand with a massive increase in costs for customers: The Model S with a small battery was available for 69,019 euros, the version with a large battery costs 108,420 euros - a price difference of 39,401 euros. The price difference for the Model X is not quite as drastic, but still high: If the entry-level model was available for 97,400 euros, the customer now has to shell out 115,000 euros - 17,600 euros more than before. The German electric car premium is only available for vehicles with a new price of up to 60,000 euros and therefore does not apply to entry-level versions of Model X and S.

Smallest variants are often omitted

The elimination of model variants A smaller battery could become a tradition at Tesla: The Model X version with a 60-kilowatt-hour battery disappeared from the market in 2016, while the new entry-level model was the now discontinued Model X with a 75-kilowatt-hour battery. However, the price jumps will be considerably greater - at that time the difference between the models was 12,000 euros.

Construction of the Gigafactory in Shanghai started

Currently there is only mud, mud and a few stacks of boards, end of the year, the first Tesla Model 3 should roll off the production line here: CEO Elon Musk made a personal trip to the start of construction on the largest Tesla factory outside the USA. The buildings near Shanghai should be in place by summer. Both the cars and their batteries are built in the factory. Musk announced, as usual on Twitter, that mass production will start in 2020 - a maximum annual output of half a million vehicles should be possible. Tesla is already active in Shanghai: The Americans run a center for research and development there.

Inexpensive variants for China

While the SUV Model X and the large sedan Model S are also available for theIf the Chinese market continues to roll off the production line in Fremont, California, the more compact Model 3 and the Crossover Model Y planned for 2020 will also be produced in China - in lower-priced versions for the Chinese market.

According to Tesla, the construction will cost of the Chinese plant two billion dollars (currently the equivalent of around 1.74 billion euros). Tesla is the sole owner of the production facility - this has been allowed for foreign electric car manufacturers since 2018. Until now, foreign car manufacturers always had to bring a Chinese partner on board with a stake of at least 50 percent. This constraint will also fall for commercial vehicle manufacturers by 2020 and for all car manufacturers by 2022.

Record production for Tesla in 2018

In the last months of 2018, Tesla produced 61,394 units of the Model 3 which means an increase of 15 percent compared to the third quarter. Tesla summarizes the production of the large sedan Model S and the SUV Model X: 25,161 of these car models rolled off the assembly line in the fourth quarter.

Tesla delivered 90,700 electric cars in the fourth quarter of 2018. 63,150 of them were the Model 3, which means an increase of 13 percent compared to the previous quarter. Of the Model X, 14,050 copies were sold to customers, the Model represented the smallest share of the sales pie with 13,500 vehicles. According to Tesla, 1,010 Model 3 and 1,897 Model X /S are on their way to the customer.

Vigorous production growth

Tesla produced a total of 245,240 cars in 2018, of which 145,846 were Model 3 and 99,394 Model S /X. Tesla itself comments on this by stating that almost as many vehicles were delivered in 2018 alone as in all previous years combined.

Tesla emphasizes that more than three quarters of Model 3 orders in the fourth quarter of 2018 from New customers came. From February 2019, the Model 3 will also be available in Europe and China - Tesla boss Elon Musk now seems to have the agonizing production problems under control. cheap is itself the basic version of the Model 3 does not: In Germany prices start at 57,900 euros.

The new Audi boss Bram Schot expressed self-criticism in an interview given the success of Tesla: Man was complacent - Tesla would have shown that the auto business is different. You have to be quick and consistent when it comes to improvements.

Tesla sells more than Audi in the USA, which means almost nothing

Despite the relatively high prices of at least 49,000 dollars (around 43,195 euros) the Tesla Model 3 still sells like sliced ​​bread, there is stilllong waiting times and the compact electric car is still not available in Europe. After a lot of effort, Tesla has succeeded in increasing Model 3 production to over 5,000 copies per week - this also benefits sales. In August 2018, Tesla sold 23,175 cars on the US market for the first time, more than Audi (20,907), according to the Carsalesbase website. Tesla is ahead of Audi in September and October too. October was not a good month for both brands: At Tesla, sales slumped so sharply compared to the previous month that, according to Carsalesbase, it threw the electric car maker behind its competitors in terms of growth. A nine-year growth curve for Audi came to an end in October. In 2018 (including October), however, Audi was still well ahead of Tesla (134,862) with a total of 183,476 cars sold.

Even if Tesla's overtaking Audi is a nice headline in terms of sales in the US market , the US market shares of both manufacturers give an indication of the relevance of these numbers. In 2017, Audi's market share was 1.3 percent, Tesla was there with 0.29 percent. Right at the front are brands like GM, Ford and Toyota, all of which have a market share of over 14 percent each. In October alone, Ford sold 184,108 vehicles on the US market, more than Audi and Tesla in the whole of 2018. Only the F-series was sold by Ford in October; the manufacturer sold all models from January to October 2018 with 1,987,481 vehicles included.

Audi

Tesla has overtaken Audi in terms of sales figures in the USA since August 2018 - however, compared to GM, Ford and Toyota, both manufacturers sell at an extremely low level there. Tesla's Model X will soon attack Audi with the likewise all-electric e-tron (picture).

Other manufacturers much stronger

According to the US vehicle valuation and automotive research company Kelley Blue Book, three models increased in US sales in the first six months of this year: the JeepCherokee with 39.8 percent, the Toyota Tacoma with 22.9 percent and the Jeep Wrangler with 34.9 percent. The top ten models with the highest growth only include vehicles from GM (Chevrolet), Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Chrysler (Jeep, Ram) and Honda.

The Tesla has seen more cars since August 2018 While being sold in the US market as Audi is an indication of the growth of the Americans, this battle is currently taking place at the lower end of the sales statistics. It is difficult to predict whether Tesla will quickly succeed in reaching the top third of sales - the way is still very long.

Telstra

Takes over the chief position on the Tesla board of directors from Elon Musk: Australian Robyn Denholm.