Tesla cuts prices by $2,000 in US, Model Y back to its lowest price ever
Tesla has dropped the price of the Model Y, Model S and Model X by $2,000 each in the US. Model 3 prices remain the same, as do prices of the newly-released Cybertruck.
Tesla has had quite the week, between firing 10% of its workforce and losing two key executives, filing to get CEO Elon Musk’s voided $55 billion pay package reinstated, and putting its upcoming $25k car on hold.
All this news comes after disappointing quarterly delivery results, with inventory rising to high levels.
Perhaps in anticipation of these poor delivery results, last quarter, Tesla put a “temporary” discount on the Model Y its most popular vehicle (and the world’s best-selling vehicle), lowering prices by $1,000 for just a few weeks. After that discount lapsed, it warned buyers ahead of time that prices would increase again by $1,000 at the end of the quarter.
Those prices did indeed increase on April 1 – but now, less than three weeks later, the price is back down again.
As of today, Tesla has dropped prices on all trims of its Model Y, along with the Model S and Model X as well.
The Model Y RWD now starts at $42,990, down from $44,990. Model Y Long Range is $47,990, when it was previously $49,990. Model Y Performance is now $51,490, previously $53,490.
This is equivalent to the price of the Model Y during Tesla’s temporary discount in February, which only lasted a couple weeks.
Tesla’s more expensive Model S and X vehicles are now cheaper as well. While $2,000 isn’t as big a chunk of either of their prices, they’ve got the same discount as the Model Y did, with $2k taken off of each trim.
The Model S Long Range now starts at $72,990 and Model S Plaid at $87,990, with the Model X Long Range starting at $77,990 and Model X Plaid at $92,990.
This also happens to be the lowest price for the Model X ever, which also qualifies for the federal tax credit and thus could cost as little as $70,490 upfront (assuming you’re under the income cap, which many buyers of that vehicle won’t be).
Tesla has not referred to this as a “temporary” discount, unlike it did with Model Y’s last discount. This seems to just be a standard random Tesla price cut, as we’ve seen quite often, especially in the last couple years.
The Model 3, which recently received a big refresh and is about to receive an updated “ludicrous” performance spec, still has the same purchase price as yesterday. However, as of two days ago, Tesla is now offering a $299/mo lease on the Model 3, whereas previously it had charged $329/mo.
Cheapest US Model Y ever?
At $42,990 base price, the Model Y is now a “$35k car” after taking into account federal EV incentives, which are now available upfront at point-of-sale.
This $35,490 post-incentive price is tied for the cheapest price for the Tesla Model Y in the US yet, though the previous time Model Ys were this cheap was considered a “temporary discount” by Tesla. It beats the previous “permanent” low price of $36,490.
Early on, Tesla had offered a Standard Range Model Y as low as $39,990, but at the time it did not qualify for the tax credit as Tesla’s credits under the previous law had run out. Plus, it only appeared on the site for orders for a couple weeks, showing up in early January 2021, then getting a price cut in February before being removed from the configurator a week later. It was supposedly still available “off menu” as a custom order for a while.
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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