Tesla Motors customers in the United Kingdom may find their Christmas cash goes a little further than expected after the car maker postponed a price increase by two weeks.
The US electric-car manufacturer’s plans to raise prices 5 per cent in the UK have been put off until January 15 from the original beginning-of-the-year deadline, Tesla said on Monday. Vehicles ordered by then and built by mid-April will continue to have free access to the company’s Supercharger battery network that is otherwise subject to new fees, it said.
“Due to exceptionally high demand at the end of the year, we’ve extended the order date by two weeks for customers who were unable to finalise their purchase” by December 31, Tesla said.
Tesla is increasing prices in Britain in response to the pound’s plunge since the country’s referendum in June to leave the European Union. The California-based manufacturer only gave customers a week’s notice of the shift. The Model S, Tesla’s most popular vehicle, currently costs £58,900 (Dh266,044), according to its website, which says drivers save about £6,500 on petrol and taxes over a five-year period.
UK consumers have been hit by price increases from a number of companies since June’s vote. Apple raised the price of some of its laptops by as much as 20 per cent, while the supermarket operator Tesco pulled items from its shelves in October due to a Brexit-inspired price dispute with supplier Unilever.
* Bloomberg
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