Tesla recently started slashing prices across its entire lineup, with some coming down as much as much as 20 percent. It was an unexpected move, after the Silicon Valley-based EV maker reached record sales for 2022, beating out even BMW in the U.S. Afterward, Ford gave its Mustang Mach-E a heavy discount as well, likely to keep up with its main competitor, the Tesla Model Y. However, BMW will be making no such cuts.
The Verge spoke with BMW, who said that there won’t be any EV discounts. “From the BMW brand side, I can tell you that there are no plans to reduce pricing for our electric vehicles,” the BMW representative said.
BMW isn’t the only brand who will be sticking with its current pricing. Mercedes, GM, and Hyundai all said the same thing. The reason for why lies in what the Mercedes rep told The Verge. “We have no plans to revise our current pricing strategy, which reflects the premium and comprehensive customer experience expected from Mercedes-Benz,” A Mercedes rep said.
That’s most likely the reason why BMW and Mercedes won’t be slashing prices—it makes them look like discount brands and not premium ones. Other brands like GM and Volkswagen publicly made similar statements.
Unlike legacy brands, especially premium brands, Tesla is sort of immune to brand criticism from its loyal customers. Slashing prices doesn’t seem discount to them, it just seems like some sort of Elon Musk genius 4D chess maneuver. However, that isn’t the case with all Tesla customers, as Automotive News recently reported. In that report, many Tesla customers were upset by the brand’s sudden portfolio-wide discounts, as they came immediately after many customers paid full price for their cars. Typically, traditional brands advertise their sales ahead of time, to prevent such things.
However, that won’t be happening with legacy EVs anytime soon, as most brands are going to stick with their current pricing. BMW currently has three electric models on sale in North America and their pricing will remain as follows:
- BMW i4: i4 eDrive35—$52,995, / i4 eDrive40—$58,095 / i4 M50—$69,695
- BMW iX: iX xDrive50—$85,095 / iX M60—$109,895
- BMW i7: i7 xDrive60—$120,295
[Source: The Verge]
