Elon Musk cuts Tesla costs by scrapping sponsorship program



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Tesla and SpaceX President Elon Musk Participates in a "Fireside Chat" at the 2018 National League of Cities (NLC) Summit in Los Angeles, California on November 8, 2018. REUTERS / Kyle Grillot

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced the rapid conclusion of the Tesla sponsorship program, citing the excessive cost as an unsustainable expense that "adds too much" to the manufacturer's vehicle prices.

Scheduled for completion on March 11, the end date has now been moved to February 1. The leader of the electric vehicle industry is drawing a line on what some people consider to have become a bit of a fiasco, with the black-market trading of codes to offer unpublished cars to YouTube stars.

Writing to his Twitter account earlier today, Musk said:

The Tesla Customer Sponsorship Program will end on February 1 st. If you would like to sponsor a friend so that he buys a Tesla and you give him 6 months of free overeating, please do it before.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2019

Tesla's headaches

Earlier in January, CCN announced that Tesla had a good fourth quarter of 2018, with record production and delivery figures, allowing the company to make its first profit in two years. Despite net income of $ 311.5 million and free cash flow of $ 891 million, the company's share price dropped 9% after failing to meet investors' delivery targets and production.

It will be remembered that Tesla's Achilles' heel in recent years is its inability to ship as many cars as investors demand, due to a number of well-known production and supply chain issues. The enthusiasm for the launch of Model 3 – the first vehicle in the mid-size luxury sedan segment – was quickly tempered by the fact that most consumers who placed orders for the car would receive their vehicle for only several months later.

Tesla is quickly ending its popular referral program. Image: Shutterstock

In light of this, the sponsorship program has probably become an expensive and unnecessary luxury, especially as its growing popularity has made it a victim of its own success. Stories abound about the widespread abuse of the program, which has gone from a friendly attempt to get more people to buy Teslas, which some say is little more than a "big deal". a popularity contest.

Costly stunts like Ben Sullins, a YouTube star, with two free Roadsters – due out in 2020 – will probably not have helped the company, which is still trying to solve its production problems and reach its goal immediate to sell more Model 3 units.

Confirming this, Musk then tweeted in the same thread:

Yes, ending on February 1 st. This adds excessive cost to cars, especially model 3.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2019

Musk could also be attentive to the savings achieved through competition in the United States. A few days ago, CCN announced that Volkswagen had invested $ 800 million in an electric vehicle plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, becoming the third largest US automaker after Ford will make similar investments in the electric vehicle sector.

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