Tesla cars (Tesla)
Tesla will launch in the third quarter of 2023 the first facelift for the five-year-old Model 3, as an answer to the growing competition in the market, mainly from Chinese electric cars.
In China, Tesla already had to reduce prices by 9%, to deal with a drop in Model 3 sales, which was overtaken there in sales this year by BYD Han, which was recently launched in Israel as well.
In the past, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, said that the company will improve its cars regularly and continuously, and will not follow the accepted rules in the automobile industry, of a lifestyle limited to a model, usually between 6 and 8 years, and in the middle of performing a facelift. Tesla does often to launch new capabilities for its model, not just at the beginning of a model year as is customary, including improved batteries and extended range.
However, competition from abroad and at home, with more and more Tesla customers preferring the Model Y crossover over the sedan, resulted in the policy change.
The Reuters agency reports that the facelift will include cosmetic updates in the exterior design, and in the passenger cabin, mainly in the driver's area and the multimedia system.
Tesla is expected to focus efforts during the process also on reducing production costs, as a means of increasing the rate of profit on the model, and reducing its price to the consumer.
The saloon model Model S was the first of the company's models to undergo a significant facelift two years ago, which included a shift to a steering wheel that is more reminiscent of an airplane steering system, which may now also reach the Model 3, alongside the enlarged multimedia screen of the S, which will upgrade the display size by 3 from 15.4 inches to 17 inches.
The updated model will be produced at the same time in the Tesla factory in Shanghai, from where the Model 3 is now arriving in Israel, and in the American factory in California.
Tesla neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Model 3. Minor design changes (Photo: Keinan Cohen)
In Israel: Tesla lost the streetcar market lead
An increase in the local price from NIS 179,000 for the base model at the launch in February 2021 to NIS 225,000 now, was one of the reasons for the slowdown in Tesla sales in Israel this year.
However, supply problems, due to the prolonged corona closure in Shanghai caused this, and Tesla is trying to compensate for this with increased deliveries this month and next month.
From the beginning of 2022, Tesla Israel delivered about 4,600 new cars and lost first place in the electric market to the cheaper Geely, which has so far delivered about 6,000 Geotmeric C models. In third place, the Chinese BYD is rapidly closing the gap, which mainly sells the Auto 3 model (156.5-165 a thousand shekels), and about a month after the start of deliveries, she has already delivered almost 2,000 cars.
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