[Tesla on road during sunset. Credit to Unsplash]

Tesla has decided to cut its prices again in major markets, following declining sales and increasing competition.

The decision followed after a sharp fall in its global vehicle deliveries this year.

The electronic vehicles company faced several challenges such as a fire at its European factory, as well as confronting global shipping disruptions.

This contributed to the EV company delivering fewer than 387,000 cars to customers, the smallest quarterly figure since 2022.

This was far fewer than analysts expected, leading to their shares dropping more than 4%.

The company’s production in the first quarter of 2024 fell about 1.6%, from 439,701 cars in 2023 to 433,371.

However, this was not the first price cut that Tesla went through, as the company started making price cuts back in early 2023 to maintain demand after an increase in competition.

The most recent round of cuts were applied to China, Germany, and the United States.

The United States market was the first to take the cut, as the prices for Model X, Y, and S vehicles decreased by $2,000.

Price reductions followed in Germany and China.

In Germany, Tesla’s biggest market in Europe, their Model 3 saw a cut of $2,132.

In China, the company’s biggest overseas market, Tesla cut the starting prices of four of their EV car models by $1,932.

The Model Y, which was the company’s most profitable car in China, reached its lowest ever price at $34,502.

However, these series of cuts were not the first measures Tesla took against their falling stock in the EV market.

In early April, Tesla made the decision to lay off more than 10% of its global electric vehicle workforce.

On this matter, Elon Musk stated, “We have done a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally."

Tesla has been dealing with the impact of slowing demand for their vehicles as new competition entered the market, compared to a few years ago when they dominated the EV market.

They have also been slow to develop new models and improve on their past models.

High prices have refrained customers from choosing expensive and aging Tesla models, instead encouraging them to turn to more recent cars from other companies.

The company has also faced several internal problems.

Their new driverless car software has come under scrutiny, with safety officials criticizing the software, calling it unsafe.

While it has no doubt brought a new aspect to the car industry, it has only piled more pressure on Tesla.

Furthermore, Elon Musk has also come under scrutiny.

There have been concerns from investors that the recent line of Tesla products has become stale, and Musk’s focus is not on the company.

Musk has repeatedly made controversial statements and posts on his social media platform X, which has also affected Tesla’s stock.

The Tesla stock seems unlikely to rise anytime soon, with the company facing issues on multiple fronts.