Hollis Johnson/Business Insider- The reversal comes less than two weeks after announcing discounts on all of its cars and shifting to an online-only sales model.
- Tesla also backtracked on its move to close most of its stores, saying it will keep "significantly more" open.
Less than two weeks after discounting all three of its vehicles, Tesla announced Monday that prices will go up once again.
The $35,000 Model 3, announced on February 28, will remain the same price, Tesla said in a blog post. Prices on premium versions of the sedan, however, will go up alongside the Model S and X on March 18.
The vehicle price cuts were accompanies by the snap announcement that Tesla would close "many" of its retail stores as it shifts to an online sales model. The company said Monday that is no longer the case, and that it's "decided to keep significantly more stores open than previously announced.""As a result of keeping significantly more stores open, Tesla will need to raise vehicle prices by about 3% on average worldwide," Tesla said in the blog post. "In other words, we will only close about half as many stores, but the cost savings are therefore only about half."
Tesla maintains that "all sales worldwide will still be done online," but that a small number of stores is necessary for test drives and inventory storage.
The announcement last week that retail stores would close took much of Tesla's staff by surprise. Not knowing if their jobs were secure, morale among staff dropped drastically last week, with one employee even describing it like a morgue.
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