Tesla: Order freeze for Model S and X

Potential Tesla buyers will have to be very strong now. Especially those of you who have the wherewithal to secure one of the top-of-the-line Model S or Model X models will probably have to wait a bit longer. Thus, the e-car giant has publicly announced that they will currently only accept orders from customers in North America.

Production delay as cause

Like pretty much every other automaker, Tesla is currently suffering from a global semiconductor shortage. As a first response to slower rolling assembly lines, the e-car maker cut USB-C ports and induction trays in its Model 3 and Y center consoles. Now the company may have to take even more drastic measures. For example, orders for the top Model S and Model X models will now only be accepted if the buyer lives in North America. This means that it is no longer possible to order the premium vehicles from Germany, among other countries. A delay in production was already becoming apparent during the course of the year. After all, the problem of chip shortages is not a new one. But with the release of the Model S and Model X facelifts, Tesla nevertheless enabled its customers to place orders.

However, Tesla customers with an open order still have to be patient. Since CEO Elon Musk’s company still has to process a lot of open orders in the U.S., the first deliveries of the premium vehicles are not expected until the third quarter of 2022. Tesla, however, has not yet announced the reasons for the major delivery problems. Perhaps the company gambled too high and hoped for an earlier start-up of the Gigafactory in Grünheide? It would certainly have been possible to cope with Europe’s high demand a little better on site. The electromobility experts at Electrec were unable to name any causes or sources for the problem in their report. So we are left to speculate until Tesla comments on the matter.

Drastic price increase

In light of the order freeze, Tesla’s pricing policy can only be described as brazen. After all, the company has unceremoniously tightened the price screw and increased the starting price for the Model S from 101,990 euros to 116,990 euros. The same can be observed with the Model X. When the facelift was presented, the company was still talking about 95,990 euros for the version with maximum range. It now costs 110,990 euros. Tesla can’t do anything about the global semiconductor shortage, but the pricing is a bit reminiscent of the principle of artificial scarcity. The U.S. company will certainly soon make public the real reasons behind the order stop.