Recently, electric vehicle leader Tesla has reached a partnership with ride hailing service company Uber. Starting from Tuesday (December 12), Tesla will directly offer discounts to Uber drivers who purchase cars. The maximum discount amount for each electric vehicle can reach $3000 (approximately 21000 RMB).
The Uber "Automotive Market" page shows that in addition to the $7500 federal tax credit, drivers who purchase a brand new Tesla Model 3 or Model Y within December 2023 can receive the highest purchase discount, which is linked to the driver's level.
Source: Uber official website page
It is understood that Uber drivers have four levels of membership, namely Blue Card, Gold Card, Platinum Card, and Diamond Card. After completing the delivery of Tesla vehicles this month, blue and gold card drivers need to complete 100 trips before February 15, 2024 to receive a reward of $1000.
The same is true for drivers of other levels, however, platinum card drivers ultimately receive a reward of $2000, while diamond card drivers receive the highest reward of $3000.
Analysis suggests that for Tesla, this move is expected to enhance the competitiveness of the Model 3 and Model Y in Uber's "automotive market", thereby driving year-end car deliveries to break through its previously set annual sales target of 1.8 million vehicles.
The US electric vehicle market is experiencing a chill
Looking at the whole year, 2023 is not a particularly friendly year for electric vehicles. Although overall consumer demand is still growing, the growth rate is significantly slower than expected, and production costs continue to be high, resulting in the industry not being able to easily profit as previously estimated by executives.
This sign is particularly evident in the United States, where the Federal Reserve's high interest rates have dampened the desire to purchase electric vehicles, and the lack of charging infrastructure has left potential buyers with mileage anxiety in a wait-and-see state.
According to Edmunds data, it took retailers over two months to sell an electric car in September, while gasoline cars only took about a month and hybrid cars only took three weeks.
Previously, the CEO of Hertz, a US car rental company that is one of Uber's partners, stated in a conference call that the high maintenance costs of electric vehicles have dragged down the profitability of the business, and the company's pace of increasing its fleet will be slower than previously expected.
In order to stay below the market headwind, Tesla has significantly lowered the prices of all its products this year, with some models lowering their starting prices by nearly one-third. This also drew criticism from Wall Street experts and professionals: Musk launched an electric vehicle price war that Tesla could not win.