The electric vehicle market has slowed down recently, and Ford is targeting the major EV maker, offering a special discount to lure Tesla owners.
A new Ford incentive called “Tesla Competitive Conquest Bonus Cash” offers existing Tesla owners an additional $1,500 off the price of a new Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup. Ford Authority reported Thursday.
A Ford source confirmed the discount Yahoo Financewhich added that it also applies to the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV and will last until July 8 for both the 2024 and 2023 model years. Tesla owners also don’t have to trade in their electric vehicles to claim the money , but they only need to demonstrate ownership, the report says.
Ford said BusinessInsider the “Conquest” bonus launched on April 3rd. A Tesla representative did not immediately respond Of luck request for comment.
Ford’s discount for Tesla owners comes as the Michigan automaker recently cut the price on certain trims of the F-150 Lightning, which has a starting price of just under $50,000. Meanwhile, the Mustang Mach-E starts at just under $40,000.
To be sure, Ford hasn’t just targeted Tesla owners with its discounts. Ford Authority previously reported that it also targeted Chevy and Dodge owners, as well as Jeep owners.
But the latest moves add further pricing pressure on the electric vehicle market, which has already seen Tesla unleash a wave of previous cutbacks as consumer demand for electric vehicles generally declines in favor of hybrid models. Rivals such as China’s BYD have responded with cuts of their own.
Amid demand problems and growing competition, Tesla shares have fallen more than 30% since the beginning of the year, raising alarm bells on Wall Street, even among once-loyal supporters.
Wedbush Securities technology analyst Dan Ives, who has been a Tesla bull since he began covering the company in 2018, warned in a research note on Thursday that Elon Musk and the company are going through a “storm of demand for category 5” in the electric vehicle market.
He said Tesla is currently stuck between “two waves of growth”: the first driven by rising sales of high-end electric vehicles, and the second, which is expected to come from mass-market electric vehicles and robo-taxis. But despite this narrative, “patience is starting to run low among investors,” Ives said.
This comes later Reuters reported last week that Tesla had abandoned plans to build a mass-market, sub-$30,000 electric vehicle called the Model 2. Musk responded to the report in a send on X, simply saying that “Reuters is lying (again)”, without clarifying.
Separately, analysts at Bank of America said in a research note on Wednesday that demand problems and rising inventories mean Tesla may be forced to once again cut prices for its electric vehicle models for less that it is unable to tap into a new market, which could lead to “an increase in profits”. pressure.”
“The introduction of a low-price model (Model 2) remains distant (2026). This leaves prices as the main lever to stimulate demand (which we note has not worked very well so far),” they wrote.