Tesla owners woke up to a surprise this morning — an email from the company telling them about new features available and announcing some new financial incentives if you take delivery of a new Model 3 or Model Y by December 31.
Get New Features, Plus $7,500 Toward Your Model 3 or Y
Dive into our newest features with our free Holiday Software Release.Game harder with wireless multiplayer gaming and access to tens of thousands of titles in the Steam game libraryLight up your neighborhood with a programmable Light Show that syncs with other Tesla vehiclesKeep an eye on your pup when you’re away with Dog Mode in the Tesla app
Take delivery of your Model 3 or Model Y before the new year and get $7,500 toward your purchase. Plus all new deliveries get 10,000 free Supercharging miles on us.
If you are a hardcore CleanTechnica reader (and if you’re not, why not — hardcore is all the rage in tech circles these days), you know that a window of opportunity will open on January 1, 2023. The US Department of the Treasury says it needs more time to complete writing the rules and regulations for the battery materials and components sourcing requirements mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Since the battery materials and components rules won’t be in place by then, Tesla and GM — whose eligibility for the former federal tax incentive program ran out in 2020 — will once again be eligible. The new law imposes no limits on how many electric cars any manufacturer can sell. It applies to all qualifying cars through 2032.
Clearly, Tesla doesn’t want customers putting off getting a new Model 3 or Model Y in order to take advantage of the new opportunity that begins January 1. It doesn’t want to sit on thousands of vehicles for a month as people delay their purchases. So Tesla is offering a $7500 reduction in the price of those two cars right now, provided customers take delivery by December 31.
Let’s review the tax credit eligibility rules. Until Treasury promulgates the battery materials and components rules, every electric car is eligible for the full $7500 federal tax rebate, provided:
The final assembly takes place in North America.
The sale price is less than $55,000 for sedans and wagons or less than $80,000 for SUVs and light trucks.
The buyer’s income is less than $150,000 for an individual or less than $300,000 for married couples.
After the Treasury rules are released, the credit will be split into two equal parts — $3750 if the battery materials meet sourcing guidelines and another $3750 if the battery components meet sourcing guidelines. Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, said recently she does not expect electric cars from her company to be eligible for the full tax credit for 2 to 3 years.
Some observers are suggesting Tesla has a demand issue and that’s why it is offering these end-of-the-year incentives. Who knows if that is true? Musk forbids people at his companies from saying anything publicly, as he apparently feels media relations are a waste of resources. Yet rumors are swirling that Tesla will begin laying off salaried employees after the first of the year in an effort to make the company a lean and mean manufacturing machine.
We won’t know the full story until the year-end financial report is presented in January. In the meantime, if you want to buy a Tesla at its lowest price in years, the time to act is now.
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