Hey everybody Rob Mauer here, happy Friday, the whirlwind of news that we got yesterday continued into the evening after the Model 3 Highland updates. We had pretty massive price decreases on the Model S and the Model X. Tesla's also got the price on FSD, so we'll talk about that. We also have of course another day of reaction to the Model 3 Highland and a couple of updates on that as well.
So with the news of the price cuts today, Tesla finishing down 5%, so obviously tough to get engaged for how much of that's impacted by Highland, how much of that is impacted by the S and the X price cuts, but nevertheless Tesla down 5% the NASDAQ barely finishing in the red today, but basically flats on the day today.
So we're going to jump right into these price cuts, very significant. So SNX decreased on the base price versions by 15 to 19% in total. The very short lived standard range software limited vehicles that Tesla introduced two weeks ago are now gone forever. A very short lived product for Tesla, which not surprising even when those released since we kind of figured out at that time that they were software limited. We talked even in that episode about how this was probably a test of some sort for Tesla. I think I had mentioned that maybe that was them trying to see if it was justifiable to then release or produce a version like that that was not software limited, but rather actually had a smaller battery. So I'm not surprised to see a quick reaction after Tesla's sort of had that two week trial period now. I am a little bit surprised to see the prices cut this far, although we talked about the Model X kind of eventually moving in this direction because of the tax credit.
So let's look at these prices on the Model S. I guess we'll start with X since we're on this page here. The dual motor all wheel drive opening price point version now starts at $79,990 and the S $5,000 cheaper than that at $74,990. The Model X plaid, $89,990. So by far the cheapest that the plaid has ever been. So we'll focus on the X and then I do want to look at our of course handy dandy price change table. But first on the X and I know I'm covering it a little bit here. See if I can like zoom in and get that into a visible range. There we go. The Model X.
So of course now eligible for the $7,500 US federal tax credit because for SUVs, the price cap on that is $80,000 as the MSRP. So moving it to this price does move it into that eligible bucket, which is great. That should really, really help. In addition to the price cut here, keep the price much more affordable for buyers that are eligible. Of course there are income restrictions. So especially for the type of vehicle that the S and the X, you know, the price bands that those occupy, not all buyers are going to qualify for that from an income perspective. But some are and that's going to help those buyers make this, you know, a much more affordable vehicle competitive with, you know, what they might be cross shopping with other vehicles or even with something like the Model Y.
So obviously a huge move for the Model X. While we're talking about the federal tax credit, Tesla, like they did say for the Model 3 also says on the Model X page here that reductions are likely after December 31. So we've talked a bit about this right now. It seems like Tesla might be relying on sort of a fleet level perspective on either battery materials or, you know, whichever the other criteria is, I forget at this point, but for the two battery criteria that are required to be met, Tesla might be relying sort of on fleet level data right now. And some of that may change a little bit with Tesla's product lineup changes.
So for the Model 3 and the Model X, it looks like this may be at least a little bit in doubt as those restrictions become a little bit more significant heading into next year. Now Tesla might figure out a way around this, but at least for now they are saying reductions likely after December 31. So I'm going to keep an eye on and obviously creates a bit of urgency there on the X. Now for the S, we talked about that the prices.
So same thing with the plaid that's $90,000 as well or $89,990. So we'll just look at our price change table here. I know it's a little bit small, but hopefully that's at least a little legible for you guys. So no changes on the three in the Y, which I think, of course, you know, internationally there are changes on the Model 3 and those prices have been increased. So we need to consider that when we're talking about margins, especially because presumably costs to produce the Model 3 has gone down.
I would expect over time the Model 3 will, you know, continue to decline from where it's starting out now just initially after the refresh, but we should see margin improvements once production is ramped up on the Model 3. So that's important, Model Y not decreased here, although obviously Tesla is now selling more through inventory, so it's a little bit tougher to track these things. But for the S and the X, as we said, these are now 15 to 19% cheaper on the base versions.
And then I think both plads are 18% cheaper, if I remember that math correctly. So one piece of context that this price chart brings us is where these started out after the refresh. So when Tesla immediately reduced or right after Tesla introduced the refresh Model S and X, the long range version of those vehicles costs 79,990 for the S, 89,990 for the Model X. And this was basically two years ago, a little bit over two years ago now at this point, that happened in sort of Q1 of 2021. So we're now two and a half years into that, the S is now starting at $5,000 cheaper, the X is now starting at $10,000 cheaper.
So just six and 11% cheaper than when they were introduced back at that point in time. That's really not too big of a decline. Obviously, you know, if you look compared to where they were at in 2022, as with all Tesla vehicles, we're seeing huge, huge drops, you know, $20,000 to $40,000 here for the S and similar for the X, from sort of those peaks in, you know, the beginning of 2022. I don't know if that was quite the peak, but significant declines from those values. But compared to when they were first introduced, at least on the base price versions, not really that crazy.
And when you consider where interest rates have gone over that exact same period of time, it's, you know, it kind of makes a lot of sense because, you know, these vehicles at six and 11% cheaper, once you calculate in the impact of interest rates, they're probably, the payments on those opening price point vehicles are probably even higher than they were post introduction. So although these are significant price cuts and really sudden, we've been talking for, you know, probably at least a quarter now, maybe even a little bit longer about then maybe even a little bit longer than that about how, you know, S and X price cuts at some point were probably pretty likely.
Of course, we saw the introduction of the standard range. And again, I think Tesla just kind of testing that out and just deciding to say, all right, well, you know, we're just going to go for a couple of prices, get the X below this level and, you know, start really moving some of these vehicles. So again, price points at the opening price point, not too crazy from where they started out.
当然,我们看到了标准型号的介绍。而且,我认为特斯拉只是在试探一下,然后决定说,好吧,我们将降低一些价格,让 X 型车低于这个水平,然后开始真正推动这些车辆的销售。所以,总的来说,起始价格并没有从一开始的价格差太多,也不算太过离谱。
Obviously, I would strongly prefer if Tesla was able to sell all these vehicles at a much higher price. Obviously, you'd always, you know, like that to be the case as an investor, you're generating more margin in that scenario. But I'm also glad that Tesla is willing to, you know, continue to make what most companies would probably find to be difficult decisions like, you know, significant price change like this, to be able to make those quickly and, you know, continue to push forward on volume and all that the benefits that that will bring over time as Tesla continues to scale.
So obviously, you know, wish there was a higher price. I wish there were a little more things that Tesla was doing to kind of, you know, educate people. We've talked about that with advertising, of course, and Tesla started to do a little bit of that. I think the budget that is going in these price cuts is probably worth at least evaluating a little bit more in terms of other ways that that could be deployed. But obviously, that's not how Elon feels that the company is really run. And I also think it's just, although it is important, I think the the over emphasis on it does exist in that, you know, people over emphasize the effect of the business on the business today.
But as we always talk about when the quarterly earnings come out, the business day is really not, you know, not to diminish the importance of it, but it's not really all that important, you know, whether Tesla's generating a few thousand dollars extra on the S and the X right now, right? Like that's it's pretty inconsequential for where things end up. So those are kind of my thoughts on the price cuts, at least where we see them right now. Hopefully this, you know, since this is so significant, hopefully this will kind of be the end of it.
We'll see we have seen Tesla cut prices and then as you can see, a lot of green on these charts sort of found that price point and started to increase them again. And obviously, again, the inventory point here affects that a bit, but, you know, we'll see where things things go from here. The plaids we didn't talk quite as much about.
So those are obviously significantly cheaper even when they were from when they were introduced, right? So 25% lower than the introductory price. Those at the high end of the range make more sense, because, you know, when they're first introduced, you're going to have those early adopters that kind of just have to have that, you know, updated version, the highest performance vehicle. And that's great. And Tesla can earn, you know, higher margins on that as they ramp the product line up and bring costs down. So it kind of supports that product ramp.
But, you know, two and a half years in now, we should be pretty much through all that to where Tesla can now bring these these down again, would love it if we were higher, but it's just kind of where things are at today. And the closer the price points between the long range and the plaid, the more you're going to have people opt up into the plaid, because if you start drawing these price points out to 20 $20,000, $30,000 difference, it just makes that opt up decision that much more difficult. So obviously, these are still going to be higher margin versions. You still want people to kind of opt up into them.
So again, we've got a mix of lower prices on SNX, but model three, higher volume vehicle, the SNX are a relatively small part of the mix that it's not to say they're inconsequential to profitability, but their impact on profitability much lower than a vehicle like the model three. And like we said, there's been price increases on the model three.
One quick note in Canada, Tesla has also cut the price. And it is now for the model S at least below $100,000 in Canadian. And that means that it can avoid the luxury vehicle tax. So it's a nice little boost there. That's only 20% on the amount of the price above $100,000. So I can't remember what the price was previously, but it is going to save at least a little bit there on luxury tax in Canada. So that'll be a nice boost as well.
All right. And then for FSD, price is now $12,000. So of course, in the US, this was previously $15,000. Tesla's cut the price by 20% on FSD. This one, it's a little bit tricky. Of course, Elon has always said that the price of FSD is going to continue to increase as the, you know, capability of the software improves over time. And I think there's, you know, good logic behind that because it does become more valuable and presumably closer to sort of the end state where FSD is really worth in reality a lot more than what Tesla would be selling it for.
So where the price has been for the last couple of years, it's, you know, it's been pretty clear that Tesla's not trying to sell a lot of these, right? The take rate we know is low. And it's a very expensive option. I think Tesla hasn't really cared too much because eventually they view this as getting turned on and then people will opt in and that will ultimately earn them more money than if they were to sell this license up front and then not be able to kind of collect more revenue from it later on once it really is more valuable.
So that's kind of been the logic, at least from my perspective and seemingly from the low take rate that Tesla's been okay with. Maybe now they're trying to drive the take rate up a little bit just as margins on the vehicles themselves become a little bit more compressed. They might be trying to gain back a little bit of that through a higher take rate on FSD. So they might be experimenting a bit just to see sort of what the clearing price on FSD is to where that's, you know, might start to drive a little bit more margin versus a higher price option.
You know, as we talk about everything mixed related, you have to, you have to weigh the take rate just like you compare a long range versus a plaid. You got to compare what the take rate on a $12,000 FSD versus $15,000 FSD would be and see if that nets out as a positive in terms of the impact on profitability. So Tesla probably experimenting with that, I wouldn't honestly be too shocked if FSD price changes again relatively soon as Tesla evaluates that. But it'll be interesting to kind of follow.
So I think that's a part of it. I also as much as a, you know, people are probably tired of hearing about it. I do think interest rates also affect this too. You know, if you look at a $15,000 price for FSD being added to the vehicle at a 2% interest rate versus a 6 or 7% interest rate, I'm guessing they probably come out pretty similarly sort of on the payment perspective, the monthly payment that that equates to just from those higher interest rates. So I think that's probably also at play with the reduction that we're seeing here.
Now personally, I think, you know, I'd probably rather just keep it high and then lower the monthly subscription price with just kind of a note to make it clear to customers that over time that subscription price will probably increase. So no one, you know, gets surprised when that eventually does happen. But I think that'd probably be a better way of doing it. But we'll see what Tesla, you know, has in mind there again, wouldn't be too surprised to see it, see a change.
All right, project Thailand. So just a couple of things here. Robert Llewellyn of the fully charged show did have a test drive of the highland. So great to see that he's a model three owner. So we get some good perspective from him. He noted quite a few improvements throughout his drive. He said he just bought a 2023 model three and he really wishes that instead he would have the highland he just liked it pretty significantly more than than the current model three. So again, probably just a very quick test drive here and probably would need a little bit more time for a comprehensive review, but good to hear some of those positive comments from him with this early early test drive. I'm not sure I think there may be a couple more out there.
But overall, I think what we covered last night has, you know, largely been pretty much all encompassing of what we know so far on the highland, which is which is really good. We talked yesterday about the range, how that wasn't totally clear because for the model three in Australia, for example, the range was 629 kilometers for the updated highland on the long range version. Previously, that was 602. So it looked like a 4.5% increase. Some places were saying 5%. Some places were saying 8%. Some places were saying 12%. Car Wow actually said 678 kilometers on the WLTP test cycle.
What seems to be happening here upon further investigation, Tesla doesn't seem to have the WLTP test cycle for the arrow wheels yet because if we flip over from the, so the arrow wheels here called Photonic and I couldn't remember that yesterday, but if we go from the photon to the Nova wheels, which are the 19 inches, the rated range still stays the same. So unless that's sort of a glitch in the configuration studio, there does seem to be a discrepancy here where obviously you would expect a pretty significantly higher range on the 18 inch arrow wheels versus the the 19 inch sort of non arrow wheels.
So if what's happening here is that Tesla's maybe doesn't have the official WLTP rating of 678 yet for the arrow wheels, maybe that's just what they expected to come in at. Maybe that's the figure that car Wow had. Then you're going from 602 to potentially 678, you'd be looking at a 12% increase on range in that scenario. So you know, we talked about in China, it looked like maybe a five to 9%. We're not sure exactly what was the number what the numbers before there were either. So right now to me, it's looking like somewhere between five and 12% and obviously those figures are going to test, you know, are going to vary depending on which test cycle you're using WLTP, CTLC or EPA.
So I want to get like too hung up on whether, you know, what exact percent it is. And obviously those depend on the wheels as well. But long, long way of saying that it does seem at least plausible to me right now that it is more towards that maybe 8% or even a little bit more than that improvement like we heard about specifically the efficiency numbers as well. So that is I think even more encouraging than maybe what it looked like yesterday based on what we were saying in the design studio.
So I wanted to share those thoughts as well. And then we do have a quick update on the cyber truck. So I think this originated on TikTok, but old spice on the cyber truck owners club posting a photo of the front trunk for the cyber truck gives us a nice look, probably the nicest look that we have seen of it so far, at least in sort of the finished form, obviously looks very sizable. Not sure exactly how it'll compare to you, you know, like an R1T or F150 Lightning, but definitely probably the biggest, you know, biggest front trunk that Tesla would be offering. And kind of an interesting detail that was noticed here.
If you look really closely, you can see there's, you know, what appears to be a little bit of an embossing embossing that's happening there or something. They put together a nice gift of this, which you can kind of see it looks like it is sort of that cyber truck logo wordmark sort of embossed into the the front trunk there. So just kind of a nice touch. We don't know if that'll make it into the production version, but interesting to see that and definitely good eye for whoever who ever caught that.
All right, that's pretty much it. Just a quick look at the calendar for next week.
So of course, in the US, we've got Labor Day, that means the NASDAQ will be closed. So likely no episode on Monday unless we get some crazy stuff happening, which obviously could be the case. It's been kind of a crazy week here.
But Labor Day on Monday, the rest of the week, of course, we do have economic reports, but otherwise should be relatively quiet at least in terms of the calendar, you know, things can pop up, but just from a calendar perspective.
All right, that'll wrap it up for today. That was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. Maybe I was a little bit rambly today. So sorry if that was the case, but thank you all for tuning in as always. And you can also find me on X at Tesla podcast. And we'll see you on, I believe, Tuesday, September 5th for the next episode of Tesla Daily.
Thank you.