On Mar. 1, electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc. out of the blue announced massive price cuts to its top-of-the-range Model X sport utility vehicle, in one fell swoop chopping NT$3.06 million — a whopping 46 percent — off the price. Some existing owners staged an angry protest, complaining they have been played like a fiddle by Tesla and are seeking compensation.
On Mar. 4, responding to owners’ protests and claims for compensation, Tesla said: “This price adjustment is a global price cut; we have received customers’ feedback but we are not able to provide any further information at this stage.”
When Tesla published global price reductions on its official Taiwanese Web Site on Mar. 1, the price of the entry-level Model S was reduced from NT$3.309 million to NT$2.45 million, while the long range version was reduced from NT$4.492 million to NT$2.598 million and the P100D high performance version dropped in price from NT$6.389 million to NT$3.06 million. Additionally, the Model X P100D high performance version fell from NT$6.67 million to NT$3.6 million, a reduction of NT$3.07 million.
One Tesla car owner said helplessly: I bought a car worth NT$6 million, only to read in the news the next day that the car was now worth only NT$3 million, exactly half the value of the original purchase price — I could have bought two cars at the new price. It feels like having NT$3 million stolen from you in the middle of the night — am I really supposed to just stay silent and suck it up?
Some Chinese Tesla owners are threatening that if Tesla does not announce compensatory measures for existing owners, they will launch a lawsuit. Dozens of Taiwanese Tesla owners went to Tesla Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei’s Neihu District to protest and demand compensation, yet to date they have not received a positive response from the company. Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk has announced that owners who purchased their Tesla vehicles before the price reduction can upgrade to either the company’s Autopilot self-driving assistant or the Full Self-driving Capability at half the normal price. However, due to legal restrictions particular to Taiwan, this compensatory offer will not be made available to Taiwanese owners.
今日單字
1. out of the blue phr.
無預警(wu2 yu4 jing3)
2. top-of-the-range phr.
頂級(ding3 ji2)
3. seek compensation phr.
爭取補償
(zheng1 qu2 bu3 chang2)
4. feedback n.
反饋 (fan3 kui4)
5. entry-level phr.
入門款 (ru4 men2 kuan3)
6. helplessly adv.
無奈 (wu2 nai4)
7. launch a lawsuit phr.
提告 (ti2 gao4)
(Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times)
特斯拉電動車三月一日全球無預警大降價，台灣頂級的Model X車款更一口氣降價約三○六萬元，降幅高達百分之四十六，舊車主群情激憤抗議被當「盤子」，期爭取補償。
對於台灣舊車主抗議爭取補償，台灣特斯拉本月四日只表示，「這次價格調整是全球性的降價，我們也收到了客戶的反饋，但不好意思，目前這邊沒有其他訊息可以分享給您。」
特斯拉三月一日調降全球價格，台灣官網公佈價格，Model S入門款由三三○‧九萬元降為二四五萬元，長里程版四四九‧二萬元降為二五九‧八萬元，Model S P100D極速性能版從六三八‧九萬元降到三○六萬元，MODEL X P100D由六六七萬降至三六○萬元，調降三○七萬元。
一位車主無奈表示，前一天買了一台六百萬的車子，隔天看新聞才知自己買的車子價格變成三百萬，直接對半砍，等於後面繳的錢還能再買一台，一夜之間像是被搶了三百萬，要悶不吭聲嗎？
有中國車主揚言特斯拉若對舊車主沒有補償措施將提告；台灣數十位車主至特斯拉內湖總部抗議，要求補償，至今也尚未得到正面回應。特斯拉執行長伊隆·馬斯克雖然宣佈所有在降價前購買特斯拉的車主，可以半價購買Autopilot自動輔助駕駛系統或全自動駕駛功能系統，但台灣受限於法令，該補償措施在台灣並不適用。
(自由時報記者楊雅民)
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Tesla’s rethink
On Feb. 28, Tesla Inc. announced it would close a large number of its car showrooms worldwide and move to online-only sales as a way to fund significant global price cuts. However in a fresh blog post published on its Web site on Sunday, the company announced something of a u-turn. Tesla now says that following a review, it has decided to “keep significantly more stores open than previously announced.” In order to achieve this, Tesla says that prices will be going back up, by about 3 percent on average worldwide.
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