Dozens of irate Tesla car owners on Sunday gathered at the company’s flagship store and service center in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) to protest the US company’s massive price cuts, saying that they had been duped.
Coinciding with the launch of the firm’s lower-cost US$35,000 Model 3, Tesla Inc chief executive Elon Musk on Friday last week announced steep cuts to the prices of its revised range of vehicles, which saw prices drop by between NT$658,900 and NT$3.07 million (US21,371 and US$99,578) in Taiwan.
Although Tesla offers a program to buy back vehicles after three years at 51 percent of the purchase price, only those who use the company’s financing plans are eligible.
Those who are not eligible for the buyback program are facing a significant blow to the resale value of their vehicle following the price cuts, Tesla vehicle owners were quoted as saying in a report by Chinese-language technology Web site Applemond (蘋果仁) on Sunday, adding that a number of them had paid cash for their cars.
The cuts brought the prices down to NT$3.49 million for the Model S Standard Range and to NT$6.67 million for the premium Model X Ludicrous Mode.
Vehicle owners also said that national regulations have made it impossible for them to take advantage of Musk’s promise to provide a 50 percent discount on software upgrades to enable autonomous driving and other functions, as they are outlawed in Taiwan.
They want Tesla to provide compensation based on the price reductions, they said.
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