Image: Riz Akhtar
Tesla has gradually been lowering the prices of both its best selling EV models in Australia since their peak during the pandemic back in 2022.
On top of that, several referral programs have been in place to help encourage existing owners to refer family and friends to consider a Tesla. This has helped the company boost its sales, which dominate the Australia EV market and have risen 20 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter to 12,789 vehicles.
Now some Tesla owners in the country have received an update highlighting that the referral program is about to come to an end.
One of these Tesla owners shared the Tesla app notification on X which was titled “Referral Benefits Ending on 30 April, 2024”.
It also states that the friends being referred as part of the referral credit must place an order by this date for the referrer to receive any credits.
These referral credits can be used to redeem various physical and in-car software items from Tesla’s shop, including:
This has been one of the clever ways that Tesla has been able to increase sales as the company continues to increase production to reach its sales targets.
Earlier in 2024, Tesla announced that the referral program was going to broadened to cover vehicles like the recently refreshed Tesla Model 3.
That vehicle had been previously excluded under the referral program there had been enough customers ordering it due to its fresh new looks and range updates.
With the referral program in place, it was even better value, encouraging more people to consider one.
The latest update to remove referral credits comes as a bit of a surprise given the increased competition in the local market with more lower-priced EVs available for drivers looking at making the switch.
With more competition in the market, it’s possible that Tesla is removing the current referral program to either offer further incentives in the coming months or to lower prices to keep the demand high. It aims to hit a 2 million sales target in 2024 after selling 1.8 million cars in 2023, but its first quarter results – on a global level – were below expectations.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
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