Tesla Turbulence: EV Maker Offers $7500 Discount on Popular Models as Investors Fume Over ‘No CEO’

The electric vehicle manufacturer has had another turbulent year in 2022, with its shares steadily falling as demand slackens and its CEO, Elon Musk, pours his attention into his most recent purchase: social media giant Twitter.

Tesla announced on Thursday it slash the price by $7,500 on two of their two most popular models: the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y sport utility vehicle. It’s also added 10,000 free miles of use of its specialized Supercharging stations, used to rapidly recharge the company’s car batteries.

According to US media reports, the change was also motivated by the US Treasury saying on Thursday it was postponing new guidance on EV tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act until March. The law , signed by US President Joe Biden in August, offers $7,500 in tax credits to buyers of certain electric vehicles made in the United States in an attempt to stimulate domestic EV consumption and to motivate EV makers and their subsidiaries to relocate to the US.

However, according to Department of Energy data released earlier this month, several Tesla models qualify, including the Model 3 and Model Y, but had already hit the law’s limitation on the number of units allowed to qualify. Tesla’s equivalent price cut thus fills the gap.

On Thursday, Tesla’s stock fell by nearly 7% on news of the new delivery credits. Year-to-date, it’s lost over 67% of its value. While the company has struggled with a number of chronic issues, including keeping up delivery demand, its major investors are increasingly pointing the finger at Musk and his obsession with taking over Twitter.

"We all know why Tesla stock is down and it has nothing to do with the company," said Ross Gerber, head of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, a Tesla shareholder, during a Twitter Spaces event earlier this week.

"The company is doing great. The company has the best environment it could possibly want. It's about to get a bunch of incentives from the government. The factories are ramping up. New products are launching. The only problem is the optics of having the CEO on Twitter every day discussing the problems of Hunter Biden,” he said.

Musk initially made the deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April, but amid fighting with the company’s board over information on automated bots and other bugbears, Musk’s takeover was delayed until late October. He pledged a “free speech” overhaul on the site, ending lifetime bans for several right-wing accounts, including former US President Donald Trump, and implementing a host of other changes to the site, all while purging nearly three-quarters of its staff.

Then in early December, Musk began releasing to several journalists treasure troves of information, dubbed “The Twitter Files,” about Twitter’s cooperation with the FBI to suppress everything from inconvenient news stories to alleged misinformation by accounts in countries targeted by the US for regime change, such as Cuba and Iran.

Gerber also took a swing at Musk on Twitter, saying Tesla “has no CEO” and that it was “time for a shakeup.”

Elon Musk and Tesla investor Ross Gerber argue on Twitter about Musk's role as both Tesla and Twitter CEO on December 20, 2022.

© Sputnik Screenshot

After Musk replied, asking for his “great ideas,” Gerber laid out three demands, including that Tesla needs a communications and media team, that it needs a succession plan and clarity on when Musk would return from Twitter, and that the company needs to communicate about Musk’s massive sales of Twitter stock and reach a stand still agreement.

Recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Musk has sold $3.5 billion in Tesla stock in recent days, in addition to $3.9 billion he sold in early November, just after buying Twitter. Since late last year, Musk has unloaded about $40 billion in Tesla stock.

Following a Twitter poll earlier this week, Musk said he was “actively searching” for a new Twitter CEO and would step down as soon as one could be found.