Tesla has revised its plan to wind down many of its retail stores in favor of keeping more stores open, but at the expense of increasing the price of Model S, Model X, and some Model 3 variants after March 18.
The update follows Tesla’s recent announcement that it would be shifting to an online-only sales model and closing many of its stores as a cost-cutting measure to support the new $35,000 Model 3.
“We will be closing some stores, and there will be a reduction in headcount…Unfortunately, there’s no way around it,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a conference call. “We’re sort of in a binary choice. Reduce headcount and sell the $35,000 car and have fewer people, or not provide a $35,000 car.” However, amid recent store closures and related staffing cuts, Tesla announced on Monday that it has decided to reopen some stores that are in high visibility areas.
