By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock edged higher in premarket trading on Monday after the electric car maker announced fresh price cuts to some of its premium models.
Tesla's website indicated that the company had cut its price for the Model S by around 4% and the more expensive Model X by around 9%.
The move comes less than two months after Tesla's last round of discounting, in which it slashed prices for all its models by up to 20%. At the time, CEO Elon Musk had talked up the immediate impact of price cuts on demand.
That round of cuts ensured that the mass-market Model 3 would qualify for federal tax relief of up to $7,500. By contrast, the Model S and Model X are still priced well above the $55,000 threshold for tax credits. The basic price quoted on Tesla's website for the Model S is $89,990, while the Model X is priced at $99,990. That represents a cut of $5,000 for the Model S and $10,000 for the Model X.
The new price cuts are unlikely to do much to change the outlook for Tesla's bottom line, given the balance of its sales mix. While they were instrumental in building the Tesla brand, The Model S and Model X now account for less than 5% of vehicle deliveries from CEO Elon Musk's company.