Price cuts have ‘huge impact’ on Tesla’s economics, says Bernstein

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi says that Tesla’s recent price cuts were in response to a demand problem, with his analysis indicates that Tesla’s weighted average price cut globally year-to-date is 13.5% lower than Q3 22 levels, when it reported ASPs of $53.5K and auto gross margins of 26.8%. "The price cuts have a *HUGE* impact" on Tesla’s economics, the analyst argues. He is lowering his full year 2023 EPS from $4.96 to $3.80. Tesla’s price cuts point to ASPs declining $7,200 per car from Q3 22 levels, or a 1340 bps gross hit to auto gross margins, all else being equal, Sacconaghi adds. Notably, price reductions in China do not appear to have created a significant surge in demand, the analyst writes.