U.S. customers wanting to get behind the wheel of a new Tesla EV can now do so with confirmation the car manufacturer is now offering 84-month loans for its EVs.
Tesla’s longest previous loan was six years or 72 months and the company likely hopes that the new seven-year loan will help to increase sales. Of course, loans of this length typically lead to shoppers paying more interest, Bloomberg reports.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk had hinted that the carmaker would have to do something about prices in the firm’s most recent earnings call. Musk has also repeatedly criticized the central bank’s decision to increase interest rates, claiming that they are “massively amplifying the probability of a severe recession.”
“When interest rates rise dramatically, we actually have to reduce the price of the car, because the interest payments increase the price of the car,” Musk said. “So we have to do something about that.”
Data recently published by Experian reveals that 34% of new vehicle loans in the first quarter of 2023 were longer than six years. This represents a slight fall from the 38% in Q1 2022.
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This news comes just a week after Musk also used the company’s most recent earnings call with investors to reveal that existing owners who splurged on the firm’s Full Self-Driving package will soon be able to transfer the software package to a new car without having to pay for it again. The system currently costs $15,000 in the U.S. but was a Tesla owner to sell their vehicle and upgrade to a new Tesla, they would have to purchase the FSD package for their new car. With the changes, the comprehensive software package will be transferred to the new vehicle, as long as the old one is traded-in to Tesla directly.
