Tesla Price Cut Drives Huge Increase In Sales Activity For Model Y and Model 3

Tesla cut prices in the U.S. on Jan. 13, 2023. Since then, traffic to its website and converted visits have both spiked.

On January 13, Tesla announced across-the-board price cuts of as much as 20% on Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Similarweb data shows a spike in traffic to tesla.com on that since and in subsequent days. In addition, converted visits (visits that end up in a sale) have spiked dramatically.   

Key takeaways

• On Jan. 13, Tesla.com had 2.1 million visitors on desktop and mobile web, up 266% from the day before. The week of Jan. 13 saw traffic rise to 7.6 million from 4.0 million, a 90% spike over the week before.
• The month of January ended up with monthly visits up 24%, year-over-year. February rose 25% year-over-year but dipped 23% from January.
• Similarweb data on converted visits (visits to a website that lead to a sale) shows a huge spike in converted visits in January (Model Y up 440%) and February (Model Y up 254% and Model 3 up 43%), on a year-over-year basis.

Tesla price cuts spark a sharp increase in demand

In the days after the price cut, traffic to tesla.com spiked sharply, up 266% on January 13 and up 90% for the week of Jan. 13. Subsequent to that date, traffic receded somewhat, but remained elevated. You can see that represented in the chart below, which shows daily visits to tesla.com in January and February 2023.

Monthly visits have benefited from the price cut

The chart below shows traffic to Tesla.com over the past 13 months (through February). Traffic spiked sharply on the news of price cuts to the Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. In Jan. 2023, traffic spiked by 49%, year over year, and was up 45% from December. In February, visits rose 49% year-over-year but dropped 23% from January in what seems to be normal seasonality based on month-over-month declines in February in past years.

Tesla Model Y conversion surged post-price cut, with Model 3 also benefiting

The chart below shows converted visits (visits to a website that lead to a sale) for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y over the past two years (through February 2023). Notice the downward trend for each of the models mentioned. From a high in March 2022 of 18.4K converted visits for Model 3 and 15.5K converted visits for Model Y, December saw a 73% drop for Model 3 and a 96% drop for Model Y.

A lot of this drop reflects the 2022 expiration of the $7,500 electric vehicle rebate in the United States, which effectively raised the price of the Tesla vehicles. With the restart of these incentives in 2023 (aided by the price cut of the Model Y, which should qualify those vehicles for the credit), Tesla’s conversion rose sharply in January and February 2023.

Similarweb data on converted visits shows a huge spike in converted visits in January (Model Y up 440%) and February (Model Y up 254% and Model 3 up 43%), on a year-over-year basis. It seems the price cuts, along with the resumption of vehicle tax credits, have boosted Tesla’s demand to start the year.

The Similarweb Insights & Communications team is available to pull additional or updated data on request for the news media (journalists are invited to write to press@similarweb.com). When citing our data, please reference Similarweb as the source and link back to the most relevant blog post or similarweb.com/blog/insights/.

Methodology

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by Jim Corridore

Senior Analyst

Jim provides insights across multiple sectors. With 30 years on Wall Street and numerous awards for stock-picking, he is a SUNY Albany graduate.