Tesla Inc's (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model Y was the bestselling car in the UK last month, helping the electric vehicle firm on the way to record deliveries in the first three months of the year.
Some 8,123 new Model Ys were registered in the UK in March, according to the industry's latest figures, which saw the EV race past Nissan’s Juke and Qashqai petrol and hybrid models.
This was over five times more than the 1,482 registered in February and was likely to have been prompted by Tesla slashing prices of the model for the second time this year.
Best selling cars in the UK in March - SMMT
The starting price for a Tesla Model Y was £44,990, around £7,000 cheaper than before the price cut, undercutting similar EV models from the likes of Kia and Hyundai.
UBS analysts expect this price war to ramp up in the second half of the year, as “sluggish economic growth and higher living costs […] squeeze potential buyers,” leaving manufacturers with spare capacity to shift.
Tesla has faced scrutiny over the complexity and cost of replacing its ‘structural’ batteries and high insurance costs as a result, although this has not seemed to deter buyers.
These structural batteries are built into the car’s body, meaning they are more expensive to insure and can lead to Tesla's EVs being disproportionally written off.
Insuring a Model Y costs £479 on average, MoneySuperMarket data shows, sitting in insurance group 46 of 50 – where group-1 houses the cheapest to cover.
US and European EV salvage sales are largely dominated by Tesla vehicles with low mileages on the clocks, according to Reuters, due to the high costs of repairs and a lack of shared diagnostic data.
Given EV sales have continued to surpass diesel cars this year, cases of this will likely increase, Allianz director Christoph Lauterwasser said last month, making “the handling of batteries […] a crucial point”.
Tesla was already slammed with two class action lawsuits over its alleged anti-competitive warranty schemes in March, which exclude drivers who take cars to independent garages to be fixed.