(Reuters) -Tesla Inc has resumed taking orders for its Model 3 long-range vehicle in the United States, the company’s website showed late on Tuesday, after a temporary halt last year due to delivery backlogs.
The long-range version of the entry-level Model 3 is priced at $47,240 currently, about 18.5% less than the $57,990 it was priced at last August when Tesla halted taking orders in the United States and Canada.
“Waitlist is too long. Will enable again as we ramp production,” Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted at that time in response to a user’s inquiry about the discontinuation of orders.
Model 3 Long Range has a range of “325+” miles per charge, down from 358 miles. It is eligible for a $3,750 government subsidy, compared with a full $7,500 subsidy for a Model 3 Performance version.
Tesla expects to resume delivery of the long-range Model 3 electric sedan in June, according to the website. However, it is still not accepting orders in Canada, the website showed.
The long-range version of the entry-level Model 3 has a range of more than 325 miles (523 kilometers) on a single charge.
To boost sales, Tesla has been regularly modifying the prices of its vehicles since the start of this year. After reducing prices earlier, the company slightly increased them on Tuesday in Canada, China, Japan, and the United States.
Musk has said Tesla is willing to sacrifice margin for sales volume in the face of a weak economy, but is also looking to move prices back higher, where it can, to match deliveries with output.
(Reporting by Gokul Pisharody and Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Aurora Ellis)
