Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) revealed on Wednesday, April 8th that it will be replacing its Model S 60 with the new, slightly more expensive Model S 70D sedan. The new vehicle costs roughly $76,200, including shipping, and is comparable to Mercedes-Benz’ E-Series and BMW’s 5 Series, according to Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). The previous Model S 60 cost approximately $71,000.
The company said the new Model S 70 D can last up to 240 miles on a single charge and can go from zero-60 miles per hour in 5.2 seconds. Additionally, the car has four-wheel drive, a feature that the previous Model S did not have.
Other innovative features in the S 70 D model are the ability to go longer distances without having to recharge the battery, a navigation system, blind-spot monitor, and automatic keyless access.
According to Theo O’Niell, an analyst at Ascendiant Capital Markets, Tesla’s transition into four-wheel drive will help the company cut some major costs. He noted:
“They’re able to get better experience in terms of building up all-wheel-drive vehicles… If customers prefer the four-wheel drive, and they’re trying to standardize on the four-wheel-drive version, then everybody comes out a winner.”
Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry weighed in on Tesla on April 8th following the news of the company’s new vehicle, reiterating an Overweight rating on the stock with a price target of $385. He noted:
“Most of the Tesla Model S sales have occurred in the southern belt of USA. AWD Model D cars will make Tesla Cars more attractive to the consumers in northern USA, Canada and Europe… Today’s announcement of Model 70D indicates that probably, now Tesla is somewhat benefiting from economies of scale, especially in both drive train (Motors and Inverters) and Battery.”
Overall, Chowdhry has a 65% success rate recommending stocks and a +23.8% average return per recommendation.
Similarly on April 8th, Stifel Nicolaus analyst James Albertine maintained a Buy rating on Tesla with a $400 price target. He noted:
“Simply put, we believe TSLA is a supply-constrained story, not one that is demand-constrained, and would view these product developments as support of that position. We also believe Bears fail to give credit to TSLA’s pronounced competitor advantage, which is mounting each day as production ramps and additional data is gathered and mined among existing TSLA vehicles.”
Albertine currently has an overall 73% success rate recommending stocks and a +14.5% average return per recommendation.
On average, the top analyst consensus for Tesla on TipRanks is Moderate Buy.
Disclosure: All recommendations for Tesla, sourced from TipRanks.