Tesla Car Payments Top $600
New data from Cox Automotive show Tesla monthly new car loan payments have jumped above $600
The monthly figure in the fourth quarter of last year for the Model Y was $693 and for the Model 3 it was $678. Monthly lease payments are nearly as much.
The Model Y is the best selling EV in the US, despite its sales struggles. Tesla still holds 50% of the EV market.
Price is a major EV hurdle. The average EV price in America is nearly $60,000 which is $10,000 more than the average price for a gas powered car.
A joint poll from ABC News and the Washington Post, “Cars are among those essentials for a majority of Americans, and a majority of those polled also agreed that new vehicles are “unaffordable.””
Can People Afford A New Car?
This “affordability” challenge has caused car companies to give customers long term loan–some as long as 84 months, to lower monthly payments
However, many people have elected to keep the cars they have. The average age of a car on the road today is 12.8 years, according to S&P Global.
Tesla sales in the US dropped last year. The situation was worse for Ford and GM. Ford wrote off $19.5 billion for EV losses. GM wrote off $7.6 billion.
Tesla’s Sales Dropped Last Year
Tesla delivered 1,636,129 vehicles in 2025, a 9% decline from 1.79 million in 2024. It was the first year in a decade that Tesla sales dropped except at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tesla’s sales in Europe have fallen by double digits every month for the last year.
Tesla is not the only EV manufacturer with high monthly payment hurdles. The S&P data showed the average monthly payment for a Ford F-150 Lightning pick up EV was $970. For a Chevy Silverado, it was $879.
The Federal Reserve recently reported that car loan delinquency hit a 15 year high. One theory is that a slowing economy makes high car loan payments more difficult for some Americans.
