Tesla says prices will continue to "evolve"

Tesla says it has no plans to stabilise the prices of its popular electric vehicles, despite repeated price cuts denting its profits.

The car company led by billionaire Elon Musk is grappling with the impact of increased competition and higher borrowing costs on buyers.

It has responded to the pressures by slashing prices repeatedly this year.

It warned investors on Wednesday that product pricing would continue to "evolve, upwards or downwards".

Tesla said overall revenue in the first three months of the year rose to $23.3bn (£18.4bn), up 24% from a year ago.

Despite the increase, profit in the same period dropped 24% from a year earlier, to $2.5bn (£2bn).

Tesla bucked a wider decline in car sales last year, helped by booming interest in electric vehicles.

But its market share has shown signs of eroding, even as rivals launch electric vehicles of their own. Meanwhile Tesla deliveries have lagged after its massive expansion in manufacturing since last spring, stoking speculation that demand may be weakening.

The company has blamed the mismatch on delivery delays and said price cuts will help keep customers coming.

"We're not 'starting a price war', we're just lowering prices to enable affordability at scale," Mr Musk wrote on his social media platform, Twitter, earlier this month.

Tesla delivered nearly 423,000 cars in the three months to March. That was up 36% from last year but only 4% more than in the prior quarter.