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Tesla set to up prices by 5% in new year because of 'currency fluctuations'

Meanwhile Musk advances Autopilot advances

Tesla Motors is bumping up its vehicles' prices in the UK by five per cent, purportedly because of currency effects post-Brexit.

According to the business, that change will arrive as soon as 2017 does, because of "currency fluctuations". These fluctuations have seen the sterling drop in value against the dollar. Today, £1 is worth $1.23, compared to $1.48 pre-referendum.

Primarily an automaker and energy storage business, Tesla is headed by billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. It pinged its potential customers this week to let them know about the price increases, perhaps to encourage some Christmas splurging, though its cheapest offering of the Model S would still set customers back just under £59k if they chose to buy.

A Tesla spokesperson confirmed to The Register that: "Due to currency fluctuations, we will be increasing our UK prices by 5 per cent on 1st January 2017."

The five per cent rise is the largest that any car manufacturers have put out this year. The UK was Tesla's largest European market between January and June (inclusive) of 2016, with 14 more Model S vehicles sold here than in Norway, a whopping 1,263.

The move follows criticism from US advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog lately, which called for Tesla to recall its Autopilot feature. John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's privacy project director, said: "The problem is that Tesla encourages people to believe Autopilot can do more than it really can... The name itself is a huge problem."

Elon has shrugged off such claims on Twitter, however.

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