Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk participates in a "fireside chat" at the National League of Cities (NLC) 2018 City Summit in Los Angeles, California, U.S. November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Kyle Grillot

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc's TSLA.O customer referral incentive plan will end on Feb. 1, the electric carmaker's Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday, citing costs.

Musk tweet here that the referral program is ending because "it's adding too much cost to the cars, especially Model 3".

The billionaire in the past few months has been pushing for cost-cutting initiatives to boost the company’s profitability.

Introduced in 2015, personal referral codes gave new buyers six months of free supercharging and prizes for existing owners such as launching personal photos into deep space or invites to a Tesla event.

Tesla operates its own stores but does not use franchised dealers or traditional advertising and marketing.