Live data from Hacker News

Model 3 Lease Available

tesla.com

91–100 of 109 posts

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#91
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of all of the people I know who own tesla, I have yet to meet anyone who bought one without autopilot. I don't understand why would you decide to purchase tesla over other electric cars if it was not for autopilot. If you want electric without autopilot - there are better options than tesla, so maybe the reason why they removed it was because a vast majority of people were purchasing the autopilot model, and offe…

> If you want electric without autopilot - there are better options than tesla Please do tell me these better options as I had been considering a Model X but do not want to be forced to buy autopilot. I just looked into Audi eTron after reading this update and it only has 200 miles of range. Everything else about Tesla is the best - range, UI updates, supercharger. What other electric car is a “better option?”

Kona ev.

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#92
post #54
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of all of the people I know who own tesla, I have yet to meet anyone who bought one without autopilot. I don't understand why would you decide to purchase tesla over other electric cars if it was not for autopilot. If you want electric without autopilot - there are better options than tesla, so maybe the reason why they removed it was because a vast majority of people were purchasing the autopilot model, and offe…

> I don't understand why would you decide to purchase tesla over other electric cars if it was not for autopilot. Supercharger network? Safety? Performance? Cargo Space?

You forgot they don't waste money on qa.

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#93

So to summarize: - Tesla launches 35k Standard model along with 37,5k Standard Plus Model - Tesla raises price of Standard Plus Model to 39,5k - Tesla discontinues Standard Model So Tesla just increased the base price of the Model 3 from 35k to 39.5k, but tried to do some marketing tricks to make you feel like it's a great deal.

The Standard isn't discontinued, it's just rejiggered to be a software-limited version of Standard Plus (because logistical simplicity saves more than the reduced bill of materials) and pulled from the online catalog so that you have to go to a showroom (remember when they were going to dump those?) or call on the phone to order one.

There's a fine line between "Loss Leader" and "Bait and Switch". Its pretty clear that Tesla sales-reps are going to be VERY strongly trying to upsell their customers away from the $35k model.

I dunno where the line will exactly be drawn for "Bait and Switch", but Tesla is getting closer and closer to that line.

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like it’s more about making the long-term forecast look better and getting rid of cash on hand which would otherwise be owed to creditors. Not saying I buy the argument, but that’s how I understand it.

Yes, and to not head to into bankruptcy with huge lots full of unsold inventory cars scattered about the country. Although I doubt that this leasing option will do much to move inventory.

I do not know what to make of it but these short researchers seem to have found a lot of unsold Teslas. https://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-tesla-short-...

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#95

Uh, wait. They're taking the Model 3 Standard off the menu....so.....that means the $35k version just got stopped? Sigh. It's a bit sad for me because I have been a bigger fanatic for this company than almost anyone, for maybe 9 years now, and my passion is fading. I recognize how hard the thing they're doing is, and how they're doing everything they can...but the repeated dishonesty is just very off-putting to me. I…

The pedantic view is that Tesla did offer the $35k M3 for awhile and while they haven't delivered any yet they will. (It looks like the ones they will deliver will have the upgraded interior and a software locked battery). Further more, if you know that magic words, you can still order one though it won't show upon their web site. So according to the letter of the law they will have offered, sold and delivered some M…

> so did buyers in the ratio of 6:1

Right, because the choice was between a delivery of the more expensive one within a matter of weeks or paying a large deposit for the cheaper one with an "expected" delivery in months (which all evidence pointed to being many months rather than several months).

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is a bit of a strawman. If there's a "standard" short story, it's that the demand for high end Model 3s is too low, and the company can't profitably be run on the margins of SR/SR+ or even MR alone. I'm not sure I believe it (Sandy Munro for instance seems pretty optimistic that a competent manufacturer could profitably make the $35k M3), but misrepresenting the argument does nobody any favors.

> (Sandy Munro for instance seems pretty optimistic that a competent manufacturer could profitably make the $35k M3) Its pretty clear what Sandy Munro is doing however. He's trying to sell his consulting services to Tesla. His whole shtick is pointing out issues with their design and trying to demonstrate that he knows how to save them lots of money. It doesn't seem like Elon is biting however. Munro's video was abou…

I feel like both Tesla and Munro can point to those savings now... It's a real expert who could point to those savings back at the design stage.

Simple things like "these parts could have been combined into one cheaper simpler part" don't take into account the fact that by making them separate parts they are easier to contract out, easier to modify one without the other, and easier to correct issues when yield is poor on one.

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#97
post #26
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not on the website anymore. Do you have a source?

The linked page says "As a result, Model 3 Standard will now be a software-limited version of the Standard Plus, and we are taking it off the online ordering menu, which just means that to get it, customers will need to call us or visit any one of the several hundred Tesla stores."

"This is only available when ordering by phone" sounds like something my dinosaur bank would do, not something an up and coming tech company should be doing.

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#98
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they can pressure you in to spending more.

"we can't actually afford to make a 35000 car, but Elon promised it, so we are going to attempt to prove him right by just software-limiting a more expensive car and than hoping nobody buys it so we don't lose money" How I imagine some meeting at Tesla went when they decided this was a legitimate solution.

If I were in the market for this, I'd be buying the 35k model with the expectation that the modding community will unlock those extra features in short order. In fact I'd bet that all the features on the car are a set of Boolean flags on every vehicle and as soon as you have a shell on the thing, changing the flags to enable any feature will be simple. Add a simple Cron to keep the flags set as you like even after an update, and another Cron to start a background root SSH session for continued access after updates.

Eg. https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/5o7rhl/how_wou...

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#99
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's literally at the top of https://www.tesla.com/blog maybe it wasn't when you wrote your comment

No, it wasn't. Thanks for mentioning; I updated my comment.

for the record, it was public on Twitter and the blog by the time I posted it here. See https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1116533838627262466

Re: Model 3 Lease Available

#100
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no way any of these model 3s end up in an autonomous ride share. Especially with only cameras and no LIDAR. I guess it does give them cover for not offering the option to buy at the end of the lease. Wouldn’t be surprised if they reverse this in 2-3 years.

Sometimes I wonder if the much-ballyhooed short-sellers actually work in the Tesla marketing department :-) I know that companies get a lot of flak for saying hedged things. But Tesla could really benefit from some hedging. This pronouncement in absolute terms that there will be no lease-end buyout is ridiculous. It depends entirely on future factors unknown today (to us or Tesla), whether they will give customers th…

The buy-out price at the end of the lease is set by the lessor. If they don't want to sell, they could just set the price very high. No need to announce that now - in fact, doing so will simply reduce sales.
Post reply on HN