UK Model 3 order page open!

[sixela]

There's hardly any point unless they make it [AWD/LR] significantly cheaper than the P version [without PUP]

Why would they? Since the cost difference is zero for them, making the AWD LR a lot cheaper is just asking for lower margins on the cars.

In the Continental Europe configurator, it's not the same, since we can't buy the P-, only the P+ (P with Performance Upgrade Package complete with 20" rims and matching tires).

I would suspect that (depending on the response in the UK to the P-) continental Europe might also move to an SR+/(LR)/P-/P+ r ange as well, with the RWD/LR off-menu and the LR AWD replaced by the P- at only a slightly higher price. I suspect discouraging/encouraging people to buy the RWD LR would depend on exactly how many front motors they have in stock ;-). There are always rumours of impending demise of that model but the stubborn demand for that original model 3 flavour is keeping it alive and well.

The option that would make sense between the SR+ and the P without PUP is the RWD LR (since at least there is one less motor, and some people would find the slightly longer range interesting on its own).

 

[sixela]

I think they should honour the original FSD pricing too considering it was an early reservation. Especially if the new order bumps them down the queue. Otherwise what was the point of the reservation?

Getting a car earlier. But "getting a car earlier at lower prices than those who are preparing to pay the original price that was agreed" is demanding something where I don't think --for a company that is struggling to make profits given the investments they have to make to grow-- you're in the realm of "should". If this were Audi, then you'd be "sorry, out of luck" without even the possibility or canceling and reordering at no cost to you (let alone with some internal sales people who'll actually do the work for you).

In Continental Europe, I know a few of the earliest AWD LR customers. They ended up paying more than someone who'd order one now (although they had a good deal on EAP if you don't care for future FSD features), but they've been driving the car since February and I haven't.

 

[Peteski]

Why would they? Since the cost difference is zero for them, making the AWD LR a lot cheaper is just asking for lower margins on the cars.

Well they tried exactly that with the original UK pricing. You couldn't originally order a P- but the UK price differential from AWD to P+ was originally a lot more than the £3700 cost of the hardware upgrades.

So I think you are looking at it the wrong way round. It's not a matter of making the LR AWD cheaper, it's a matter of how much premium they can get away with adding for the considerable extra performance of the P. The original UK pricing included a fairly large premium for the P which they have now stripped back very close to the original LR AWD pricing. So it's only the margin on the P that has been stripped back, not the AWD or SR+ margins, which are exactly the same. Obviously you can't now order a LR AWD, but those who have are not being offered any discount.

 

[M3winEVwin]

Got a Tesla call as well this morning . He said I can expect my SR+ in July because I had a reservation since Nov 2017, he couldn’t say when in July. (Does any of you have a delivery expected for June?)
They will proceed with my order now that the finance has been approved and a vin will be assigned within the next few weeks.
He confirmed that I could upgrade to a P if I wanted to, just need to call them back.
He also confirmed that they are working on an online store similar to the US one for the UK .
He said at the end have a good day... yes I will

 

[WannabeOwner]

He said at the end have a good day... yes I will

Mine said that too .. and in response to "Can I do anything else for you today?" she got to sort out something else for me, totally unrelated and about which she knew nothing (but knew who to ask ...)

I had no prior order/deposit, placed a fresh order in the first couple of days that order page opened. I already have a Tesla of course, and historically that has counted for something in terms of "getting in the queue" ... and she told me to expect it mid-July.

 

[Peteski]

Getting a car earlier. But "getting a car earlier at lower prices than those who are preparing to pay the original price that was agreed" is demanding something where I don't think --for a company that is struggling to make profits given the investments they have to make to grow-- you're in the realm of "should". If this were Audi, then you'd be "sorry, out of luck" without even the possibility or canceling and reordering at no cost to you (let alone with some internal sales people who'll actually do the work for you).

In Continental Europe, I know a few of the earliest AWD LR customers. They ended up paying more than someone who'd order one now (although they had a good deal on EAP if you don't care for future FSD features), but they've been driving the car since February and I haven't.

While I'm a big Tesla fanboy, I'm not buying this way of thinking at all. Nobody has had a car delivered in the UK at this point, while Tesla are making drastic changes to pricing and specs which are making order changes/cancellations pretty much compulsory if you don't want to get totally ripped off. For example, would you seriously continue with my original order for a P+ at £59,300? I would have happily paid for that car had Tesla not ripped up the pricing/spec sheets last week. But now I have no sensible option other than to ask Tesla to change my order or cancel and start again. If it's asking too much to jump the queue on a re-order then they can keep the car and I'll just walk away. I don't think I'm being unreasonable. The fact that they have contacted me for registration without even mentioning these recent price changes gives me the impression that they are trying to rip me off.

It's pretty simple. They should reduce prices of all current undelivered orders (i.e. every single UK car) accordingly and allow spec changes to reflect the loss of the LR AWD option and P- options. Is that really asking too much for people who may have had a deposit down for several years? Being told to cancel and re-order behind people who decided to buy a Model 3 only last week is not good enough. But as you say, at least you do have the option to cancel and walk away. Which is what I'll probably do the way things are going.

 

[WannabeOwner]

They should reduce prices of all current undelivered orders (i.e. every single UK car) accordingly and allow spec changes to reflect the loss of the LR AWD option and P- options

They've done that sort of "See folk right" who recently ordered before a price drop / product revamp, so seems likely, but in the past it has been chaos and mis-communication ("make it up as you go long") until sorted out ...

 

[M3winEVwin]

Mid-July that’s great, just before the school holidays. It probably means we are all on the first boat, Tesla owners or reservation holders

 

[Yev000]

Hmm, so mid July we are getting a ship, I guess that's the Grand Quest currently in SF. Takes about 3-4 weeks to get to Europe.

Not sure how many cars can fit in that but could be around 8000. Could potentially carry all UK orders to date, assuming they were built.

 

[Peteski]

They've done that sort of "See folk right" who recently ordered before a price drop / product revamp, so seems likely, but in the past it has been chaos and mis-communication ("make it up as you go long") until sorted out ...

It should be obvious to them that I'm going to cancel my P+ order after these changes. Who wouldn't want to save £8k? So they should be more proactive and "reach out" to me celebrating the revised lower pricing. But no, they just prod me to complete the registration details so they can arrange delivery at the original price. Not good.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Tesla owners or reservation holders

Or: people who went "fully loaded" and are thus Most Profit sales

 

[WannabeOwner]

So they should be more proactive and "reach out" to me celebrating the revised lower pricing

Of course But I have NEVER known Tesla be that organised for something that came in "out of the blue" ... and of course Sales are bombarded with those, and with no prior notice / warning / training. (Tesla Sales would do well to read this Forum rather than their Company Email to be up-to-date perhaps? ...)

 

[Peteski]

Or: people who went "fully loaded" and are thus Most Profit sales

Agreed, P+ FSD should be all right up front regardless of reservation! That's fair enough, makes sense to maximise profits first.

 

[theoceanwaves]

whoever is in charge with internal communications and price adjustments needs to be sacked ASAP

 

[WannabeOwner]

Agreed, P+ FSD should be all right up front regardless of reservation! That's fair enough, makes sense to maximise profits first.

So cancel and reorder and your position in queue is secure

whoever is in charge with internal communications and price adjustments needs to be sacked ASAP

Ermmm ... that ASAP has been needed for donkey's years I'm afraid ... this sort of muddle has been de rigueur

 

[sixela]

So I think you are looking at it the wrong way round.

I was responding to "unless they make the AWD LR a lot cheaper". So we're in violent agreement. It's a price drop on P+ but it's not not all lost.

What I think they're trying to understand is whether there is a market for a P- that will convert some lower margin orders into higher ones (in the UK, SR+ orders, but I guess they're more interested in understanding whether continental off-menu RWD/LR can be converted to "cheap P-" at the cost of an extra motor), and how much offering a P- will cannibalize P+ sales (i.e. what fraction of "P" customers would still buy the PUP if P- were a thing in continental Europe).

In continental Europe there has been a marked shift from AWD LR to RWD LR despite the fact that they hid it from the online configurator, and despite some temporary attempts to jack up the price by making AP "unbundled" -- surprisingly, some people actually then told them "fine, then I'll have it at that price with no AP", and they've now settled on getting people to pay just €1100 more , but with AP included; that caused some conversions back from RWD/LR-AP to RWD/LR+AP increasing the margins once more, and some people sticking to their guns (they're a rare breed, since the RWD/LR-without-AP was only sold for a week).

Now they're trying to figure out which way they can still sell more of a model that is more expensive than RWD/LR to people who haven't got the deep pockets that P plus PUP requires.

Doing an experiment in the UK to find information is not costing them a dime in the sense that taking an AWD and slapping a "P" sticker on it and toggling a software switch is free. It's costing them a dime because some older P+PUP customers will now get the same car for less, but volumes for these are lower (it is also interesting for them to know how many customers will not cancel and reorder just to get the first batch of cars, because that gives them an idea of whether increasing the price of the PUP is feasible or not).

They're doing that experiment in a relatively new market that's smaller than the Continental European one. Makes sense to me.

 

[M3winEVwin]

@ Peteski, why do you assume that if you cancel and reorder you will loose priority?
My understanding is that your reservation is key for priority and not the order date.
If I ordered last week with no reservation or a reservation not as hold as yours and you subsequently put an order today for the same car, you will be ahead of me in the queue.

 

[WannabeOwner]

They're doing that experiment in a relatively new market that's smaller than the Continental European one. Makes sense to me

When I do that sort of A-B testing I aim not to piss off the 50% that chose A when my research tells me that B is the one to sell ..

My understanding is that your reservation is key for priority

I doubt it I'm afraid. True originally, but Tesla can probably fulfil all the early RHD UK orders in a single boat-load so, after all this time, the reservation probably makes little difference, and if it is more than one boatload I would expect Tesla to prioritise max-profit models/orders for fully-loaded options. If you were in California, and urgently wanted one of the early, buggy, ones after the initial launch then yup would have got one promptly ... not sure that was a good outcome either!

 

[Plingy63]

Hmm, so mid July we are getting a ship, I guess that's the Grand Quest currently in SF. Takes about 3-4 weeks to get to Europe.

Not sure how many cars can fit in that but could be around 8000. Could potentially carry all UK orders to date, assuming they were built.

I think it's probably more like 4000...but a moot point.
There's a ship about to dock into Zeebrugge, one near the Dominican Republic (I think)...and one near the western coast of Mexico. I think all three set sail after they opened up RHD orders, and also after the initial tranche of 288 VINs were declared. So it's just possible that some cars are already in transit.
I did the Ctrl-U trick earlier, & I can see a Vin reference. Although I've had no comms from Tesla yet..so probably just a red-herring...but all digits crossed! ;-)

 

[sixela]

Being told to cancel and re-order behind people who decided to buy a Model 3 only last week is not good enough. But as you say, at least you do have the option to cancel and walk away. Which is what I'll probably do the way things are going.

That's your take on it, but it isn't rational. You had a contract and they're honouring it, and now you are demanding lower pricing without any compensation from your side. You were prepared to pay the full price for the car when you ordered. Now all they're doing is giving you the option of getting the car later (or possibly not any later, see below) at a lower price, and it makes you angry?

I'm sorry but your comment sounds very much like "I'm angry at a company for trying to sell me a car at a price the market will bear, rather than at minimal cost". Good luck finding a car manufacturer that operates as a charity and makes a car as good as a P3D. As I said before, you can scratch Audi off your list, because people who ordered an E-tron and want out now that they find out they're going to have to wait for too long are not even given the option of walking away.

Of course you can walk away, but then you have no car.

BTW, if you think that everyone is in the same boat as you (almost literally by now ;-) ) and sees things the same way that you see it, then there is no risk canceling your current order and reordering, since in that case you'll get your car just as fast and get a free discount. If everyone asking for a RHD P+PUP cancels their order and reorders, it's not like they're going to try to match those VINs outside of the UK or give them to people who ordered SR+.