Will the Model 3 configurator show variable dates?

[MassModel3]

Today, if you order any Model S the design configurator tells you to expect delivery September 2016. If you order any Model X, it tells you Late 2016.

Elon has already said that more highly optioned vehicles will be delivered sooner, and when reservation holders get their invitation to configure a Model 3, Tesla will know where you live and if you're a prior Tesla owner.

So I have to wonder if they might incline people to buy more heavily optioned vehicles simply by having a variable delivery date on the Model 3 configuration page. You just added dual motor, you moved up a month. Leather, heated seats, and premium lighting? You just moved up again. Ludicrous? You just jumped to 6 weeks from now!

The sooner you want it, the more options you'll select. No guessing -- it tells you right up front.

Thoughts? WI'd much prefer this to "Late 2017 / Early 2018" when I commit my dollars.

 

[JeffK]

Today, if you order any Model S the design configurator tells you to expect delivery September 2016. If you order any Model X, it tells you Late 2016.

Elon has already said that more highly optioned vehicles will be delivered sooner, and when reservation holders get their invitation to configure a Model 3, Tesla will know where you live and if you're a prior Tesla owner.

So I have to wonder if they might incline people to buy more heavily optioned vehicles simply by having a variable delivery date on the Model 3 configuration page. You just added dual motor, you moved up a month. Leather, heated seats, and premium lighting? You just moved up again. Ludicrous? You just jumped to 6 weeks from now!

The sooner you want it, the more options you'll select. No guessing -- it tells you right up front.

Thoughts? WI'd much prefer this to "Late 2017 / Early 2018" when I commit my dollars.

There's no way to guarantee such dates so it'd only serve as a liability, at least at this point.

 

[Sharkbait]

So I have to wonder if they might incline people to buy more heavily optioned vehicles simply by having a variable delivery date on the Model 3 configuration page. You just added dual motor, you moved up a month. Leather, heated seats, and premium lighting? You just moved up again. Ludicrous? You just jumped to 6 weeks from now!

So the sales guy in Fremont, CA that called me earlier this week indicated that more heavily optioned M3s would not take take precedent over the reservation system except by deliveries that start on the west coast and move eastward. He inferred that Tesla wants the first (whatever that means) cars delivered to be closest to west coast service centers. So I guess west coast people like myself will be the guinea pigs. Happy to be 200,000 or so out, perhaps far enough out to get a bug-free copy.

 

[MassModel3]

There's no way to guarantee such dates so it'd only serve as a liability, at least at this point.

At this point, yes.

But if history repeats itself, when Tesla starts reaching out to reservation holders they will be ready to produce your vehicle (the order will go to the factory, you'll get a VIN, etc.). Based on your chosen options, they will know immediately if your build will go straight to the assembly line, or if they will be pushing your build back for several months (or somewhere in between). They might miss by a week or two (again, that's history repeating itself), but they can certainly come close.

It's in their own best interest to motivate customers to spend more right from the configurator page.

 

[JeffK]

So the sales guy in Fremont, CA that called me earlier this week indicated that more heavily optioned M3s would not take take precedent over the reservation system except by deliveries that start on the west coast and move eastward.

The heavily optioned Model 3s will take precedence on a regional basis along with reservation order within that region. This has been known since launch so it looks like your sales guy is up to speed on what's up.

The regional part has been tripping people up even on the TMC forums. Sometimes people in other countries feel that since they waited in line they will get models before someone who is in the US and maybe ordered a few days later. It would simply be inefficient and costly for to do that. Even for someone on the East coast to think they'd get a model before someone on the West coast...

Me, being in the midwest and having an order number nearly half of yours I still expect to get a Model 3 after you. I'm relying on people like you to find and report any and all issues to Tesla as soon as possible so Model 3s can be even better for the rest of us.

 

[dsvick]

I've heard that there is a post somewhere by Elon that highly optioned vehicles would not get priority, I've yet to actually see it though, although it does makes sense that they wouldn't if only to avoid the complaints about it not really being a $35,000 car - like they dealt with on the MX release. More likely, your options will affect production only to the extent that they'll schedule similarly optioned/colored vehicles together to improve production efficiency.

If they are doing it by region I would assume when we're asked to configure they give us a date range of two or three months from the configuration time to expect delivery.

 

[alseTrick]

There's no way to guarantee such dates so it'd only serve as a liability, at least at this point.

The OP wasn't asking about right now. They were talking about in the future when Tesla is ready to start manufacturing customer orders.

 

[JeffK]

The OP wasn't asking about right now. They were talking about in the future when Tesla is ready to start manufacturing customer orders.

When everything is a smoothing running machine with no supplier issues then they will offer estimated date ranges...

 

[Chopr147]

And that's when I will order I am going to pass on the 3 most likely when my time comes and delay it. I surprisingly find myself in a position to wait. Not rubbing it in int's just that 2 months ago I was still waiting for the 3

 

[Model 3]

I've heard that there is a post somewhere by Elon that highly optioned vehicles would not get priority, I've yet to actually see it though,

Don't worry, I think that tweet must have been written in a special type of ink that is only visable with the eye of some big ugly "thing's" that live inside mountains

At least so far no one that is claiming that this tweet is real is willing to provide a link to it (maybe the link is written in the same ink? ).

 

[tashtibet]

So far I think it'll be from West to the East as per the reservation order if not Tesla vision for sustainable energy etc will be shattered that won't set the right image.

 

[Att1cus]

I thought Elon mentioned on one of the investor calls that the higher optioned models would be batched first? The extra margin on those cars would help offset the CapEx spend from the production ramp.

 

[MassModel3]

Well he said a few things about the release. He's said:

1. Tesla and SpaceX employees get their Model 3's first (as a reward for a job well done, but also a means of eating their own dogfood).
2. Sales would go west coast to eat coast (faster early deliveries and closer to the factory for major problems).
3. Prior Tesla owners would get delivery priority (thanks for trusting us and making us what we are today).
4. Higher optioned builds would be delivered first (more income for Tesla early on).

We know that number one (above) is top of the delivery line without question. Twenty-thousand employees get first dibs, and probably 1/3 to 1/2 will take advantage. Hopefully they get employee discounts, too, but I have no idea.

What I don't think was ever made clear is exactly how items 2 through 4 will play into each other. Will a lower optioned west coast buyer get his delivery before a maxed out east coast buyer? What if one of those buyers is a prior owner -- how will that change things?

The fact is that at this point, only Tesla knows. And maybe they really don't know yet and it all still needs to be hashed out, but they're certainly not talking about it. But, by the time the configurator is designed and rolled out, they will certainly know. Of course, they'll provide access to the configurator based on items 1 through 4 above. But if item 4 weighs heavily, they can work that into the estimated delivery date shown to buyers. I just think it would be pretty cool if they did, and it would probably earn them more sales dollars.

 

[Model 3]

Of course, they'll provide access to the configurator based on items 1 through 4 above.

More or less agree with all you say here, except this. They'll provide access to the design studio based on items 1 through 3 only from your list. 4 is not known until after configuration is done. And you forgot one more thing: Date (and time?) of the reservation.

... and one more thing: It seems like everybody thinks *all* employees will get their car before any other customers. I don't think so... I'm pretty sure normal customers will get their cars on the west cost before the first employee gets their in ex. Europe. Probably also before the first employee on the east cost. My guess is that the employee is first in line in their respective region.

 

[dsvick]

Well he said a few things about the release. He's said:

1. Tesla and SpaceX employees get their Model 3's first (as a reward for a job well done, but also a means of eating their own dogfood).
2. Sales would go west coast to eat coast (faster early deliveries and closer to the factory for major problems).
3. Prior Tesla owners would get delivery priority (thanks for trusting us and making us what we are today).
4. Higher optioned builds would be delivered first (more income for Tesla early on).

More or less agree with all you say here, except this. They'll provide access to the design studio based on items 1 through 3 only from your list. 4 is not known until after configuration is done. And you forgot one more thing: Date (and time?) of the reservation.

... and one more thing: It seems like everybody thinks *all* employees will get their car before any other customers. I don't think so... I'm pretty sure normal customers will get their cars on the west cost before the first employee gets their in ex. Europe. Probably also before the first employee on the east cost. My guess is that the employee is first in line in their respective region.

Agreed. 1 - 3 will affect when you are asked to configure, number 4, if it is factored, would impact delivery. Also, the MyTesla page says that they'll invite people to configure based on their reservation date. And there is grouping by region as well, although they haven't defined a region yet. My thinking is something like this.

They define the regions moving East from the factory, could be time zone, a radius of a certain number of miles, number of reservations within a distance, who knows... Anyway, once they define the regions they'll take all reservation holders in that region and place them in order by the date the reserved. Then they move employees and prior owners to the front.
Then they take the first X number of people from the list and have them configure. X would maybe be based on how many they think they can produce in a month or two.
After people have configured they'll create the production order but only use options to group similarly optioned cars together to optimize production.
Once they get to a month from completing all of those vehicles, they'll do the same for the next region. Once they've gotten all the way to the East coast they'll move back west and do it again with the next X number of reservations from each region. Eventually, they'll add in other areas like overseas and such.

Even though no one can find the link to it, I would not be surprised at all to see them not produce highly optioned cars first. If for no other reason than the way they were called out for the price of the initial Model Xs that were delivered. I think Tesla needs to show people, and the media, that the M3 really is a $35,000 car. Of course, they may just do that for the first batch near the factory, then only do the highly optioned ones first as they move east.

 

[Model 3]

Then they move employees and prior owners to the front.

Exactly how they will do this part is still unknown. But I doubt they will move an owner reservation from say May 2017 in front of any line-waiters*. Employees could reserve before the 31th, and would already be in front. I do not think employees reserving after the shops opened the 31th is prioritized more then any owner.

So how will this work out? I think that they will first make a list of Line-waiters* and then move owners forward. Maybe to the front? Maybe just by one hour? Or something else...
When all the line-waiters* have configured their cars they will start with the on-line reservations and do it in a similar way - but maybe move the owners forward 1 day for reservations the first week and forward by one week later? Or something else...

Bottom line is that we just don't know.

*)
Line-waiter = reserved in shop March 31th 2016.

If for no other reason than the way they were called out for the price of the initial Model Xs that were delivered.

No, they was not. They was called out for the price when they just opened the Design Studio for the Signatures (and not the deliveries of the same), so the only price anyone could see - and therefor know about - was the Signature prices, witch was well about the price of a basic Model X 75 (and later 60).

This time when the first gets into the Design Studio all prices will be shown (No Model 3 Signatures), and you are free to configure a $35k car, so they will not bee "called out" for this. If they add a month or two for delivery of this $35k car vs a fully optioned car is probably** OK. But they may still be called out if the delivery for the base model is postponed for a year - or something...

**)
Well, you never know what the media will write - if they are looking for anything to "call out" Tesla for, they may even hang them self on this straw...

 

[dsvick]

Exactly how they will do this part is still unknown. But I doubt they will move an owner reservation from say May 2017 in front of any line-waiters*. Employees could reserve before the 31th, and would already be in front. I do not think employees reserving after the shops opened the 31th is prioritized more then any owner.

I think your right, I was going to write something like that but didn't want to end up with a huge multi-page post on how people configure. There would almost certainly be some sort of a cut off beyond which you can't get moved up to the very front.

Well, you never know what the media will write - if they are looking for anything to "call out" Tesla for, they may even hang them self on this straw...

Right! Tesla could give them away and some people in the press would still say negative things.

 

[Chuq]

Tesla and SpaceX employees get their Model 3's first (as a reward for a job well done, but also a means of eating their own dogfood).

No doubt that fact that they can be given a formal procedure to follow if any glitches or defects are identified, mostly likely a process that doesn't involve tweets or images of the said glitch. The staff can be asked to do this (no doubt having a vested interest), but asking customers to do it... not so much.

 

[MassModel3]

And you forgot one more thing: Date (and time?) of the reservation.

I'm not exactly sure how I managed to forget that piece, considering I stood in line for my first Model 3 reservation.

I agree that those who stood in line deserve priority to some degree (like the guy who showed up two days early in... Austrailia?), but so many things have been said about how they will prioritize, and each of those things is said in a vacuum so so that now all we can do is guess. I also agree that employees who didn't make their reservations prior to the general public being able to do so, they'll probably fall in line with the non-employees.

But I can't imagine Tesla allowing any base configurations to go out the door for the first 50,000 or so vehicles.

 

[ccutrer]

Note that in the early days of Model X configuration, the Design Studio did list different delivery estimates for different trims (i.e. a 70D at the time showed Late 2016 delivery). Even now a 5-seater says "Available Late 2016 for new orders" (even though the overall estimate for anything else has also "caught up" to Late 2016).