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12-month trade-in plan launched by Volvo - Would you, if for a Tesla?

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Seems Volvo now sells one of their models in a manner similar to the Apple iPhone upgrade plan - the option for a new one every 12 months.

If Tesla offered a similar plan, would you partake? Works well for Apple customers who are desensitized to the monthly payment in exchange for continuous latest and greatest.

Pros and cons, certainly. Whaddaya think?
pro, new updated car
con, churning a lot of cash.
relating the car to an Iphone, which I've owned 3 of, a first gen 16gb, an iphone 5 32 gb, and currently a 6s plus 128 gb.
I've owned 2 teslas. an early 2014 s85 "classic" no AP, and currently own a late 2015 s90d older nose cone.
when tesla comes up with quantum leap in either battery size or massive improvements to the AP system or best for me a coupe that is when I'd consider upgrading the car.
 
Unlike the phone where things seem to get better with each iteration, I think there is no way to be sure the automaker will keep improving things. Case and point for me has been Lexus, which seemed to lose it's edge once it firmly became on top of sales, and most of the cars felt cheaper and less inspiring over time... It reminds me of a great band that had a killer couple of albums only to have reunion tours and and a balding, less cocaine fueled audience.

So with Tesla, I wonder if the magnetic motor versus the dual inverter will be better and I wonder if the new battery cell is better versus less expensive.

So, I have to vote "no" on the upgrading plan.... however, I do think Tesla could really corner the market for good if it offered a continually updatable Autopilot/FSD hardware... where cameras, radar and processors are updated every few years. Can you imagine how much longer people would keep their cars?
 
Depends on the big question: what will it cost me?

But cost aside, probably not. I don't have that Apple plan. I find that Apple sometimes offers the product I want, and sometimes not. When they do and I buy it, I have the expectation that I'll hold onto it for 2-3 years, or even longer. By then the latest version feels more like a real upgrade. There's also a significant switching cost in moving over to a new phone, even with iCloud. Last time around it took me most of a day to get everything right. I don't really want to do that on an annual basis.

Cars are similar for me. I've hung onto the same car for years, partly out of inertia and partly because no one seemed to make a new car that I wanted to own. Maybe one year Tesla offers colors and interior options that I like, and the next year they're using the ugly brush — pardon, appealing to a different taste. Switching cars is, if anything, even more of a time sink than switching phones. I'd have to update my registration, insurance, and parking permits. I'd have to fiddle with settings that Tesla's cloud doesn't copy over for me. When they change the charging cable (hi Apple!) I have to figure that out. No, I don't want to do that every year.

Anyway I misdoubt this is the direction Tesla's headed in. If the Tesla Network means you can turn a profit on transportation as a service, I expect most Teslas will end up in the hands of fleet operators. They'll replace some portion of the fleet every year, of course. And maybe you can pay a little extra to ride in a new-ish one.
 
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Reactions: buttershrimp
12 months seem to be too short to make it worthwhile. There's substantially more cash involved in purchasing a car versus a mobile device.

What about environmental responsibility when turning cars around that quickly?
 
What about environmental responsibility when turning cars around that quickly?

Excellent point. In the short to medium term it might be a net good, because used Teslas would tend to replace ICE vehicles. But in the long run you'd be sending a lot of cars to the crusher. There isn't that much room to improve the efficiency of an EV, so it should be greener to keep one for at least a few years.
 
[QUOTE
What about environmental responsibility when turning cars around that quickly?[/QUOTE]

As long as the used Teslas are re-sold & replace ICE cars, it's great for the environment. And no one is sending a one-year-old Tesla to the crusher. Environmentally, what matters is the useful life of the car, not how long it stays with its original owner.