2019 model vs. 2020

[KeithMac]

Made a huge mistake... went and test drove a Model 3 at the local Houston showroom. I want a model 3 and look forward to owning a 2nd electric vehicle (2018 Volt), sold the Ford Explorer a few months ago.

I've been following the forums closely and appreciate all the info. I was working up to save a nice size down payment, however, noticed this weekend the news on leasing an M3 which I'll probably do... so no real need to save for a large downpayment.

Questions regarding model year...

1. Should I wait for the 2020s to come out? Not concerned with resale value since will lease.

2. When does Tesla usually introduce the next model year cars? Fall of 2019 for 2020s or Jan 2020?

Thank you all again!

Keith
Houston, TX

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

Tesla doesn't do upgrades on a model year interval. They do them whenever. However, with AP3 hardware just coming out a few weeks ago... the time to buy is... now. Literally now.

 

[OCR1]

The 2020 Model will be out on January 1, 2020. Model year is determined by date of manufacturer with Tesla. As the previous poster already stated, it will not correspond to any changes in design or functionality. That is how the legacy auto industry trained us to think, but it doesn’t apply to Tesla. They may make changes to design or functionality any time they choose, and they will not announce it before doing so.

So yes, no need to wait. Order your car.

 

[MoHazee4]

Wait it out.

There might not be any design changes - but you bet your buns functionality & features will change, for the better.

If I had waited 6 more months - my car would have cost the exact same, would come with EAP standard, and FSD would be a fraction of the cost.....Plus, you get newer hardware....tighter panel gaps....resolutions for issues discovered by early adopters.

But - I got mine early so I could snag that $7,500 tax credit. No regrets when I see that extra $$ in my bank account.

A decision point might be -- determining if you by ordering now, will you receive any of the partial tax credit?

 

[TSLA_Hopeful]

Wait it out.

There might not be any design changes - but you bet your buns functionality & features will change, for the better.

If I had waited 6 more months - my car would have cost the exact same, would come with EAP standard, and FSD would be a fraction of the cost.....Plus, you get newer hardware....tighter panel gaps....resolutions for issues discovered by early adopters.

But - I got mine early so I could snag that $7,500 tax credit. No regrets when I see that extra $$ in my bank account.

A decision point might be -- determining if you by ordering now, will you receive any of the partial tax credit?

Tax credit is honestly the biggest factor.

 

[MoHazee4]

Tax credit is honestly the biggest factor.

Well - There ya go....I guess you are going to pull the trigger tonight?

If you want that credit - then you'll have to order it right away.

If you can swing the $$ -- pay for the FSD.

 

[KeithMac]

Wait... I can capture the tax credit by leasing? Tell me more please, I was not aware of this.

Don't think I'm ready to pull the trigger tonight however, I cannot wait till 1/1/20 to get my M3.

 

[OCR1]

Wait... I can capture the tax credit by leasing? Tell me more please, I was not aware of this.

Don't think I'm ready to pull the trigger tonight however, I cannot wait till 1/1/20 to get my M3.

Tesla gets the Federal Tax Credit if you lease, not you. Tesla leasing on the Model 3 is not very competitive.

 

[jjrandorin]

Wait... I can capture the tax credit by leasing? Tell me more please, I was not aware of this.

Don't think I'm ready to pull the trigger tonight however, I cannot wait till 1/1/20 to get my M3.

The tax credits always go to the OWNER of the vehicle. In a lease, thats tesla, not you, so they will get the tax credit. It works this way with every car manufacturer that offers leasing btw.

Now, sometimes some manufacturers choose to share some (or potentially all) of the tax credit with the person leasing the vehicle, to make the lease more competitive for their own reasons. With BMW, you would see things like a 3k incentive on a vehicle that had a tax credit of 4250 for example.

Tesla's lease is not very competitive to me at all, with the effective payments being about what payments would be to actually buy the car. This is said as someone who is very familiar with, and partial to competitive leasing, as I had (3) 3 year lease cycles of (2) bmws for my wife and I until just recently. My wife is on lease cycle 4 of BMWs (with an X3 M40) and I chose to buy the model 3 instead of leasing another BMW.

With the "its not competitive" from a lease $$ standpoint to me out of the way, one reason people would want to lease these cars is there will always be a better, and we may not have to wait too long to get that better version. The flip side of this is, currently at least, Tesla will not even give you the option to buy the car after the lease ends.

 

[Blu Angel]

Made a huge mistake... went and test drove a Model 3 at the local Houston showroom. I want a model 3 and look forward to owning a 2nd electric vehicle (2018 Volt), sold the Ford Explorer a few months ago.
..... I was working up to save a nice size down payment, however, noticed this weekend the news on leasing an M3 which I'll probably do... so no real need to save for a large downpayment
Thank you all again!
Keith
Houston, TX

@KeithMac,
We all make mistakes!

I would definitely PURCHASE the Tesla 3 versus lease.
You get an extra $3750 tax credit if you take delivery before June 30.

The less-good news was that the company's federal tax credit to buyers of $7,500 would be cut in half (to $3,750) on January 1, 2019, cut in half again (to $1,875) on July 1, and disappear altogether on January 1, 2020

 

[dsvick]

Wait it out.

There might not be any design changes - but you bet your buns functionality & features will change, for the better.

If I had waited 6 more months - my car would have cost the exact same, would come with EAP standard, and FSD would be a fraction of the cost.....Plus, you get newer hardware....tighter panel gaps....resolutions for issues discovered by early adopters.

Any software/feature changes will be made available to everyone so that isn't a consideration. The only difference he would have between ordering now and waiting would be hardware changes and since those can happen at any time, with little to no warning, there isn't a really good case for waiting that doesn't make it advantageous to just wait forever and end up never buying one.

 

[67King]

I'd plan to lease towards the end of June. Lead time on the Performance is close to 8 weeks, not sure about others. So if you need to build one, then you should be looking to order now. If the typical inventory cars are good, then wait. But you'll get the most for the tax break, and Tesla wants to push to get as many cars delivered within a quarter as they can, at least if the last 2 are any indication.

 

[MoHazee4]

Any software/feature changes will be made available to everyone so that isn't a consideration. The only difference he would have between ordering now and waiting would be hardware changes and since those can happen at any time, with little to no warning, there isn't a really good case for waiting that doesn't make it advantageous to just wait forever and end up never buying one.

You are correct - these features will be made available. However - the pricing is the consideration.

please see earlier comments (friendly) - I think OP got it sorted out and is ordering Sooner due to the tax credit incentive.