"$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now"

[ebwb]

$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

Here's the title and lede to Tesla's February 28, 2019 announcement that got widespread media coverage:

$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

The Tesla Team - February 28, 2019

We are incredibly excited to announce that the standard Model 3, with 220 miles of range, a top speed of 130 mph and 0-60 mph acceleration of 5.6 seconds is now available at $35,000! Although lower in cost, it is built to achieve the same perfect 5-star safety rating as the longer-ranged version, which has the lowest probability of injury of any car ever tested by the U.S. Government.

Fast forward a month later, it seems not a single $35,000 Standard Range car has been produced. There are no pictures of the standard interior anywhere on the internet, aside from a rendering on the Tesla site. (In fact, nobody at Tesla has been able to tell me the number of ways the manual seats adjust.)

To me, it seems like the "$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now" announcement was actually a means to generate excitement and demand before the end of Q1 2019, even though they knew $35,000 SR cars would not be manufactured, let alone delivered, anytime soon. The estimated 2-4 week timeframe has, predictably, grown to 6-8 weeks, but it's looking more like June 2019 now -- dangerously close to the tax credit halving again.

I'm OK with Tesla selling the more profitable versions first. I just think it's a bit dishonest and slimy of Tesla to make a big "$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now" announcement when it's actually not available. IMO, the purpose of the announcement was really to drive up demand for the Model 3 SR+ (second paragraph in the announcement), but I suppose a "$37,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now" press release wouldn't have resulted in the same media buzz, since $35,000 has been the magic number.

More critically, it was a way for Tesla to get people to commit to $2,500 order payments and then upsell them once they were in the system.

 

[Kmartyn]

I took his statement as available to order now. IIRC he said they would not be ramping up delivery of the SR until June. Though the order page was certainly misleading with the indicated delivery estimate.

 

[OCR1]

The fact that they texted so many people to confirm a delivery date of 3/29 and then cancelled at the last minute sounds to me like they discovered a problem that couldn’t be resolved quickly. It could be an issue with a supplier or a malfunctioning part that needs to be reworked. But I don’t think they intentionally would have confirmed so many deliveries for a specific date and then pulled the plug just to sell more profitable cars to anxiously waiting customers.

 

[thewait]

It could be an issue with a supplier or a malfunctioning part that needs to be reworked.

If its this or any other reason really, shouldn't this be communicated immediately to those with open orders? It would set me at ease knowing that it was something like a supply chain issue. But instead I'm left in the dark scouring the internet for posts about _any_ new information.

 

[MXWing]

Might be an unpopular opinion but if you want it now.. I’d just switch to the SR+.

Who knows why they can’t get the SR ready this quarter but not ready to attribute it to malice.

 

[dsvick]

I voted "No" since they don't clarify it with "to order". However, I'll clarify my answer by saying that when I first heard them say that my mind automatically added the "to order" right after the word "available".

 

[realvvk]

Might be an unpopular opinion but if you want it now.. I’d just switch to the SR+.

Who knows why they can’t get the SR ready this quarter but not ready to attribute it to malice.

SR+ is not an option due to the disgusting leather interior. Jaguar does it right with the I-Pace. Cloth seats are an $8k option. I would gladly pay that and more. One of the biggest reasons I bought my Model S was that it was one of the very few options in its price class without disgusting, smelly, slippery, cold in winter, hot/sweaty in summer leather seats.

 

[jjrandorin]

SR+ is not an option due to the disgusting leather interior. Jaguar does it right with the I-Pace. Cloth seats are an $8k option. I would gladly pay that and more. One of the biggest reasons I bought my Model S was that it was one of the very few options in its price class without disgusting, smelly, slippery, cold in winter, hot/sweaty in summer leather seats.

No model 3 has leather seats btw.

 

[OCR1]

SR+ is not an option due to the disgusting leather interior. Jaguar does it right with the I-Pace. Cloth seats are an $8k option. I would gladly pay that and more. One of the biggest reasons I bought my Model S was that it was one of the very few options in its price class without disgusting, smelly, slippery, cold in winter, hot/sweaty in summer leather seats.

I’m not going to try and talk you into something you don’t want since it’s your car and you deserve to have it configured as you wish. But just to clarify some of your points:

1) The material used is not real leather, it’s what Tesla refers to as Vegan leather.
2) In the winter you will be able to warm just your seat when you are driving to stay warm. Since the SR does not have heated seats you will have no choice but to run the heating system to heat the entire car, which will reduce the range by drawing more battery power.
3) The cloth seats are completely manual. Maybe that’s fine with you but it will definitely not be as comfortable as the power seats because there will not be as many options to customize the seating position to your preference.

 

[Lasairfion]

I got my first car with leather seats well over a decade ago; in fact I think it's pushing closer to 2 decades ago. I've had a pretty large number of cars in that time and as a household we run 3 cars. Would I go back to cloth? I highly doubt it. It's more comfortable, it's easier to clean, you get heated seats (can't live without them in winter) and there is a huge amount of kudos still wrapped up in having a car with leather seats. Okay the Teslas are fancy pleather but it's very nice fancy pleather that seems similar enough to the real deal.

Two of our current cars have heated seats front and rear (which only comes with the leather option). People still express disbelief at the idea of heated seats when they get in the back. I don't know anyone else who owns a car with rear heated seats. I think some of the really high end Mercs do but most of that range don't. The fact that you can buy a Model 3 (admittedly the more expensive ones) with rear heated seats is brilliant. I remember getting in a Merc CLA with leather only to find that it was manually moved seats to get to the back of the coupé. Ka-clunk! My Peugeot 406 Coupé had full electric seats. Talk about disappointing.

Considering the small jump in price to the Standard Plus model it certainly seems worth it. And it's much easier for Tesla to make the SR+ because it's just their other 3 models with bits missing, essentially. The actual SR has new parts, and I reckon that's the reason for the delay.

I expect I'll only switch away from leather, or leather-lookalike when some amazing new futuristic material comes out that has better properties. It'd have to be some really fancy cloth to break through the expectation barrier though.

 

[mattjs33]

Might be an unpopular opinion but if you want it now.. I’d just switch to the SR+.

Who knows why they can’t get the SR ready this quarter but not ready to attribute it to malice.

Good morning MX.

Just sitting here with my popcorn.

*wink*

 

[realvvk]

I’m not going to try and talk you into something you don’t want since it’s your car and you deserve to have it configured as you wish. But just to clarify some of your points:

1) The material used is not real leather, it’s what Tesla refers to as Vegan leather.
2) In the winter you will be able to warm just your seat when you are driving to stay warm. Since the SR does not have heated seats you will have no choice but to run the heating system to heat the entire car, which will reduce the range by drawing more battery power.
3) The cloth seats are completely manual. Maybe that’s fine with you but it will definitely not be as comfortable as the power seats because there will not be as many options to customize the seating position to your preference.

Counterpoints:

1) Yes, I appreciate not having to condition the seats every 6 weeks. But still cold, hot, slippery and disgusting.
3) I strongly prefer manual seats. I need to move the front passenger seat very frequently and it drives me insane to have to wait for electric seats. Manual seats are so much quicker to adjust! And they are more durable/reliable long term. I would pay good money for manual seats if this was an option when I ordered my MS.

M3 SR is clearly the most superior model. Not only is it the cheapest, it offers all these desirable things like black interior, cloth manual seats, rear wheel drive, etc. My wish list would include smaller wheels and solid metal roof.

I don't know if I would by a new Model S today. It is AWD only, no solid roof, no manual fifth door. Power fifth door would definitely be a deal breaker for me, no way I would accept that.

 

[realvvk]

I got my first car with leather seats well over a decade ago; in fact I think it's pushing closer to 2 decades ago. I've had a pretty large number of cars in that time and as a household we run 3 cars. Would I go back to cloth? I highly doubt it. It's more comfortable, it's easier to clean, you get heated seats (can't live without them in winter) and there is a huge amount of kudos still wrapped up in having a car with leather seats. Okay the Teslas are fancy pleather but it's very nice fancy pleather that seems similar enough to the real deal.

Easier to clean?? I find this so ironic. Every time I spend two hours conditioning leather seats in my BMW 550i every six weeks I curse the leather seats. Cloth seats? About 10 minutes with a vacuum cleaner and they are like new 20 years later.

Also, plenty of cars with cloth heated seats, including my Model S.

 

[MXWing]

SR+ is not an option due to the disgusting leather interior. Jaguar does it right with the I-Pace. Cloth seats are an $8k option. I would gladly pay that and more. One of the biggest reasons I bought my Model S was that it was one of the very few options in its price class without disgusting, smelly, slippery, cold in winter, hot/sweaty in summer leather seats.

Tell us how you REALLY feel about the leather interior. LOL.

Seriously, if you are THAT hard up about something that half a million people seem ok with - the Model 3 is probably not for you.

The Model SR will have it’s own issues that I am sure will piss you off.

Please on the iPace. You’d get clowned on so hard getting THAT. Talk about good money after bad.

Get some seat covers or something.

Good morning MX.

Just sitting here with my popcorn.

*wink*

Morning. It’s a short movie when someone wants to bring up the iPace.

I’ve seen more original roadsters on the street than the zero sightings of customer owned iPaces. I’d argue that car is more fake than the lunar landings.

 

[mattjs33]

Morning. It’s a short movie when someone wants to bring up the iPace.

I’ve seen more original roadsters on the street than the zero sightings of customer owned iPaces. I’d argue that car is more fake than the lunar landings.

Hey take it easy man, I'm a Jag guy you know!

I was referring to the mythical base car, but that horse is already dead so...

 

[mattjs33]

With regard to the I-Pace however, @MXWing, Jaguar's sales across the board are a fraction of the German 3. I rarely see current Jags of any type in casual traffic. Expecting to see I-Paces in the wild is going to be a tall order.

 

[BenR]

I just wanted to say that as someone who does generally prefer a good-quality cloth seat vs nappa or other "high-end" leather seats (certainly not to the level of loathing of @realvvk , but generally speaking would pay a grand or two if I absolutely had to to stay away from "real leather,") Tesla's vegan vinyl is my favorite seat material that I've ever experienced. The sitting feel is the best, it is not slippery (OK maybe just a little - nowhere near treated leather,) does not get as hot/cold (and with Model 3 you are preconditioning your car/seats very quickly and easily anyway) and incredibly easy to clean.

In regard to the original question, it was reported early this month that Tesla had produced the first batch of 550 SR- cars, which presumably all went to employees for "final testing" before starting customer deliveries. My guess is that the employees found something in the new materials/build that needed fixing, and it wasn't a quick fix. Should they have done all that before opening up orders? Probably would have been prudent. Would that be anywhere in keeping with how Tesla has operated for the last 7 years? Hellz no.

 

[MXWing]

Hey take it easy man, I'm a Jag guy you know!

I was referring to the mythical base car, but that horse is already dead so...

I’ve always liked Jags in the ICE age.

Totally different game for EV though. You are really foolish to get an iPace with all the Tesla options.

A fun comparison is googling for Jaguar electrical problems. Googling for Tesla panel gaps is so dumb in comparison.

 

[PhaseWhite]

Here's what I don't get about the people who are so caught up on a 35k Model 3:
1. You've literally had 3 years to save money if you were waiting for a Model 3
2. If you can afford the 35k version, you can also afford the 37k version (It's < 6% difference)
3. $35000 in 2016 = $37000 in 2019
4. For 2k more you get a more luxurious car that's faster and has 20 more miles of range.
5. The seats are really nice (Have you sat in them?) Why would you hold out for cloth?