5/3/13 Announcement press release up

[manitou820]

I was originally temped with the Allied financing, but my big hang up is resale value. My wife and I are only in our mid 30's. We have plenty of income but I don't have significant cash saved to take a huge hit if the Model S were to take a massive dive in resale and I ended up with a brick of a car (very low chance, but with young kids I don't want to do it). Their original lease offer wasn't that attractive, but like I said, this might put it inline with my current car payment (minus cost of gas).

 

[PorscheDealer]

Yes that is exactly correct BENZ

So, if an American citizen wants to buy a Tesla Model S P85 (with certain options) which will cost 110,000 USD through the financing program, then he/she will have the option to sell the car back to Tesla Motors and receive back 55,000 USD (=50%), which he/she can use to pay off the loan from US Bank or Wells Fargo (in case he/she doesn't want to get another Tesla Motors EV)?

Yes that is exactly correct BENZ

 

[jeffro01]

I'd rather put down less and have a shorter term, 15% is just to much considering how "cheap" it is to borrow money right now. I hope the 10% option is still there with the shorter term.

Jeff

 

[SigGuy]

I'm a little confused about how all of this works in practice. So if at the end of the lease term the market actually values the car at 40%, Tesla takes the car back and presumably has a LOT of used cars to sell. As of now, they don't even have a method for selling used cars at all. Presuming MS2 comes out in 3 years and Tesla incentives current owners to upgrade, what's their method of selling 5-,000 to 10,000 used cars (all the same model)?

 

[blackoutRF]

Site's back up.

 

[vfx]

I agree. I'm not sure if Elon has just gotten back in the driver's seat or if the company is finally catching their breath, but they've been knocking the ball out of the park lately.

Sounds like Marcus has been hacked!

 

[dsm363]

Wow - that is good news. Good for Elon and Tesla. He should buy Fisker!!!

What benefit would that provide Tesla as a company?

It is good news though. More realistic numbers on the calculator leads people to think they are more truthful in other areas as well.

 

[aviators99]

What benefit would that provide Tesla as a company?

Correct. It seems like the worst idea ever conceived, but people keep posting it. Why would Tesla want to buy a failed hybrid car company that goes against every last principle Tesla has, including environmental, ergonomic, battery science, aesthetic, and economics???

 

[SoCalGuy]

What benefit would that provide Tesla as a company?

It is good news though. More realistic numbers on the calculator leads people to think they are more truthful in other areas as well.

It was more of a joke/wishful thinking - Elon is a great CEO and I like the nimbleness of Tesla as a company. Wish Fisker had some of that same blood.

 

[deonb]

The new calculator and web site front is now up. I think it looks much better now.

Apart from the numbers being based in California (which I'll forgive since it's a Californian company), there is nothing anymore that I find specifically sleezy about the new calculator. Now it's just ordinary fine print (15% down-payment).

Other thoughts?

 

[gregincal]

I'm a little confused about how all of this works in practice. So if at the end of the lease term the market actually values the car at 40%, Tesla takes the car back and presumably has a LOT of used cars to sell. As of now, they don't even have a method for selling used cars at all. Presuming MS2 comes out in 3 years and Tesla incentives current owners to upgrade, what's their method of selling 5-,000 to 10,000 used cars (all the same model)?

Actually, they do already sell trade in cars: http://www.teslamotors.com/preowned

They have 3 years to make adjustments to the method for higher volume.

 

[Zythryn]

I'm a little confused about how all of this works in practice. So if at the end of the lease term the market actually values the car at 40%, Tesla takes the car back ...

Important note. Your option to return the car for what ever the guaranteed residual value is, occurs at three years, not the end of the lease.

 

[ShortSlaver]

I'm a little confused about how all of this works in practice. So if at the end of the lease term the market actually values the car at 40%, Tesla takes the car back and presumably has a LOT of used cars to sell. As of now, they don't even have a method for selling used cars at all. Presuming MS2 comes out in 3 years and Tesla incentives current owners to upgrade, what's their method of selling 5-,000 to 10,000 used cars (all the same model)?

There's a whole lot of people who would love to buy one of those. You start selling a car for 40k and suddenly A LOT of people can think about affording it. I believe they would be hard to come by.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Sounds like Marcus has been hacked!

My thought too! Last I checked, this site isn't Twitter?!

Great followup announcement today; didn't know I was in the top 1% of US households :tongue: but, expanding the Model S market through this program to the top 10% of US households is huge!! The average buyer may struggle with the math - a car payment is a car payment, it takes some effort to factor in the hidden savings on no-gas - but, that's what we EVangelists are there to help out with

 

[AnOutsider]

Sounds like Marcus has been hacked!

Careful, you're about to lose your 'curmudgeon' status. :tongue:

My apologies for not kissing Tesla's @$$ when they don't deserve it.

Simply as of late, they've been acting more like the company I saw when I decided to plunk down money on hope. The COMPANY is what sealed the deal on what I already saw as a great product. I'm glad that culture is blooming.

 

[Norbert]

They even increased the annual "excess" mileage limit from 12,000 to 15,000 ! Yay!

 

[markb1]

http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/tesla-resale-value-guarantee.pdf

50% for the base 60 kWh car, 43% for all options, including larger battery. (Guess that's a counter-argument to buying options for resale value.)

Also, they changed the mileage limit to 15,000, so you'll no longer incur a penalty for driving the miles assumed in the calculator.

 

[Norbert]

The new calculator and web site front is now up. I think it looks much better now.

Apart from the numbers being based in California (which I'll forgive since it's a Californian company), there is nothing anymore that I find specifically sleezy about the new calculator. Now it's just ordinary fine print (15% down-payment).

Other thoughts?

"fine print (15% down-payment)":

The down-payment is actually part of the final number in the calculator, spread over 36 months. It's part of the calculation already.

 

[markb1]

"fine print (15% down-payment)":

The down-payment is actually part of the final number in the calculator, spread over 36 months. It's part of the calculation already.

The calculator lets you input the down payment, and (for me, anyway) it was initialized to 10%. So I'm not sure what the fine print is about.

 

[Norbert]

The calculator lets you input the down payment, and (for me, anyway) it was initialized to 10%. So I'm not sure what the fine print is about.

Mine was initialized to 15%. With "fine print" I was referring to deonb's post. I was saying it's not just in the fine print, it is also part of the calculator's monthly cost number, spread over 36 months. Don't know why you saw 10%. Might be you previously changed it in the preceding version of the calculator, and it kept your setting. That would be a tiny bug there, if so.