Are future Tesla reservations dead?

[james_power]

Just over 3 years ago, many of us put down £1000 or $1000 (in some cases) to reserve a model 3. We were told priority would be given to existing owners and cars would be delivered strictly in reservation order. If you read the various posts on the forums across this site, twitter and facebook it appears those reservations didn't mean much at all.

Clearly something has gone wrong somewhere.

The point I want to make here is that by not following through with their promise to their existing customers and early reservation holders they have made a mockery of their own reservation process. In the process of doing so they are only hurting themselves as fewer reservations means less upfront cash.

 

[Peteski]

I agree with you, but people will still fall for it again with the Model Y and so on. Reservations would have only meant something if there was say a 1+ year waiting list at the start of UK delivery. But it appears that anyone who wants a UK Model 3 will probably get one within a few months if they order today.

 

[mrjam1e]

In speaking to Sales Friday they mentioned repeatedly that orders were being prioritised to those to reserved early. This was without prompting or hinting, so I’m inclined to think it still holds (some) weight.

 

[james_power]

Complete speculation, but I suspect under the pressure of all the orders, sales phone calls and changing specifications (reduction in price of performance model) they messed up, but since they were then allocated and communicated they couldn't really call people up and say "sorry you shouldn't have got that car". The fact that they are now making a point of saying that means that someone higher up has probably sent out a memo.

 

[ewoodrick]

Reservations were absolutely honored. But if you had an reservation for a Model 3 SR, your gate didn't open until the SR became available. Also, if I remember correctly, reservations didn't include orders, so as the reservations were converted into orders, everyone had a somewhat decent idea of what order that the cars would be delivered. It was a conscious choice of the folks that wanted the SR to wait for a period before their vehicles were available.

Model Ys are not being accepted as reservations, they are being accepted as orders, a different concept.

Existing owners with reservations went to the top of the reservation queue, then the folks that ordered the LR RWD, then performance, etc. There were probably 50,000 LR RWD on the road with no other models availalble

 

[WannabeOwner]

If you read the various posts on the forums across this site, twitter and facebook it appears those reservations didn't mean much at all.

Tesla have done exactly the same thing with every previous launch - highest value/profit models first, and every time there have been disappointed customers who, it has seemed, want to have their low-end model, even if it bankrupts Tesla ...

Anyone who placed an order right at the start of May, barring "rare option choices", will likely get their car by end July, as against end June for the very first few - not a lot of difference. Within that Tesla is likely to prioritise highest value/profit models, no shame in that, they need money, and within those I can't imagine that any reservation holder, who placed an order in early May , won't be prioritised - although if they can't get the cash together in time or some other complications I wouldn't be surprised if their delivery gets pushed back. Tesla need the money. Tesla didn't rush to assign VINs to Orders, so Tesla have been able to assign VINs "late on" to accommodate reservation holder who were slow in making an order after 01-May, but Tesla have allocated VINs now, so "there comes a time"

Also, it appears that Tesla speculatively produced the cars, rather than "to order". So there will be some option-choices where there aren't enough in the early batches to satisfy demand. Unfortunate for anyone who wanted one of those and doesn't get it.

in USA shortly after launch Tesla also favoured existing owners (i.e. MS / MX) wanting to buy M3 (who hadn't already got a reservation). That makes good business sense to me, because existing customers repeat-ordering make good ambassadors. I have a mid-July delivery date,I didn't make a reservation, I placed my order promptly after 01-May; but I am an existing owner, so either a) the USA experience also holds good in UK or b) the actual conversion of reservations to orders wasn't generating sufficient demand. I took the call from Tesla when it came (I've heard people saying "I didn't recognise the caller ID" or "I was out/away/abroad") ... I also filled in all the forms that they requested immediately. Anyone not able to respond promptly may have got bumped I suppose ...

For anyone wanting an SR- then that isn't available yet. I can imagine some people wanting SR- will cancel their reservations as a consequence, which is a pity of course, but hopefully once the SR- (or something else at that price-point) is available they will become a buyer.

There is another factor in play, which is that Tesla need to manage their share price, and to do that they need good enod of quarter results, and to that end they need to ship maximum cars within easy delivery distance, i.e. USA / Canada, at the end of June. So there won't be any/much manufacturing for EU/UK during June, so that means not many deliveries during August for anyone that missed the July slots.

 

[LEE3]

I consider the reservation just a serious intention to buy and not a specific spot in a queue. The queue then relates more on the various specs of cars which are shipped and will be issued to the various service centres. There will never be a shipment of specs which perfectly match orders based on reservation placements. Some shipments will contain a large number of spec / colour / wheel choice etc so can only be customer matched on arrival so unlikely to ever be a perfect process.

 

[Matt_NZ]

I feel that reservations are only useful if you're in the country where the Model is first being launched and there is a period of short supply/production, which will likely always be the USA. Back when they were only making a few 100-1000 Model 3's a month and in only one config, having an early reservation paid off. Now that they're making almost 7000 of them a week, reservations in the RHD markets don't really have much weight since they can likely fulfill all the converted reservations plus new orders in just a week or two of production. Are you expecting them to limit their production output and half fill a ship just to give reservations priority?

 

[Peteski]

A UK reservation was a complete waste of time IMO. I only had a reservation myself because I wanted to boost my air miles at the time. I never considered a reservation worth having and it actually caused more hassle for me in the end with the last minute spec/price changes.

 

[sixela]

Where I was sitting reservations did account for something but it only gave you a spot in the queue of people waiting for the exact same configuration (a day 1 reservation, I was told, meant that I could have made an appointment for the very first day they would deliver RWD LR in Europe).

But configurations made a lot more difference (some people were even phoned by Tesla to add a tow bar to their order to get faster delivery). I was lucky to choose RWD/LR Blue/Black with 18" aero, a configuration for which they expected a lot of demand.

Just to give one example of what can happen, over here they recently had oodles of RWD LR Black/Black with 18" Aero , because they had built and shipped more of these than they actually got orders; you could get these in a week. Meanwhile someone wanting an AWD LR "Stormtrooper" White/white with 19" wheels and a 2016 reservation would still anxiously wait for a VIN to be assigned.

And now RWD LR supply is dried up and it's no longer orderable, so this changes constantly.