I’ve been thinking about this for a while.
There was the PMM in the Raven, and now the Model 3 got a nice boost in range. No doubt this will happen again soon enough for the Y.
Inevitably there is a hardware change in cars that comes out while the current model cars are still being delivered that alienates buyers who just bought. Or sometimes just a $3k price drop (or more).
I can see both sides of this argument to some extent, although I lean towards ‘you thought it was a good deal when you agreed to buy it’ and pointing out that some have had their current cars for months. I feel like Tesla cars are a lot like smartphones in that there are predictable updates, some unpredictable ones looking 2 or 3 years out there’s always something amazing coming
So what’s the best way for a biz to handle these updates? For example, with a recent update the Y’s rated range went up 10 miles. Had that been an increase only for new cars being delivered now I don’t think I’d care as someone who took delivery 9/28 because it is a small bump. The Model 3 OTOH had a more substantial bump as well as a few other features- heated steering wheel, heated bumper around the radar (? I think), motorized trunk. All of those add up, and I may be missing some. While I agree that those who purchased a 3 before the upgrade did so thinking it was a good enough deal to commit to it even with the inevitable Y tech coming to the 3, I can still see how annoying that would be when a refresh comes out at the same price.
My point in creating this thread isn’t to rehash the complaints, rather I’m curious - what would be the best way to handle all this? Had the 3 price been bumped $5k I’m sure we’d see fewer complaints, but then it’s more than a Y which would be a bit strange. I was thinking a price bump with a refresh would be acceptable, but maybe not? A discount for the current cars? That wouldn’t help a one month old owner much, and if you gave a refund / discount for cars delivered 30 days before the announcement what about that customer that got their car 31 days before? Don’t smartphone manufacturers do this? It seems to me that new models come in at the price of the current models for the most part.
Also- Tesla’s mission seems to be to aggressively push to lower costs AND pass them onto customers, while at the same time making customers pay for features like P cars, performance boost and FSD.
Is there a way to do all this at the same time without pissing off someone in the sales chain? There’s also resale value on used Teslas to consider, or not consider.
I’m genuinely curious what people think about all this, if I’m missing anything (I suppose stockholders enter into it too), etc.
There was the PMM in the Raven, and now the Model 3 got a nice boost in range. No doubt this will happen again soon enough for the Y.
Inevitably there is a hardware change in cars that comes out while the current model cars are still being delivered that alienates buyers who just bought. Or sometimes just a $3k price drop (or more).
I can see both sides of this argument to some extent, although I lean towards ‘you thought it was a good deal when you agreed to buy it’ and pointing out that some have had their current cars for months. I feel like Tesla cars are a lot like smartphones in that there are predictable updates, some unpredictable ones looking 2 or 3 years out there’s always something amazing coming
So what’s the best way for a biz to handle these updates? For example, with a recent update the Y’s rated range went up 10 miles. Had that been an increase only for new cars being delivered now I don’t think I’d care as someone who took delivery 9/28 because it is a small bump. The Model 3 OTOH had a more substantial bump as well as a few other features- heated steering wheel, heated bumper around the radar (? I think), motorized trunk. All of those add up, and I may be missing some. While I agree that those who purchased a 3 before the upgrade did so thinking it was a good enough deal to commit to it even with the inevitable Y tech coming to the 3, I can still see how annoying that would be when a refresh comes out at the same price.
My point in creating this thread isn’t to rehash the complaints, rather I’m curious - what would be the best way to handle all this? Had the 3 price been bumped $5k I’m sure we’d see fewer complaints, but then it’s more than a Y which would be a bit strange. I was thinking a price bump with a refresh would be acceptable, but maybe not? A discount for the current cars? That wouldn’t help a one month old owner much, and if you gave a refund / discount for cars delivered 30 days before the announcement what about that customer that got their car 31 days before? Don’t smartphone manufacturers do this? It seems to me that new models come in at the price of the current models for the most part.
Also- Tesla’s mission seems to be to aggressively push to lower costs AND pass them onto customers, while at the same time making customers pay for features like P cars, performance boost and FSD.
Is there a way to do all this at the same time without pissing off someone in the sales chain? There’s also resale value on used Teslas to consider, or not consider.
I’m genuinely curious what people think about all this, if I’m missing anything (I suppose stockholders enter into it too), etc.
