My opinion has to be....No, by a longshot.
1. The nose is controversial and seems to be a love/hate thing. People are going to buy the Tesla because it's a Tesla, not because it has a nose cone or does not. Just as many hated the nose cone. Kind of a non-issue.
2. The LED lights I guess are cool, but will it make a difference in terms of convincing people to buy? Absolutely not.
3. Bio-defense air filtration. Really, if we get to a point where we actually need something like that, we have much bigger problems. What, are Tesla owners never going to exit their cars after a weapon of Mass Destruction was just dropped on us and everyone outside is dying. We'll have to stay inside the car for 2 years while the air clears. Sorry, don't this this having an ounce of impact on sales.
4. Center console. This one, I think makes a difference. Many have said they like the open space of not having a console, but as is common with most Tesla owners, Tesla can do no wrong. If the Tesla has or doesn't have it, it must be right. Those that argue against it do so because they don't have it. If they had it, they'd say people were crazy if they argued for removing it. I think the majority will find it beneficial and appreciate the addition.
5. Door pockets. not that it will make a difference in sales, but certainly I think will be almost universally appreciated. As much as Tesla owners argue that it forces them to keep their cars clean, the majority of us do need to keep things in our car. Having only the yacht floor space forced us to leave all our junk (or necessary items) in open space for it to slide around, especially during launches. Having a place to "put stuff away" will make the interior much more appealing for all but a limited few that don't need anything inside their cars.
Missing items.....
1. What happened to the new paint colors?
2. What happened to the luxury features on the interior? This is the one area I think they failed significantly. While the interior is nice and Tesla owners, again, love it because it's the way Tesla made it, the fact remains that most spending in this price range, expect the interior to be more comparable to higher end luxury brands. I do know people that have passed on the Tesla simply because they prefer the nicer interior of other brands. Adding the Model X seats would have been a nice step to for Tesla to show that their moving in that direction and possibly pull a few more buyers in.
3. Cup Holders....No real change. Sure, you can put a couple of cups in the center console, but I have one with the center console, by the time I have my stuff in there, there's no room for cups in there too. Plus, it's down low, they basically sit on the floor and are cramped in there. Not a good location for cups. Arguable if it's better or worse than the current cup holder locations. This, along with the lack of storage were two of the most loudly spoken complaints with the Tesla. Amazing that they didn't take advantage of this opportunity to fix the issue. Rear cup holders could have been easily added. With a new center console design, they easily could have designed it to have cup holders in a more appropriate location.
4. Fog light / side air inlets. I think since they re-designed the nose anyway, those areas should have been part of the refresh as well as they are with most car manufacturers when the car is updated. They made a huge change by removing the nose cone. Would have been a great opportunity to freshen up the rest of the nose as well.
5. Auto open doors? probably personal preference. Would think that since this car is effectively the same price as a Model X, it should have equal features. Musk claims the X is only priced $5,000 higher because its a bigger car with seating for 6 or 7. Based on the price of the rear seats for the Model S, his comments are consistent with the price difference. So why didn't the Model S get all of the other goodies released on the Model X, short of the falcon wing doors?
6. Performance/Battery size. Most manufacturers, when they offer a "refresh", generally have subtle changes to the performance of he car. In this case, a bigger battery would have been a great addition to lure in buyers on the edge of having range anxiety. Same thing with the power. Tesla owners were promised certain figures for the P85D Insane and P90D Ludicrous and to date, real world numbers still do not meet those promises. Would have been nice if this refresh included the necessary updates to meet those promises with software updates sent out to existing owners to update their cars to meet the promises made when they purchased their cars.
Other than the removal of the nose cone and addition of more storage inside the car, I think Tesla missed boat on this one. Unfortunately I don't think the changes that were made will at all convince buyers that were on the fence about buying a Tesla to finally make the leap. I upgraded from a 2013 to a 2015 because they made changes that mattered (autopilot, next gen seats, dual motors, all wheel drive, true performance option with a Ludicrous performance option on top of that).
Other than for the very limited few that are just going to go nuts now that their car's nose doesn't look the same as the car that will now roll off the assembly line, I can't see any of the changes made convincing current owners to upgrade as they did when the previous new features were released.
Just my 2 cents (well maybe 25 cents) worth!!
1. The nose is controversial and seems to be a love/hate thing. People are going to buy the Tesla because it's a Tesla, not because it has a nose cone or does not. Just as many hated the nose cone. Kind of a non-issue.
2. The LED lights I guess are cool, but will it make a difference in terms of convincing people to buy? Absolutely not.
3. Bio-defense air filtration. Really, if we get to a point where we actually need something like that, we have much bigger problems. What, are Tesla owners never going to exit their cars after a weapon of Mass Destruction was just dropped on us and everyone outside is dying. We'll have to stay inside the car for 2 years while the air clears. Sorry, don't this this having an ounce of impact on sales.
4. Center console. This one, I think makes a difference. Many have said they like the open space of not having a console, but as is common with most Tesla owners, Tesla can do no wrong. If the Tesla has or doesn't have it, it must be right. Those that argue against it do so because they don't have it. If they had it, they'd say people were crazy if they argued for removing it. I think the majority will find it beneficial and appreciate the addition.
5. Door pockets. not that it will make a difference in sales, but certainly I think will be almost universally appreciated. As much as Tesla owners argue that it forces them to keep their cars clean, the majority of us do need to keep things in our car. Having only the yacht floor space forced us to leave all our junk (or necessary items) in open space for it to slide around, especially during launches. Having a place to "put stuff away" will make the interior much more appealing for all but a limited few that don't need anything inside their cars.
Missing items.....
1. What happened to the new paint colors?
2. What happened to the luxury features on the interior? This is the one area I think they failed significantly. While the interior is nice and Tesla owners, again, love it because it's the way Tesla made it, the fact remains that most spending in this price range, expect the interior to be more comparable to higher end luxury brands. I do know people that have passed on the Tesla simply because they prefer the nicer interior of other brands. Adding the Model X seats would have been a nice step to for Tesla to show that their moving in that direction and possibly pull a few more buyers in.
3. Cup Holders....No real change. Sure, you can put a couple of cups in the center console, but I have one with the center console, by the time I have my stuff in there, there's no room for cups in there too. Plus, it's down low, they basically sit on the floor and are cramped in there. Not a good location for cups. Arguable if it's better or worse than the current cup holder locations. This, along with the lack of storage were two of the most loudly spoken complaints with the Tesla. Amazing that they didn't take advantage of this opportunity to fix the issue. Rear cup holders could have been easily added. With a new center console design, they easily could have designed it to have cup holders in a more appropriate location.
4. Fog light / side air inlets. I think since they re-designed the nose anyway, those areas should have been part of the refresh as well as they are with most car manufacturers when the car is updated. They made a huge change by removing the nose cone. Would have been a great opportunity to freshen up the rest of the nose as well.
5. Auto open doors? probably personal preference. Would think that since this car is effectively the same price as a Model X, it should have equal features. Musk claims the X is only priced $5,000 higher because its a bigger car with seating for 6 or 7. Based on the price of the rear seats for the Model S, his comments are consistent with the price difference. So why didn't the Model S get all of the other goodies released on the Model X, short of the falcon wing doors?
6. Performance/Battery size. Most manufacturers, when they offer a "refresh", generally have subtle changes to the performance of he car. In this case, a bigger battery would have been a great addition to lure in buyers on the edge of having range anxiety. Same thing with the power. Tesla owners were promised certain figures for the P85D Insane and P90D Ludicrous and to date, real world numbers still do not meet those promises. Would have been nice if this refresh included the necessary updates to meet those promises with software updates sent out to existing owners to update their cars to meet the promises made when they purchased their cars.
Other than the removal of the nose cone and addition of more storage inside the car, I think Tesla missed boat on this one. Unfortunately I don't think the changes that were made will at all convince buyers that were on the fence about buying a Tesla to finally make the leap. I upgraded from a 2013 to a 2015 because they made changes that mattered (autopilot, next gen seats, dual motors, all wheel drive, true performance option with a Ludicrous performance option on top of that).
Other than for the very limited few that are just going to go nuts now that their car's nose doesn't look the same as the car that will now roll off the assembly line, I can't see any of the changes made convincing current owners to upgrade as they did when the previous new features were released.
Just my 2 cents (well maybe 25 cents) worth!!
