1. Did you give feedback to Tesla on the employees that you were satisfied with as well as the ones you weren't?
2. Maybe I misunderstood, but if not... why did you got through Seattle instead of Bellevue?
1. The feedback form had 3 grades, none of which had direct relation to what I'm talking about. I gave an honest 8/10 to the overall purchase experience, a 10/10 to my satisfaction with the car, and a 10/10 to suggesting Tesla to others.
2. I asked to, but Bellevue doesn't do deliveries anymore, at least until they move to a bigger place.
I think you'd agree that option 1 is not feasible. For two reasons. First is cost, of course, but second is requiring backward compatibility. That would seriously hamper the engineers' options.
Nobody was ever talking about feasibility, but I did say that the first option was the most resource-intensive
Multiple quotes by multiple people, all amounting to 'that's the nature of progress; don't sweat it and just enjoy what you have'
Ok... I'll try one more time to explain, at length, the nature of my (and others') discontent. That has been done at least three times on this thread already, so I don't have high hopes of this properly settling in.
Let's do this by contrasting the A-features (autopilot etc) and the D-features (AWD). My main point is that
the rollout of the D-features has been done right, while
the rollout of the A-features has been done rather sub-optimally.
So what's the difference between the two? Both enhance the car, both promise new spectacular possibilities, neither can be retrofitted. And
that is ok with me. I do accept that progress does not stand still. I know that, say, 10 years from now (provided we don't have an Ebolapocalypse :wink: ) a mid-range car is likely to be in many ways better than my current Model S. That, indeed, is life.
Let's get back to the differences and see how the D rollout happened:
The announcement of the D version amounted to "if you order now, you can get an AWD Model S whenever it's ready". That divided all existing and potential Model S owners into two classes:
1. The existing owners, who already have a Tesla, and the non-owners, who don't have an open order/reservation. I'm bundling them together because they have a common
choice: stay as they are now, or order a new AWD Model S if they want one. The existing Model S potentially lost in value, but not by much, since the front motor does cost quite a bit extra. That is unavoidable no matter how you introduce new features.
2. The reservation holders, who finalized their order. These, two, have a
choice of cancelling their order or amending it to include AWD. In most, if not all, cases this will not result in them having to forfeit their $2500 deposit.
Both of these categories, furthermore, can make an
informed choice, as they have been explicitly told of all the features and all of the associated costs.
Compared with AWD, the A-features can in many cases be classified as safety features, and that affects many aspects, from the car value to the insurance rates to peace of mind.
In addition, while AWD will just stay AWD, the A-feature list stretches well into the future, and promises new and exciting opportunities. Not having the sensor suite shuts one completely off from a wide range of safety and convenience features of the future.
All of that gives the A-list hardware quite a bit more weight, at least for me personally. Now let's have a look at how the A was done.
The announcement divided the existing and potential Model S owners into
three classes:
1. As previously, the existing owners, who already have a Tesla, and the non-owners, who don't have an open order/reservation. They, again, can make an
informed choice to order a new, more advanced Model S. The old cars lose in value, but this time it is due to the fact that the
new safety hardware comes as standard at no extra cost.
2. The later reservations. These are the cars produced in late September and outfitted with the sensor suite. They get extra hardware at no cost, and the promise of new features down the line through software updates.
3. The earlier reservations. These are the cars that have not received the sensor suite. These guys are indeed unfortunate. Not only do they miss out on all the A-list features, current and future, they also take a very unpleasant car value hit (if I go and recreate my car in the design studio, it will cost about $1000 less,
and have extra sensors
and fog lamps)
Now we come to the main problem with the A-feature rollout.
There was no choice, much less informed choice, about landing in either category 2 or category 3. The assignment was purely time-based, not even VIN-based, and came unannounced.
Furthermore,
there is no reasonable exit strategy for the people who landed in the third category. There will be no retrofit of the sensor suite, even at the owner's cost (again,
no choice). The only way to get a more safe, more future-proof car is to trade it in and get a new one, eating the significant difference (I guess 10% to 20% of the car's market price?) and having to go through the wait again. For a safety feature that now comes as standard at no extra cost, that is a dear price.
And that goes against a lot of the previous experience that people had with Tesla as a company. Tesla has repeatedly broadcast a message of "we got your back", a prominent example being another safety feature, the protective underplate, that has been retrofitted to all cars at no cost.
That is the source of the disappointment. It's not the disappointment of not having the latest gizmo. It is the disappointment of being essentially spoiled by Tesla over the course of years, and then facing the harsh reality of "we got your back only when it's cost-effective and doesn't harm the sales".
I'll conclude with a number of disclaimer-style statements:
1. This does not make me resent my Model S or consider it anything less than what it is.
2. This won't steer me to another car manufacturer out of spite. Every model will be considered based on it's own merits.
3. I don't like iPhones and I definitely don't become hysterical when I no longer have the latest model of whatever gadget I happen to own.