Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

East Coasters to get short end of the stick

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
rogbmw

rogbmw

Member
Feb 10, 2012
874
181
Central Florida
#1
As a current owner of a Model S for over 3 years and living on the east coast, I spoke with Tesla this morning regarding the sequence of reservations. Tesla has said that Tesla owners will be placed ahead of non-Tesla owners in ordering priority. A representative from Tesla clarified this, and it looks like those of us on the east coast get the short end of the stick. In his own words, "Tesla is trying to be totally transparent on this".

According to the Tesla representative at Tesla, the sequence will be filled something like this:
1. West Coast family members and employees
2. West Coast existing Tesla owners
3. West Coast non- Tesla owners
4. Central US Tesla owners
5. Central US non-Tesla owners
6. East Coast Tesla owners
7. East Coast non-Tesla owners

So - probably from this - I would not hold out hope that those of us who have supported Tesla for quite some time, in fact Years for many of us - will have a chance at the tax credit.

So it looks like those of us on the east coast will probably get screwed.....
 
#2
This doesn't make sense. I can't believe they will actually carry out this sequence, as is no reason why they have to bias the reservations based on geographical locations. Also didn't they say that the reason why they have regional queues is to be fair in the first place?
 
#6
As an East Coast owner, I am disappointed that any other region non-owners will go first since that pretty much negates our "priority." I am hoping between now and then they will come up with a more fair way to indeed give east coast owners priority - it's al long ways away.
 
#9
No way.... The way you are moaning tells me you have no idea how the tax credit works OR how it expires.

Let me guess you think that any sale AFTER 200,000 is out of luck?!?! Hint the rebate doesn't vanish that way.

In fact once the 200,000 car is sold Tesla could sell a MILLIONS or even BILLIONS of more cars (in the next calendar quarter or quarters) and they'd ALL be qualifying with the TAX rebate.

Please stop with the FUD will ya?
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
Reactions: hanl1, MTL_HABS1909 and Tree95
#10
For the sake of argument let's assume this is accurate.

So, when is the cutoff? Am I to believe that someone who orders 6 months from now can theoretically have higher priority than me, a "#7" on that list?

Or is this measured on a month by month/week by week/quarter by quarter basis?

I'd hate to think that as a "launch day morning" reserver I get zero advantage over buyer types #1 through #6 between now and next fall.

Hopefully transparency means explaining full details about how this will work given that the car is 18 months away from launch. 18 months where anyone can make a deposit.


rogbmw said:
As a current owner of a Model S for over 3 years and living on the east coast, I spoke with Tesla this morning regarding the sequence of reservations. Tesla has said that Tesla owners will be placed ahead of non-Tesla owners in ordering priority. A representative from Tesla clarified this, and it looks like those of us on the east coast get the short end of the stick. In his own words, "Tesla is trying to be totally transparent on this".

According to the Tesla representative at Tesla, the sequence will be filled something like this:
1. West Coast family members and employees
2. West Coast existing Tesla owners
3. West Coast non- Tesla owners
4. Central US Tesla owners
5. Central US non-Tesla owners
6. East Coast Tesla owners
7. East Coast non-Tesla owners

So - probably from this - I would not hold out hope that those of us who have supported Tesla for quite some time, in fact Years for many of us - will have a chance at the tax credit.

So it looks like those of us on the east coast will probably get screwed.....
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: model3fan
#12
HeavyLee said:
Delivering cars to the West Coast is cheaper for Tesla than delivering to East Coast. So, while I would agree with you if I were an owner also, I can see how it makes financial sense to Tesla for them to deliver closest first.
Click to expand...

It's more than just delivery cost. They need to be able to support and maintain these vehicles once they're on the road. Service center expansion, service center staff training and certification, etc etc etc. These things take time, cost money, and are absolutely critical to a successful rollout. Frankly they'd be insane to just start sending cars out all over the country/world scattershot in an effort to try and honor a priority list. That's why they were very clear that the priority lists exist within a given region.
 
#13
I am not trying to get into an argument with anyone about how tax credits work. I am simply restating what I was told by a Tesla representative at Tesla (the national office, not my local store) today.

Regarding knowing how the tax rebate works, having received the rebate on 2 electric cars so far, I think I understand how it works. There is also a cap limit per manufacturer, and this will eventually come into play with Tesla when it reaches the upper threshold of the limit. Having been a Tesla stockholder for many years, and having been a Tesla owner for almost 3 1/2 years I am very familiar with how the federal tax credit works.
 
#14
Bimbels said:
As an East Coast owner, I am disappointed that any other region non-owners will go first since that pretty much negates our "priority." I am hoping between now and then they will come up with a more fair way to indeed give east coast owners priority
Click to expand...
It is disappointing to be last in the US (I am also in the East), but Tesla pretty clearly spelled out the rollout plan in their blog.

I am not sure why everyone is so surprised.

I am hoping to take Factory Delivery to work around the issue if CA fixes the sales tax thing.
 
#15
ucmndd said:
It's more than just delivery cost. They need to be able to support and maintain these vehicles once they're on the road. Service center expansion, service center staff training and certification, etc etc etc. These things take time, cost money, and are absolutely critical to a successful rollout. Frankly they'd be insane to just start sending cars out all over the country/world scattershot in an effort to try and honor a priority list. That's why they were very clear that the priority lists exist within a given region.
Click to expand...

Then it would make little sense to prioritize the Central US over the East Coast.

3prDm7t.png
 
  • Funny
Reactions: hanl1
#18
JohnSnowNW said:
Then it would make little sense to prioritize the Central US over the East Coast.
Click to expand...
Only if they're confident any issues encountered wouldn't require sending the vehicle back to the factory. There were several issues with early Model S that required sending the entire vehicles or parts to Fremont for repair. It makes sense for Tesla to deliver the early vehicles to those who live near the factory.

Additionally, depending on exact launch date, Tesla also concentrates deliveries near the close of the quarter to those near the factory to reduce shipping/delivery time and pad their sales numbers. So they may be more prone to branch out if they launch early in the quarter, or more centrally-located if late in the quarter.

I don't think it's going to be a rigid list like in the first post, though. The general overview might be right, but the edges between them will be fuzzy (with the exception of #1 and #2).
 
#19
I think we need to distinguish between *configuration* priority and *manufacturing* priority. Tesla is not going to reconfigure its manufacturing lines 7 x 4 (PXXD, XXD, xxD, xx) = 28 different times -- that is much, much more expensive to them (in terms of cost and downtime) than the difference in delivering to the east coast vs. west coast. Historically, this is the approach that Tesla has taken with the Model S and Model X, and I see no reason why this would be different with the Model 3.

Now, is it possible that Tesla will open up the Model 3 *configurator* for reservation-holders in a given macro-region (e.g. US + Canada) in the provided sequence? Sure, let's say they do that. Months after that happens, when production's about to fire up, Tesla will have a good idea of *how many* people have actually ordered (vs. deferred or cancelled), and *what* they ordered, they will come up with a manufacturing plan to drain that sequence in a way that maximizes their profit and delivery numbers. To me, this means that they will (as Elon has stated explicitly) deliver PXXDs first (likely in the same 1-7 sequence that the rep gave), then XXDs (again, likely in 1-7 order), then xxD (1-7) and xx (1-7). This approach makes good business sense for Tesla, as they will make better margins on the PXXDs (very important since the Gigafactory will not be up to full speed yet), and they will also only need to reconfigure their Model 3 manufacturing lines four times (instead of 28).

To spell it out explicitly, under this rollout plan, if you're a non-owner on the East Coast and order a PXXD, only the following six groups will get their car before you:

1. West Coast family members and employees who ordered a PXXD
2. West Coast existing Tesla owners who ordered a PXXD
3. West Coast non- Tesla owners who ordered a PXXD
4. Central US Tesla owners who ordered a PXXD
5. Central US non-Tesla owners who ordered a PXXD
6. East Coast Tesla owners who ordered a PXXD

Right after that, you're up:

7. East Coast non-Tesla owners who ordered a PXXD

...and then:

8. West Coast family members and employees who ordered a XXD
9. West Coast existing Tesla owners who ordered a XXD
10. West Coast non- Tesla owners who ordered a XXD
...etc...
28. East Coast non-Tesla owners who ordered a xx (base model)
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Andyw2100, hoang51 and Az_Rael
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E
  • Locked
Tesla Model 3 Battery Died!
Replies
59
Views
6K
Model 3: Battery & Charging
jjrandorin
J
samuelffrancis
High Mileage (previous rental) Used Model 3
Replies
4
Views
493
Model 3: Ordering, Production, Delivery
Hiline
Hiline
E
  • Article
Tesla kids science book + Our Model 4 prediction!
Replies
0
Views
297
Tesla, Inc.
EV_Twins
E
S
Model Y RWD test drive
Replies
11
Views
2K
The UK and Ireland
spdpsba
S
louco73
Model 3 Performance Replacement Tyres - Cost and Durability
Replies
15
Views
1K
Australia
Charl
Charl
Top
Back
Blog
New
Forum list
Marketplace
Menu