There have been many pissed off owners who recently purchased their cars, only to find it is outdated just a few days, weeks, months later with the release of the P100D, then followed a few weeks later with another major release of Autopilot 2.0. That's been Tesla's pattern since the Model S came out. New, secretive surprise updates to motivate existing buyers to trade up (me included). I hesitated and now wish I had hesitated another few months!! I know of several potential buyers who have been holding out for the same reason.
On a positive note, being that AP 2.0 is supposedly hardware capable of providing fully autonomous driving, I really can't think of any new updates they can do going forward that would be significant enough to make cars being built today fell outdated in the foreseeable future. I think it's finally reached its plateau.
Their focus will be shifting to the Model 3. Model S already got a bigger battery, new body design, new interior features, more power, new wheel design and now AP 2.0. Really, what's left to do??
Maybe auto opening doors and some other features found on the X, but nothing I can think of that would be a must have. Sure, the regular 90D will probably get a 100 kWh battery, but to me, that's a minor change. It was a big change for the Performance Model as it was necessary to get all of the power out of the motors to maximize performance, but for the regular models, the added 10 kWh is probably pointless to 95% (or more) of Tesla owners. The extra 10 kWh isn't enough to allow you to skip any superchargers. Sure, there will always be some rare circumstances where you may wish you had just a little more range, but for most, it's insignificant and certainly not worth the $10,000 premium they charge for it on the P100D (over P90D pricing). Until they can increase the range to over 400 miles and comfortably allow people to skip a Supercharger, incremental battery size increases won't be "gotta have it" features like many of the upgrades that have come to this point. The next "major" change likely won't come until they completely redesign the car, which is probably several years away.
So for anyone that's been holding out on purchasing a Model S or trading up, NOW is finally the right time to do so.
And probably best to do so quickly. If you haven't noticed, the original top of the line Model S topped out at just over $100,000. Today, a fully loaded P100D is just shy of $170,000. Tesla's pricing increases have always been "because we can". And, people keep paying it. So before the next $10,000 "flip of the switch" software option comes, probably best to take advantage before prices go up again. I'd bet that once AP 2.0 is fully functional and approved, its price will be significantly higher than the current $8,000 price tag. I just wish I didn't have 2 1/2 years left on my lease!! Had I waited 6 months to upgrade, my order for a new one would have already been placed.
On a positive note, being that AP 2.0 is supposedly hardware capable of providing fully autonomous driving, I really can't think of any new updates they can do going forward that would be significant enough to make cars being built today fell outdated in the foreseeable future. I think it's finally reached its plateau.
Their focus will be shifting to the Model 3. Model S already got a bigger battery, new body design, new interior features, more power, new wheel design and now AP 2.0. Really, what's left to do??
Maybe auto opening doors and some other features found on the X, but nothing I can think of that would be a must have. Sure, the regular 90D will probably get a 100 kWh battery, but to me, that's a minor change. It was a big change for the Performance Model as it was necessary to get all of the power out of the motors to maximize performance, but for the regular models, the added 10 kWh is probably pointless to 95% (or more) of Tesla owners. The extra 10 kWh isn't enough to allow you to skip any superchargers. Sure, there will always be some rare circumstances where you may wish you had just a little more range, but for most, it's insignificant and certainly not worth the $10,000 premium they charge for it on the P100D (over P90D pricing). Until they can increase the range to over 400 miles and comfortably allow people to skip a Supercharger, incremental battery size increases won't be "gotta have it" features like many of the upgrades that have come to this point. The next "major" change likely won't come until they completely redesign the car, which is probably several years away.
So for anyone that's been holding out on purchasing a Model S or trading up, NOW is finally the right time to do so.
And probably best to do so quickly. If you haven't noticed, the original top of the line Model S topped out at just over $100,000. Today, a fully loaded P100D is just shy of $170,000. Tesla's pricing increases have always been "because we can". And, people keep paying it. So before the next $10,000 "flip of the switch" software option comes, probably best to take advantage before prices go up again. I'd bet that once AP 2.0 is fully functional and approved, its price will be significantly higher than the current $8,000 price tag. I just wish I didn't have 2 1/2 years left on my lease!! Had I waited 6 months to upgrade, my order for a new one would have already been placed.
