For existing Tesla owners does standing in line push you further towards the top.

[cgiGuy]

Will owners of multiple Teslas go ahead of single Tesla owners?

However, if you are Tesla and when there are two exact orders from 2 owners, you might want to apply some rationales such as what you suggested above for picking one over the other.

Seriously? I thought Darrin was joking.

What's next? Who has purchased the most Tesla hats and T-shirts and wears them all to the store to pre-order?

 

[DarrinR]

Actually I was joking

 

[johnster007]

I agree with others that we really don't know for sure how Tesla is going to work this. I told my Tesla friends who will be new customers that it may be true that fully loaded cars will be at the front of the line but also cautioned that most signatures in the S and X series did get out before the general production started. If they treat the employee cars as test batches (which I think they will do) then at a minimum everyone will be behind employees. With my early reservation Model S I ordered a base 60kWh with air-suspension. My VIN is under 4000 yet there were still many orders for loaded ones behind me that didn't jump ahead.

So here's my thoughts that make me wonder how they will work this.
How long will existing customers get preferred treatment? forever? only on the 31st? Only for the week? For one car? for several cars? for any trim level?
Those are important questions.

If it's forever then I can see the potential that new customers will never see a Model 3 in their driveway. Model 3s are rather cheap for people buying 90k+ cars. They can get one for the kids and a spare to keep for mom. In a year after the son totals the first one racing someone they will order another one. Since existing customers can potentially (world wide) be ordering 150-200K cars then I can see that going on forever. I will order one for my wife on the 31st. I will order one to replace my Model S after my wife gets hers. Will I still get put in front of the line in 2018? No that's ridiculous. How about employees?

I think the employees have until the 31st to get in line first.
I think current owners have until the end of the 31st (one day) to get in line second.
On April 1st everyone starts getting in the same line.
If a new customer orders on the 31st in stores they will be in line first on the first.... if that makes sense.

Of coarse that's a lot of thinking and now my brain hurts.

I just spoke with a product specialist who said owners would be contacted prior to 31st with a reservation offer. Lower VINs get preference. I hope he's right and I hear from them soon!

 

[ChadS]

That would be nice for me, as I have a Roadster and Model S #112. And I'm not a big fan of standing in lines.

But I just got email this morning that just expanded on waiting in line on the 31st. It did say (first time I'd heard it) that I could place one priority reservation per Tesla I own. If they are planning this, it is something new and last-minute. (As usual!)

 

[MrBoylan]

For those are currently Tesla owners and therefore who will already get a boost up in line by being an owner does anyone think standing in line would make a difference. I plan on purchasing a Model 3 for my wife. She is already getting spoiled with the P90DL. For example, we had to take the car back to the SC for a few days and they gave us a Model S P85, it didn't have autopilot. She kept yelling at the car because it was DUMB.

Therefore I know we will probably be ordering a car which is in the mid to upper range of cost. I want to make sure we get the car with the first six months that it comes and of course if the rebate still exists by then be able to take advantage of it

I'm thinking that they may open up the online reservation system to existing owners before March 31, just as they already did for Tesla employees. They haven't announced that they would do this, but they haven't announced that they won't.

If they don't then yeah, it might be worth a trip to the local Tesla store on 3/31 to get your order in before other existing owners.

 

[MrBoylan]

Orrrrrr... order a RWD 70 today and be a year and a half earlier than anyone else getting a M3!

$40K-50K in options on a $35K car? Would someone actually do this? I can't imagine Tesla will not have a clear line between the M3 and the S/X.

Other manufacturers have major areas of pricing overlap among models. Do you want a smaller car fully loaded with all the performance and range options or a larger car which is less feature rich? BMW's 3 series includes many model styles and options. It starts at around $32K and goes up over $65K (even higher if the BMW M3 is considered part of the 3 series).

Here's my crack at how you could get a Model 3 over $80K assuming similar options are offered on the 3 as on the S and X.

I'm assuming a base battery and a larger battery option. I'm also assuming the options on the 3 will be 20% to 25% *lower* than they are on the S or X (except AutoPilot, which I suspect will be the same price on all models)

Model 3 Possible Options Pricing
Base (60 kWh) $ 35,000.00
Larger Battery (80 kWh) $ 10,000.00
Dual Motor $ 3,750.00
Performance Upgrade option (includes smart air suspension) $ 15,000.00
Ludicrous Speed Upgrade $ 7,500.00
Auto Pilot $ 2,500.00
Supercharger Access $ 2,000.00
Premium Interior/Lighting Package $ 2,500.00
Ultra HiFi Sound $ 2,000.00
Cold Weather Package $ 750.00
Multi-Coat Paint $ 1,250.00
Leather Seats $ 2,000.00
19" premium wheels $ 2,000.00
Total before Incentives $ 86,250.00

Supercharger access may or may not be included in the base price. If it's an option I expect it to be around $2K (plus or minus $500). And hey, if they can roll lifetime supercharger access into the base model 3 for $35K and still generate enough revenue to keep building out the supercharger network, then more power to 'em (and to us!)

But I think we're going to have to speculate about this for a lot more than just the next week. Model X production option details and pricing weren't known until just a few weeks before those models entered production. I think what we'll get next Thursday is confirmation of the pricing and range and *maybe* we'll find out if Supercharger access is included or optional. That plus a glimpse at the actual prototype of course and maybe some new features.

More details (and discussion about this) is in the Model 3 rollout speculation thread: Model 3 roll-out speculation

 

[spaceballs]

That would be nice for me, as I have a Roadster and Model S #112. And I'm not a big fan of standing in lines.

But I just got email this morning that just expanded on waiting in line on the 31st. It did say (first time I'd heard it) that I could place one priority reservation per Tesla I own. If they are planning this, it is something new and last-minute. (As usual!)

Do they count Roadsters? I'm not seeing it mentioned in the email from Tesla, just says S and X.

 

[ChadS]

I suspect they will count Roadsters - they said you get one reservation per Tesla. I think the mention of S and X was just because that's the way non-owners can become owner and get an earlier spot on the 3 list, by buying one of the cars currently for sale.

 

[Scannerman]

I agree with others that we really don't know for sure how Tesla is going to work this. I told my Tesla friends who will be new customers that it may be true that fully loaded cars will be at the front of the line but also cautioned that most signatures in the S and X series did get out before the general production started. If they treat the employee cars as test batches (which I think they will do) then at a minimum everyone will be behind employees. With my early reservation Model S I ordered a base 60kWh with air-suspension. My VIN is under 4000 yet there were still many orders for loaded ones behind me that didn't jump ahead.

So here's my thoughts that make me wonder how they will work this.
How long will existing customers get preferred treatment? forever? only on the 31st? Only for the week? For one car? for several cars? for any trim level?
Those are important questions.

If it's forever then I can see the potential that new customers will never see a Model 3 in their driveway. Model 3s are rather cheap for people buying 90k+ cars. They can get one for the kids and a spare to keep for mom. In a year after the son totals the first one racing someone they will order another one. Since existing customers can potentially (world wide) be ordering 150-200K cars then I can see that going on forever. I will order one for my wife on the 31st. I will order one to replace my Model S after my wife gets hers. Will I still get put in front of the line in 2018? No that's ridiculous. How about employees?

I think the employees have until the 31st to get in line first.
I think current owners have until the end of the 31st (one day) to get in line second.
On April 1st everyone starts getting in the same line.
If a new customer orders on the 31st in stores they will be in line first on the first.... if that makes sense.

Of coarse that's a lot of thinking and now my brain hurts.

Clearly, Elon and his staff have been, and will be giving all the above, a lot of careful thought. But, in my opinion, your analysis is very likely close to the final cut.

Scannerman

 

[jchau]

They better have a plan to roll out large numbers in a quick period of time. Think its possible/likely that a large number of reservers will withdrawal their deposits if they know they will not receive at least the $3500 tax rebate as well as waiting into late 2019+ before obtaining their M3, including me. Or that could just be my rant thinking I waiting 4 hours in line as seem that i'm getting lower and lower on the queue

 

[MrBoylan]

They better have a plan to roll out large numbers in a quick period of time. Think its possible/likely that a large number of reservers will withdrawal their deposits if they know they will not receive at least the $3500 tax rebate as well as waiting into late 2019+ before obtaining their M3, including me. Or that could just be my rant thinking I waiting 4 hours in line as seem that i'm getting lower and lower on the queue

What's the $3500 tax rebate? Are you referring to the $7,500 Federal income tax credit when it gets cut down to 50% ($3,750) during the phase-out period? Hard to know exactly when that will happen but based on my projections, I believe the 50% reduction will kick in on January 1, 2019, and it will drop down to 25% ($1,875) on July 1, 2019, phasing out entirely (for Tesla cars) on January 1, 2020 (unless something changes with the credit before then).

As for having a plan to roll out large numbers quickly, Musk's tweet from earlier this month suggests that is exactly what they plan to do:

Richard Greenspan ‏@RGspan Apr 3
"[email protected] it's unfair that previous #tesla owners get first dibs for #Model3 . Seems that lot of new customers won't get the $7500 rebate"

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk
"@RGspan Our production ramp plan should enable large numbers of non X/S customers to receive the credit."

Elon Musk on Twitter