While many Tesla owners have no interest to doing any legwork to sell a car themselves, if the current market holds for a while, I can't imagine Tesla getting as many cars back from leases. Prices were reduced significantly in 2019 because they couldn't sell any cars. Thus, the residual buyouts are pretty low in comparison to what the cars are selling for. Based on what I've seen Tesla's selling for, just for mine alone, it's a huge difference.
I tried a Model 3 for a very short time after having owned multiple Model S cars previously with price tags well over $100,000. Was trying to be smart and tried the cheaper version, but hated the car so much after being used to the S. Then, perfect timing, Tesla made the decision to transition back to the S a no brainer when they reduced the price of the base model to $79,000. Used ones 2 1/2 years old are selling for not all that much less.
While many owners may not want to deal with it and will just give the cars back. I'm usually one of them! But, would be silly not to just buy it at the end in my case. Even with paying the sales tax on the remaining balance, still A LOT of room left between residual and market value.
While as of now, this will be my last Tesla for a while, being that it looks like any other EV I'd consider probably won't be ready by the time my lease is up and since the warranty is good for another year beyond the lease end, probably will just keep what I have for a while longer and see what 2023 has to offer. If that happens, will certainly be the longest daily driver I've ever kept at over three years. I do have other cars in the garage that I've had for around 15 years.
For those that question leasing versus buying, in this circumstance, very happy I leased as my net cost after three years to own the car outright will end up being less than if I had purchased it. The best thing about the lease, it gives you the option. My last Model S, the buyout was well over $70,000, yet Tesla had 20 of the same car on their website for in the low $60,000's. They refused to negotiate as I wanted to buy that one. Instead, they sold the car for $61,000 and had to give out another 4 year warranty on it, plus whatever refreshing they do on lease returns. I offered more than that and they wouldn't have had to do a thing, but were too stubborn to even consider it. That's one of the things with Tesla's "our way or no way" attitude just baffles me.