If it makes you feel any better, I pointed out that “FSD” today is not “FSD” of yesterday. FSD today is essentially EAP.
Those with EAP, will pay an equivalent price to upgrade so your gripe is still valid. But part of the early access program could potentially give you a 6mo or more access to software releases.
This part is speculative, but what if as a member of the official testing team, you’re eligible to receive even more FSD software before regulatory approval?
If you go to the website right now, new owners will also pay the $8k pre-purchase. It's the fact that folks who took delivery in 2018 had a choice to buy FSD or not. If you elected to not buy FSD then you understood it was going to cost more in the future. Tesla clearly misrepresented the black and white wording on their ordering page and emails when they decided to offer a $3k discount to those who knowingly elected to NOT buy early.
This is a total turnoff to me from the brand as a consumer and common shareholder. I'm not a lawyer, but I do not understand how they can sell a product with a stipulation you lock in a saving, not release said product, then change the product to include features from a different product that was already purchased, then discount it to people who made a decision to NOT pre-pay and save.
I'm assuming that Elon offered the discount to try and curb the blow to the MSRP reduction (not arguing about that), but he inadvertently created this mess because it was not well thought out. That is the problem with Twitter and business. You are trying to hook some folks up and stop the blow back, but at the same time you forget that you could be lying to a subset of buyers who were promised a savings to trust Tesla.
I was planning on putting a deposit down on a Model Y and add a 3rd Tesla to the family. Because of the all shenanigans occurring I am unable to bring myself to do that when it's announced this week.
As for early access program; No Thank you! I do not have any interest in Alpha testing software with my family in either the 3 or X. I'm in the IT world and involved with a lot of newer technology. I see it day in and day out the challenges that happen with alpha releases to my customers.
As for what do I think Tesla should do? Well, if you're offering a $3k savings to folks who didn't spend money up front, then you need to offer the same refund to those of us who did... simple.