I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been posting. There has been a great discussion and a number of great points brought out in all the threads on the Forum (both here and at Teslamotors.com) and I have gained great insight in following the discussions.
What this great discussion illustrates is the great passion and great desire that we all have for Tesla to create the best car on the planet and to show the ICE automakers that there is a better way. There is disappointment that Tesla has not followed through on some inferences (The Beta's represent 90% of production car) they have been making for months regarding the interior. So it is frustrating for people who have a great love for Tesla as a company and who have certain expectations that Tesla has seemingly not fulfilled.
I would surmise that some feel like the trust we have given Tesla has been broken in some manner and when trust is broken, it is often something that is difficult to regain. What I do know is that Tesla has a vision and they are working hard to achieve that vision. They are in uncharted territory and are trying to break the mold in the automative industry and I applaud them for that. I also realize that cars are ultimately emotional purchases and individual expressions of the people who drive them. What people here on the forum are trying to express is their individual desires for what the car should be and their passion that Tesla shows the world that they truly make the best car period. A great illustration of this is the phrase Tesla has bandied about that the Model S will be similar to other 'Premium sedans'. Some can argue that the interior falls short of their perception of what premium is. We can easily benchmark against the paradigm that exists there right now with BWM, Audi, MB etc. when looking at it on a 'feature' basis. Storage is a feature, cup holders are a feature, door pockets are a feature. The benefit is a person can carry stuff and access it conveniently. Now maybe I'm misunderstanding how the center open storage area is configured, but with the rails on the sides, I should be able to keep my sunglasses in a convenient area between the two seats and have access to them. Same with my mints and kleenex. But the benefit of organization, safety and a clean look is lost with no closed console. So Tesla's task is to figure out how to restore that benefit to the owners of the Model S. I would think that Tesla, with enough time, can come up with a great solution to the organization, safety and neatness issues are seemingly missed with an open center storage area concept.
I'm trying to keep an open mind and see what the car will actually be like in every day use with the vision they have for a car. I know others are not willing to risk their cash (which is a very significant amount in the case of the Model S) to try a different paradigm for a car interior and not get the car they personally envision. My personal hope is that as Tesla scales up, they will have the resources and capability to serve the vision of each of their individual customers. Some may like the 'negative space' interior concept, others may want the center console and as much other storage space as possible to take care of their storage needs.
The greatness of Tesla (at least my perception) is that the platform they have built will be able to accomodate everyone via some incredible customization options down the road. This gets back to the point that cars are expressions of the people who drive them and customization will allow people to tailor it to their liking. One could argue that for $100k+ (for the sig performance) that this all should be included in the price and I don't disagree. I would hope that as Tesla scales and builds a supply chain that can handle great customization, their costs will decrease and later adopters will have the customization for a reasonable price. I just looked at the Leaf website and I note that the leaf has already added additional standard features vs. their V1 car and I think they have not increased the price.
So I'm sticking with my reservation, Sig #267 (BTW I'm also model X P#37 and sticking with that as well) and am excited to see how an open interior design will work out and I'm sure I'll be one of those that will pay for upgrades as they are introduced over time. (just like they were with the Roadster and the 'upgrades' Tesla offered on it over time) I know that one can argue that we should not have to pay for them because the car is already so expensive, but that's the nature of the technology game. Every year a new iPhone and iPad is available for the same price as last years version at the same price, but with increased specs. Granted that $500 to $900 for an iPad is a much different price point that $100k for a car!
But the above is just all my opinion and I am in a position to pay for these things over time, where as I recognize that others are not in a similar financial position and it's a challenging thing to have to pay for 'upgrades' in a car that some expect should already be standard. I'm still a huge Tesla supporter and I am awaiting the arrival of my Model S with even more enthusiasm after this weekends events. But again, this is just my opinion and I totally understand the others that are very disappointed with what appears to have transpired over the weekend.
What this great discussion illustrates is the great passion and great desire that we all have for Tesla to create the best car on the planet and to show the ICE automakers that there is a better way. There is disappointment that Tesla has not followed through on some inferences (The Beta's represent 90% of production car) they have been making for months regarding the interior. So it is frustrating for people who have a great love for Tesla as a company and who have certain expectations that Tesla has seemingly not fulfilled.
I would surmise that some feel like the trust we have given Tesla has been broken in some manner and when trust is broken, it is often something that is difficult to regain. What I do know is that Tesla has a vision and they are working hard to achieve that vision. They are in uncharted territory and are trying to break the mold in the automative industry and I applaud them for that. I also realize that cars are ultimately emotional purchases and individual expressions of the people who drive them. What people here on the forum are trying to express is their individual desires for what the car should be and their passion that Tesla shows the world that they truly make the best car period. A great illustration of this is the phrase Tesla has bandied about that the Model S will be similar to other 'Premium sedans'. Some can argue that the interior falls short of their perception of what premium is. We can easily benchmark against the paradigm that exists there right now with BWM, Audi, MB etc. when looking at it on a 'feature' basis. Storage is a feature, cup holders are a feature, door pockets are a feature. The benefit is a person can carry stuff and access it conveniently. Now maybe I'm misunderstanding how the center open storage area is configured, but with the rails on the sides, I should be able to keep my sunglasses in a convenient area between the two seats and have access to them. Same with my mints and kleenex. But the benefit of organization, safety and a clean look is lost with no closed console. So Tesla's task is to figure out how to restore that benefit to the owners of the Model S. I would think that Tesla, with enough time, can come up with a great solution to the organization, safety and neatness issues are seemingly missed with an open center storage area concept.
I'm trying to keep an open mind and see what the car will actually be like in every day use with the vision they have for a car. I know others are not willing to risk their cash (which is a very significant amount in the case of the Model S) to try a different paradigm for a car interior and not get the car they personally envision. My personal hope is that as Tesla scales up, they will have the resources and capability to serve the vision of each of their individual customers. Some may like the 'negative space' interior concept, others may want the center console and as much other storage space as possible to take care of their storage needs.
The greatness of Tesla (at least my perception) is that the platform they have built will be able to accomodate everyone via some incredible customization options down the road. This gets back to the point that cars are expressions of the people who drive them and customization will allow people to tailor it to their liking. One could argue that for $100k+ (for the sig performance) that this all should be included in the price and I don't disagree. I would hope that as Tesla scales and builds a supply chain that can handle great customization, their costs will decrease and later adopters will have the customization for a reasonable price. I just looked at the Leaf website and I note that the leaf has already added additional standard features vs. their V1 car and I think they have not increased the price.
So I'm sticking with my reservation, Sig #267 (BTW I'm also model X P#37 and sticking with that as well) and am excited to see how an open interior design will work out and I'm sure I'll be one of those that will pay for upgrades as they are introduced over time. (just like they were with the Roadster and the 'upgrades' Tesla offered on it over time) I know that one can argue that we should not have to pay for them because the car is already so expensive, but that's the nature of the technology game. Every year a new iPhone and iPad is available for the same price as last years version at the same price, but with increased specs. Granted that $500 to $900 for an iPad is a much different price point that $100k for a car!
But the above is just all my opinion and I am in a position to pay for these things over time, where as I recognize that others are not in a similar financial position and it's a challenging thing to have to pay for 'upgrades' in a car that some expect should already be standard. I'm still a huge Tesla supporter and I am awaiting the arrival of my Model S with even more enthusiasm after this weekends events. But again, this is just my opinion and I totally understand the others that are very disappointed with what appears to have transpired over the weekend.
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