I broke down and ordered homelink yesterday. I have a service appointment for some other stuff scheduled already and hope I can just add it on to the same appointment. RIght now I have a gate at the community entrance and my garage and the 2 remotes kinda suck so it will be nice to de-clutter.
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Dan203
Active Member
They already have to do this with the brakes, wheels and tires, suspension bits, etc... on the Performance.
Or how about just including it with all dual motor variants. Should be pretty easy to see if there is a second motor.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
No they don't. Performance has its own chassis designation- so they do a batch run on that chasis where 100% of cars will get the same parts you mention.
This is also why they won't sell you "P3D+ brakes" on a non-P3D car- too much complexity to offer a-la-carte options like that.
It'd make no sense to do a batch of "all cars where someone asked for homelink" because there'd be too many other differences.
Sure- they could do that, just include that as a part that goes with all DM cars.
But that doesn't do anything to address the reasons they did this in the first place.
Removing it entirely allows (or makes easier anyway since it's not 1:1) the lower prices without reducing per vehicle gross margins as badly.
Gross margin per vehicle is a thing.
Why Tesla’s Model 3 Gross Margin Contracted in Q1 2019 - Market Realist
Taking costs out (and moving them to accessories sold at dealerships) improves that number. Ditto removing the 14-50 adapter.
Dan203
Active Member
From what I've seen the module is attached to the main chassis. So they could just make it a standard option for Performance and throw it on there when they're building these special chassises.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
They certainly could.
But unless they raised the price of the car to reflect this that would reduce the per-vehicle gross margin.
Not to mention we don't know the actual take rate on the option- if only say 25% of owners actually need it, you're slowing down production of 100% of your highest-margin cars for something 3/4th of them don't use.
Offloading those 25% to service centers as an add-on fixes both problems.
It's possible there's a licensing fee for every car that is delivered with the HomeLink module in it. By leaving the module out, Tesla could reduce hardware costs as well as any potential licensing fees.
All of our cars except for the most recent one came with HomeLink modules in them. It does seem cheap to leave them out but it does help bring the initial purchase price down a little.
$300 is a ridiculously small sum to help bring the price down on a $38,990+ car.It does seem cheap to leave them out but it does help bring the initial purchase price down a little.
No matter how many versions I read for the rationale of omitting the HomeLink hardware, it always seems petty on the part of Tesla.
It didn't bring the cost down. They kept the cost and just stopped putting them in. They aren't making money on installs though. They are paying for mobile guys to do the install and its gotta be pretty close to 300 to get a guy out to your house for an hour and pay for the part. I think they would be better off charging a 300 option or up a package by 300 and do it at the factory when the the car is made. They still put in the bracket anyways, it just doesn't have the unit clipped on. Then you can also offer it aftermarket as 500 with a mobile tech.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
that... isn't what cost means.
Cost is the cost to Tesla to build the car.
Leaving out a part reduces the cost.
Which lets you either reduce the price and keep the same margin as before, or increase the margin when keeping the price the same.
That requires a lot of extra factory work-order logistics, supply chain stuff, inside-the-factory logistics stuff, etc.
Versus just having them drop-ship one-off orders to mobile techs/service centers as requested post-delivery.
Dan203
Active Member
People buying a $60k+ car don't care about the extra $300. I don't care about the extra $300. I care about the extra time, effort, and potential for damage that comes with having to have it installed at a service center after I take delivery. Just put it in the car and raise the price. No one spending this kind of money gives two sh*ts if the car is $300 more, even if they have absolutely no use for HomeLink.
Tesla seems so focused on hitting that promised $35k number that they're cutting quality and features on the high end versions of the car to make it happen. I know Elon wants to save the world, but they have to realize that their biggest competitor isn't the Toyota Camry but the BMW 3 series and Mercedes C class. That's what they should be focused on. They'll still sell more cars then they can make even in that price class. Let the Bolts and Leafs suck up the lower end market.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Awesome- please paypal me $300 then since you don't care about it
Seriously though this has nothing to do with the customer "caring" about the price, it's about Tesla finding ways to improve per vehicle margin- which is a number the stock analysist care a lot more about than if you got homelink in the factory or not.
Tesla removed homelink as standard months after they introduced the 35k car, not as a prelude to being able to introduce it.
Both of which the Model 3 outsells by a wide margin...(the BMW and Mercedes- not the Camry) even after they removed homelink as standard.
So not sure your point here?
Grassright
Member
$300 is definitely not a small amount to Tesla. $300 * 200,000 deliveries mean 60 million dollar saving per year!
Dan203
Active Member
Awesome- please paypal me $300 then since you don't care about it
Seriously though this has nothing to do with the customer "caring" about the price, it's about Tesla finding ways to improve per vehicle margin- which is a number the stock analysist care a lot more about than if you got homelink in the factory or not.
And I'm saying that instead of removing the option, raise the price instead. Same result, less customer frustration.
They removed it right after they lowered prices to adjust for the reduction of the tax credit. Just don't lower it so much, poof, problem solved. Since I ordered mine, which I haven't even got yet, they raised the price of the Performance $1,000. No one cared. No one would have cared if it was $500 more and still included HomeLink and the NEMA 14-50 adapter either. At this price minor price variations don't matter to the majority of customers. Maybe there are a few super frugal people who want to save $500 for a couple of options they don't need, but most people spending this kind of money on a car are immune to a few hundred bucks variation.
My point is that these are the cars they're competing with and they have an even higher MSRP when maxed with options and yet people still buy them. So take a page out of their book, add some options, and jack up the price. Don't remove options so you can make the price a little lower.
Rojer Lockless
Member
I've had homelink for 5 months and I've never even been able to get it to work. Finally set up a mobile visit to get it set up so I guess I'll know what the fuss is about this Saturday.
Dan203
Active Member
Mine was installed via mobile. Took him about 45 minutes. I just left him alone to do it so no idea which install method he used, but I didn’t see any damage when he was done.
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