^^This, and learn to be smugly content with your now-classic-limited-edition (whether it be classic dolphin gray, brown, green, P85 or P85+) ... and then console yourself that you have about 2 years to get used to this continuous innovation thing before you plop down a deposit on that Signature Model 3 ;-)
I now have a rare, classic "flat white" car. I still have trouble believing that Tesla discontinued this -- if you want any color other than "off-black", you now have to pay the $1500 upcharge. There are of course five variants of "off-black", including "black".
Tesla's repeated fast changing of available options, based not on even the most rudimentary market research but on ass-pulls, smacks of incompetence to me, frankly. It doesn't seem to be hurting them much because it just doesn't matter that much (any Tesla is better than any non-Tesla) but they would do well to become just a tad more professional about the whole thing. For instance, Tesla could have a set of principles for options design and packaging (they obviously don't have any). I would suggest the following:
(1) Functional options should not be packaged with aesthetic options.
(2) There should be sufficiently many aesthetic options to provide at least one "acceptable" option for every potential buyer, given that people may have strong dislikes for some things. (I won't buy a dark car and I won't buy Alcantara. There are people who demand leather and people who demand to not have leather. Et cetera.)
- - - Updated - - -
I understand the ill will but I'd be hard pressed to say what else Tesla should do. They really only have a few choices:
a) Go with the "model year" process where significant changes are only made once per year. This causes a problem with the "Osborne effect" that you're seeing right now with the GM Volt. GM's existing model sales have completely collapsed in anticipation of the new model. And the remaining inventory of current models are being sold off at a loss. GM can weather this because they have many other vehicles paying the bills. Tesla would have major problems in that situation. They need a fairly steady revenue stream from their one product line.
This is the only valid option. You can do it more often than once a year, of course. Consider the computer industry: back in the days of boxed software, it had *version numbers*, and you bought a particular version. You have to discount the "previous model" relative to the new model. The traditional way to do this in other industries is to price the new model higher when it first comes out (extra high) for those who want to get the newest model early, and then to cut the prices on everything a few months later.
The hazard to the revenue stream is handled by careful pricing management. In the rest of the car industry, the dealerships do this, but in other industries (washing machines, etc.) the manufacturers do it themselves; it's a known process and fairly straightforward.
b) Introduce minor and more major changes scattered throughout the year. You are certainly going to upset some people who wound up on the wrong side of the line. When this happens try to be as accommodating as practically (and financially) possible to people who want to upgrade. Hopefully the upsets are minor enough that it doesn't damage the brand overall.
So far I think it's damaging the brand, quite a lot. It's happened repeatedly, too. It's all very well to do this with things like the redesign of the plastic section on the front bumper early in production (totally invisible to most people). But with user-visible stuff, this just annoys people, always.
What's weird is that Tesla pretty much got this *right* with the Roadster (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5). I don't know what made management forget this stuff between then and now...
- - - Updated - - -
I was told (based on VIN or something) that it doesn't. Mine is a March 2013 car, but it also has an A-pack battery while I understand B-packs were being delivered as early as later December. I understand that Tesla would want to replace the whole bumper skin for some reason. Probably better to just go to a good 12 Volt shop and have them put in an after-market solution.
Mine's older than yours and was successfully retrofitted (at great expense; I had dented both my bumpers already so it seemed worth it). But then I have a B pack.
- - - Updated - - -
I just took a closer look at the design studio. It seems like they moved features all over the place into different packages. At first galnce the 70D seemed to be the same price as my 60 until I took a closer look at the new package configuration.
Every so often I look at the design studio and attempt to replicate my original desired configuration more or less. For a while, it was costing more than I paid for my actual car; now it's pretty much costing exactly what I paid, again. Changes: 70D instead of 85 non-D; there is no flat white paint any more; have to get Alcantara to get the power liftgate (?!? -- I'd probably have to have it removed at great expense).
Thinking about it now, the right thing to do for most people seems to be to postpone buying Model S until Tesla reconfigures the options to give you something very close to what you want. If you don't like the packaging of options, they'll change them next month. :eyeroll: At the time in 2013 I absolutely needed to get a new car because my existing car was about to die and repair bills had skyrocketed, and even then postponing it turned out to be a good move. Putting off the purchase seems to always be correct: even if the options you want go away, it just means that you can get them on the used market cheaper.
I do not think this is the message Tesla wants to send (if you're not perfectly satisfied, please put off buying your car), but it is the message they are sending
