I had a call from as sales representative at Tesla today...

[ACarneiro]

Interesting thing happened today.
I had placed an order about a year ago for a MYP. As the potential delivery date approached, though, a few things happened
- Mr Putin did silly things
- The economy went a bit downhill (high inflation and insane tax load)
- USS got removed
- The resale value of my M3 plummeted

So in the end I decided it wouldn't be very sensible to splurge over £30k to have a heat pump, a bigger boot and a hatchback (much as I'd love all of them) when I absolutely love driving my M3P- and it has been mostly problem free. So I decided to keep it until it dies (hopefully in 15 years or more). I cancelled my MYP order and got a refund on the deposit. The money I would have spent on that upgrade went in part into two more Powerwalls, which should at least save me some money in the long term (maybe).

This morning I had a phone call from a very nice chap at Tesla asking if I would be interested in reconsidering. There are MYPs in inventory for immediate delivery, he said, and there are price cuts (he didn't tell me by how much). Free SuperCharging thrown in as well.

It was very tempting but I still said no.

I had never heard of Tesla going out of their way to push sales so I suspect the MYPs may not be as popular here as initially expected. That, along with free Supercharging and the resurrection of the referral programme does make me wonder what's going on...

 

[Cardo]

There’s a huge end of quarter push going on. I’d imagine Elon is trying to hit a particular record.

In respect of free supercharging, it’s not lifetime, it’s “just” 6000 miles worth. Though, that’s nothing to be sniffed at.

 

[boombap]

It’s the end of Q4. They want to book deliveries for sales numbers. Add the two new factories ramping in a big way, plus Shanghai doubling its output over the last year, all of which combine to mean they have an abundance of inventory. That’s literally all that’s “going on”

 

[ACarneiro]

Maybe. I'd never heard of them calling people to make sales, but I suppose it could have been standard "end of quarter" practice that I hadn't been aware of.
There are quite a few Demo cars with less than 50 miles on the clock going for nearly £7k less int he current inventory.
Maybe that's "literally what's going on" but I find it interesting nonetheless.

 

[MrBadger]

I think there is more going on than that. It may be part of the reason, and we have had similar scenarios in the past where end of quarter promotions have been given, but this seems bigger and broader reach than that.
Purely speculation, but based upon some reliable sources of information even if it’s not entirely clear exactly what that information is referring to, and that if that information is what is being speculated that it’s only the tip of the iceberg. But to me it sounds like Tesla have an abundance of stock they need to shift before it quickly becomes ‘obsolete’, or more ‘obsolete’ than any normal Tesla purchase.

 

[Cardo]

I think there is more going on than that. It may be part of the reason, and we have had similar scenarios in the past where end of quarter promotions have been given, but this seems bigger and broader reach than that.
Purely speculation, but based upon some reliable sources of information even if it’s not entirely clear exactly what that information is referring to, and that if that information is what is being speculated that it’s only the tip of the iceberg. But to me it sounds like Tesla have an abundance of stock they need to shift before it quickly becomes ‘obsolete’, or more ‘obsolete’ than any normal Tesla purchase.

I read they’re even selling off their showroom and demo models, so maybe you’re onto something. If there’s a significant update coming in January I can see how they wouldn’t want the “older” models hanging around that nobody will want.

 

[ACarneiro]

A significant update that close which has managed to stay under wraps? I'm not sure such a secret could be kept for long....

 

[DenkiJidousha]

Well there are refresh rumours, e.g. "Highland" Model 3 redesign Tesla Model 3 To Get Simplified Refresh Design

 

[MrBadger]

A significant update that close which has managed to stay under wraps? I'm not sure such a secret could be kept for long....

You mean, just like when HW3 was introduced? All the pieces of the jigsaw are known about, just not when, other than Tesla keeping things under wraps because they are going to do a reveal of some sort in January.
I personally think, even without delving too far, there are enough ducks being lined up… happy to be wrong come end of Feb, but (based on experience of Tesla time) too soon to judge before - it’s going to happen at some point, but too soon to just if it is ‘this’ or not.

 

[Cardo]

A significant update that close which has managed to stay under wraps? I'm not sure such a secret could be kept for long....

There’s that HD radar that Tesla have stated they’re releasing in January. Don’t know what it relates to, but there’s definitely snippets here and there.

 

[gangzoom]

I had never heard of Tesla going out of their way to push sales so I suspect the MYPs may not be as popular here as initially expected. That, along with free Supercharging and the resurrection of the referral programme does make me wonder what's going on...

End of quater pushes were common before COVID. There were often quite big price discounts (10%+ I seem to remember) and even things like 'free for life' supercharging on some cars.

 

[ACarneiro]

End of quater pushes were common before COVID. There were often quite big price discounts (10%+ I seem to remember) and even things like 'free for life' supercharging on some cars.

Yes, on S and X models which presumably sell less. Didn’t notice any such offers on M3s in the past, though.
Also, I hadn’t heard of them actually calling people for a sale.
Something does seem to be afoot, will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of months…

 

[pgkevet]

Probably Occam's razor...a big sales push to up the value of shares due to the twitter drain....

 

[glide]

I’d imagine Elon is trying to hit a particular record.

I’d imagine Elon is trying to keep up w/the debt payments on his Twitter purchase.

 

[UrbanSplash]

I think perhaps there is going to be a shift in strategy for Tesla. They seem to have a huge number of cars in inventory. I’ve not seen such discounts on 3/Y. It gets to the point that they can’t just keep churning out max capacity from factories and expect to sell ‘every one’ in the UK market. The UK is in a right state. Harsh winter of bills for heating, price of food going crazy etc, there just isn’t the market to sell infinite Tesla’s in the UK. Perhaps they will move to ‘made for order’, like others. Another thing, the M3 is due a pretty big refresh. Maybe some changes to Y. The tech is moving so fast, people are getting weary. Can’t see mega ‘excitement’ for Tesla in the UK until (if) Cybertruck arrives. Which is a few years away. There is nothing ‘new’.

 

[Casss]

Probably Occam's razor...a big sales push to up the value of shares due to the twitter drain....

I’d love to believe it’s entirely a product driven decision, but as above I think it’s probably more to do with the fact that they have some royally pissed shareholders right now. No one wants to be a bag holder.

Sacrificing some operating margin (of which tesla has plenty) for moral boosting sales/delivery figures could make sense.

 

[randompixel]

I'd love to get a new MYP but with the mortgage likely to go up by ~£1000 a month in a little over a year, buying a £70k car now seems far too risky.

Refreshed version of Y at £49,999/£54,999/£59,999 would be very tempting though.

 

[yessuz]

I read they’re even selling off their showroom and demo models, so maybe you’re onto something. If there’s a significant update coming in January I can see how they wouldn’t want the “older” models hanging around that nobody will want.

no, it was the same last year when I placed order on my M3.
I ordered it on 29th of December, but had option to pick up car on 30th of December as there were few in stock. They just want to hit the numbers for the EOY

 

[DaveW]

They have frequently sold the shop floor cars as part of quarter end pushes, nothing that unusual.

Certainly tougher market conditions here for them at the moment though

 

[Adopado]

Electricity pricing must be playing its part too. Every news and consumer programme on TV is about how people can save a few pounds here and there by switching things off or turning things down. A big EV attraction used to be the massive disparity of fuel costs ... this was enough to push "the undecided" towards committing to the huge financial investment of an electric car. The advantage has been significantly eroded and nowadays the thought of doing anything that might increase electricity bills is a big turn off (literally). Despite the reality that EVs are still cheaper on "fuel", people are understandably uncertain about the future. Petrol/diesel prices going up and down is something we have lived with for years and it seems to be in a separate psychological category than electricity and gas for many people... people have learned to live with it. Taking your "fuel" costs and adding them to your utility bills makes them look scarily high. Tesla and other EV manufacturers are not immune to the caution factor.