If Tesla wants to compete with $100K mainstream buyers then.....

[Spidey423]

I love my Model S but if Tesla wants to compete and acquire new buyers in the $100K + market they will need to upgrade their vehicles, product and service. A few examples of things that many mainstream shoppers are looking for that are essentially standard in this price range:

- more dealer and service sites, not fewer. I know Elon thinks he can sell cars on the web sight unseen but people who buy this range of product wants to put their hands on a vehicle and kick the tires. I know this is old school but I personally visited two different dealerships 4 or 5 times.
- service needs to be improved dramatically and a priority. I've known two people ( an X and an S) who have traded in their vehicles because of poor service, and inability to get anyone to resolve the problems or come out to see the vehicles. Personalized service is a must, think about the way Lexus does things.
- S and X need to have a leather interior, not this Pleather/Vinyl crap that is a mark of a cheep car. I know this pisses off the few vegans out there.
- Ventilated seats that have multi contour settings
- Intermittent windshield wipers that really work. For the sake of a couple dollar part instead of trying to rely on software this would be solved.
- They need to quit this schizophrenic pricing schedule. People are hesitant to purchase if they don't know what price tomorrow will bring. ie) FSD was $5K Then 6K then 2K then 6K then 3K
- Paint. They need more colors and the up charge for metallic is ridiculous. Mercedes S560 has 11/13 paints with no charge. Porsche Panamera has 2 basic and 10 metallic for $830.
- Sunroof. I use mine almost every day about 6 months of the year and I live in Michigan.
- Really need to put their efforts into improving the ACC and EAP. My current revision 24.4 is almost dangerous. The phantom braking and slowing when making lane changes has made this feature for me unusable and I drive 2000- 2500 miles a month.
- Video games. While fun, I would prefer to see the programmers assigned to this feature deployed to the ACC and EAP and bring the games out when the software gets sorted out.
- improve the heater for winter driving and efficiency. Maybe a heat pump? Its cold in the great white north
- improve communication. A couple of years ago I could call the 800 number or my service center and get a real person. Now I can't even get anyone to return my phone calls.

Don't get me wrong. My S100D is one of the best cars I have ever owned, but if Tesla wants to stay ahead of the Porsche's, Audi's and Mercedes out there, then there are things they need to do.

 

[pgkevet]

Who can guess what's in the mind of the crazy genius?
He produced a £50K car and sold it for 100K. He now makes a £35K car and sells it for £50K. I suspect he wants to make a £20K car and sell it for £30K following on the principle of building a mass car manufacturing system akin for the iphone type market where you make a £200 product and sell it for £1000 because you've created a gullible consumer base that follows fashion and your hype.
He's shot himself in the foot in some respects with everything being screen dependant and minimalist - it works IF you actually get real FSD working but reality is that except of motorway driving that screen is a liabilty compared to tactile buttons where you don't have to take eyes off road and for the practical aspect having almost zero storage is fine for a taxi (so folk don't leave stuff behind) but not so practical for an owner.
The trouble with wow-factors on a car is that they lose their gloss to an owner after the initial playtime (yeah, I got sucked in too) and now I'd be happier with function and reliability and robust build quality.
I totally agree he needs to bring back customer service but that doesn't work with a 'build 'em cheap and pile 'em high' philosophy.

 

[RDoc]

Maybe. So far Tesla has been able to sell every car they can make and is fighting for profitability while they ramp up to meet demand. What happens a year or so from now is a real question IMHO. Can they reach stable profitability and then fix their customer service issues before their reputation is permanently damaged? So far, my crystal ball says yes, the cars are just so fantastic that I think they still have some running room, but it's certainly an open question.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Tesla do need at least one more upmarket interior trim option on the S and the X.

 

[PWlakewood]

Just saw that tesla added 30 new service centers.

Tesla on Twitter

As far as selling cars to buyers who want to pay 100k+, well so far they seem to be selling all of them so doesnt seem to be an issue. Not everyone likes the interiors on current offerings from Mercedes, bmw, audi, etc because they are way too busy with way too many buttons. No need for all the clutter.

 

[ewoodrick]

Simply put, the S and X were stepping stones to the mass market. That's where the focus is now.

Oh and pricing? Stable? When I can go to most dealers and get a dozen different prices in the same day, Tesla is stable

 

[Dr. Marc]

I love my Model S but if Tesla wants to compete and acquire new buyers in the $100K + market they will need to upgrade their vehicles, product and service. A few examples of things that many mainstream shoppers are looking for that are essentially standard in this price range:

- more dealer and service sites, not fewer. I know Elon thinks he can sell cars on the web sight unseen but people who buy this range of product wants to put their hands on a vehicle and kick the tires. I know this is old school but I personally visited two different dealerships 4 or 5 times.
- service needs to be improved dramatically and a priority. I've known two people ( an X and an S) who have traded in their vehicles because of poor service, and inability to get anyone to resolve the problems or come out to see the vehicles. Personalized service is a must, think about the way Lexus does things.
- S and X need to have a leather interior, not this Pleather/Vinyl crap that is a mark of a cheep car. I know this pisses off the few vegans out there.
- Ventilated seats that have multi contour settings
- Intermittent windshield wipers that really work. For the sake of a couple dollar part instead of trying to rely on software this would be solved.
- They need to quit this schizophrenic pricing schedule. People are hesitant to purchase if they don't know what price tomorrow will bring. ie) FSD was $5K Then 6K then 2K then 6K then 3K
- Paint. They need more colors and the up charge for metallic is ridiculous. Mercedes S560 has 11/13 paints with no charge. Porsche Panamera has 2 basic and 10 metallic for $830.
- Sunroof. I use mine almost every day about 6 months of the year and I live in Michigan.
- Really need to put their efforts into improving the ACC and EAP. My current revision 24.4 is almost dangerous. The phantom braking and slowing when making lane changes has made this feature for me unusable and I drive 2000- 2500 miles a month.
- Video games. While fun, I would prefer to see the programmers assigned to this feature deployed to the ACC and EAP and bring the games out when the software gets sorted out.
- improve the heater for winter driving and efficiency. Maybe a heat pump? Its cold in the great white north
- improve communication. A couple of years ago I could call the 800 number or my service center and get a real person. Now I can't even get anyone to return my phone calls.

Don't get me wrong. My S100D is one of the best cars I have ever owned, but if Tesla wants to stay ahead of the Porsche's, Audi's and Mercedes out there, then there are things they need to do.

Hi Spidey423,
You make many good points. We may be outliers, but I agree with everything you wrote. My primary frustration is the deterioration of service. When I buy a $100,000 automobile, I expect to be able to talk to a service coordinator when I have a problem. It's now been several days and five phone calls with no call back on a problem. The electronics and mechanicals make a great driving car, but as you noted, the support and choices of minor things (like a functional heater!) downgrade the entire line.

 

[jorobsand]

A few examples of things that many mainstream shoppers are looking for

I think this is the fault in your post. Tesla doesn't consider itself a traditional car company and therefore not "mainstream". While I don't necessarily disagree with you from a typical $100k+ car buyer, Tesla feels it is in a class all its own and the traditional expectations no longer apply.

 

[Saghost]

The data suggests Tesla is competing just fine as it is.

Would I like to see some of those features and changes? Of course I would.

But Tesla has made enough improvements to the fundamentals of the car and driving experience that they can pull buyers away from the traditional brands or up from the lower price brackets without those luxury features and in spite of the service questions and occasional software glitch.

Which should scare the crap out of the legacy brands...

 

[ucmndd]

Tesla has been pretty transparent from the beginning that selling $100k+ cars to rich people was a necessary detour, not a primary objective.

I wouldn't expect any major focus or resources on this for at least the next few years.

Frankly their competitive benchmarks should be Honda/Toyota (with some reach into Acura/Lexus territory), not Mercedes and Porsche.

 

[Grant]

The service is deteriorating rapidly. They don't even have loaner cars now. What luxury car dealership doesn't have loaner cars, especially when they are charging $195/hour for service?

Also, just getting an appointment with a service center is ridiculous now. It was obvious that they were rapidly increasing the number of Teslas out there with the Model 3 ramp-up (double the Tesla vehicles that exist in the last 1-2 years), but service has not nearly kept pace. I had to make an appointment to repair my Model S (won't supercharge) and the first appointment was 2 weeks out. Then they just sent me a note saying that they had to reschedule my appointment "due to backlog and capacity constraints" and I now have to wait another 2.5 weeks for the next available appointment. Ridiculous.

 

[BestRadar]

Hi Spidey423,
You make many good points. We may be outliers, but I agree with everything you wrote. My primary frustration is the deterioration of service. When I buy a $100,000 automobile, I expect to be able to talk to a service coordinator when I have a problem. It's now been several days and five phone calls with no call back on a problem. The electronics and mechanicals make a great driving car, but as you noted, the support and choices of minor things (like a functional heater!) downgrade the entire line.

I also don't want to spend $140k MSRP on a car when the same cars MSRP drops 3 years later to $40k less.

 

[PWlakewood]

The service is deteriorating rapidly. They don't even have loaner cars now. What luxury car dealership doesn't have loaner cars, especially when they are charging $195/hour for service?

Also, just getting an appointment with a service center is ridiculous now. It was obvious that they were rapidly increasing the number of Teslas out there with the Model 3 ramp-up (double the Tesla vehicles that exist in the last 1-2 years), but service has not nearly kept pace. I had to make an appointment to repair my Model S (won't supercharge) and the first appointment was 2 weeks out. Then they just sent me a note saying that they had to reschedule my appointment "due to backlog and capacity constraints" and I now have to wait another 2.5 weeks for the next available appointment. Ridiculous.

They still have loaners available it just depends on where your sc is located. Do you need to supercharge daily or do you plug in daily elsewhere?

 

[PWlakewood]

I also don't want to spend $140k MSRP on a car when the same cars MSRP drops 3 years later to $40k less.

Please show me this 3 year old 140k Tesla for less than 40k and I will buy it today.

 

[Grant]

They still have loaners available it just depends on where your sc is located. Do you need to supercharge daily or do you plug in daily elsewhere?

I don't supercharge daily or even charge daily. Charging works but supercharging doesn't. They know what part needs to be replaced because they sent me the invoice with the part number already (covered under warranty). The point is that it is ridiculous to have to wait a month just to get an appointment at a service center. They also rescheduled my appointment that I had made 2 weeks ago. They don't have their act together at all.

 

[PWlakewood]

I don't supercharge daily or even charge daily. Charging works but supercharging doesn't. They know what part needs to be replaced because they sent me the invoice with the part number already (covered under warranty). The point is that it is ridiculous to have to wait a month just to get an appointment at a service center. They also rescheduled my appointment that I had made 2 weeks ago. They don't have their act together at all.

Agree that they need to change things with service. I'm glad you dont solely rely on supercharging so at least your not left with an unusable car. I've waited no more than 2 weeks for my appointment and I can understand your frustration about them changing the appointment.

 

[trm2]

Please show me this 3 year old 140k Tesla for less than 40k and I will buy it today.

you may want to reread the post you quoted.

 

[PWlakewood]

you may want to reread the post you quoted.

Ok. Read it again and still come to the same conclusion. 140k car drops to 40k or less in 3 years. Unless it was meant to show how a new tesla S MSRP has dropped by 40k in 3 years but that's not how I'm reading it.

 

[Saghost]

Ok. Read it again and still come to the same conclusion. 140k car drops to 40k or less in 3 years. Unless it was meant to show how a new tesla S MSRP has dropped by 40k in 3 years but that's not how I'm reading it.

I'm pretty sure the intent was that a car with a $140k MSRP three years ago now has a $100k MSRP. I'm not sure that's quite true, but certainly there have been some drops, especially with the latest move to include Ludicrous in all Performance cars.

 

[BestRadar]

Please show me this 3 year old 140k Tesla for less than 40k and I will buy it today.

Configure a Model S with all options and Pearl White interior... Today with Ludicrous its $105,990, 3 Years ago it was $145k there is your $40k