We're long time Tesla customers, our first purchase was a 2012 S P85, and subsequently purchased a 2017 S 100D and 2018 X 100D.
So I've been tracking prices and re-sale since 2012. In general, Tesla has maintained the price points for the S/X with the largest battery packs. As new features (including battery capacity increases) were added, Tesla kept the high end (fully loaded) [non-performance] price about the same, except when they increased prices for EAP/FSD.
This is the first time Tesla has implemented an across-the-board price decrease - and that's going to impact the resale value of all vehicles.
I'm estimating the current value of our 2017 S 100D and 2018 X 100D combined lost around $25K this week - about 2/3 of what it would cost to buy a new $35K Model 3!
Tesla has recognized the impact of the price decrease by offering current customers 1/2 price upgrades for EAP or FSD. And for those customers who already have EAP and FSD, they'll be invited to the early access program and be able to get software updates earlier.
The 1/2 price upgrade offer is clever, because that will actually increase revenue for Tesla, since those customers had already decided not to purchase those options, and had a small probability of ever purchasing them.
But for those owners who already had EAP and FSD, the early access program isn't much of a benefit, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them do something more, some suggestions (which would have little or no impact on their near-term profitability, and would recognize the loyalty of their customers):
- Provide a 1/2 price (or free) upgrade for all software-activatable features for vehicles purchased before the price increase. This would include software-limited battery packs or those cars with 72A chargers that are software limited to 48A. And if they required owners to purchase those upgrades before the end of March, this revenue would be pure profit for Q1!
- For vehicles with FSD already, if any do not already have FUSC (Free Unlimited SuperCharging), then add FUSC for the vehicle
- For vehicles with FSD and already with FUSC, then allow the owner to transfer FUSC to their next Tesla vehicle, when they trade in the current vehicle
- For vehicles with FSD, move those vehicles to the top of the list to get the free HW3 upgrade
- For MCU1 vehicles, provide a limited time discount to upgrade to MCU2 and get full access to new features not provided on MCU1 (like recording the cameras), perhaps installing this at the same time as the HW3 processor upgrade
Are current Tesla owners entitled to any relief or is Tesla obligated to do anything about this - NO.
However, Tesla has strong customer loyalty because they typically "do the right thing" for their customers, and wouldn't be surprised to see Tesla do more for current owners, after this steep price decrease.
Looking at the big picture - this price decrease is especially bad news for the other manufacturers bringing out competing long range EVs. By lowering prices, Tesla will make it more difficult for them to sell vehicles at comparable prices, and likely that some (if not all) will end up selling vehicles at a loss, just to compete with Tesla. And the decision to close the stores and shift to online sales completely bypasses the dealerships and further demonstrates how little value dealerships provide in the sales process.
Even if Tesla doesn't do anything more for us than the Early Access Program, we are still satisfied with our S 100D and X 100D, and will get over the short term disappointment with losing so much value in both vehicles overnight.