Inventory M3 now available

[anon37485]

Purely speculation on my part but I'm thinking what's happened is this:

Tesla have manufactured a bunch of cars corresponding to the specs of outstanding orders, stuck them on a ship (most likely Grand Dahlia) and meanwhile people have cancelled or changed their orders (e.g. end-of-quarter push involved Tesla offering P- to people waiting for LRAWD, some may have bought from inventory when there were actually cars available in the UK - again from previously cancelled orders.)

Those cars still get put on the ship even though there's no order outstanding for them. If they just ship them to the UK, someone will inevitably buy them, but by putting them on the inventory page allows someone to place an order for them and if the car is sold en route to the UK it doesn't sit somewhere gathering dust and not earning Tesla any money.

Now, what about VINs for people with outstanding orders? I'm guessing those will be assigned soon, and there are likely cars on the ship that are due to be matched to orders. But that can happen at any point during transit - Tesla gain nothing from rushing to assign VINs, whereas rushing to list cars on the website could gain additional sales. Which is fine IMO, just so long as they don't prioritising inventory stock over orders!

So they've probably reserved the cars that correspond to oustanding orders and VIN numbers could pop up any time soon for them.

Less likely is that they could be making extra cars just for inventory, but there are so many people waiting that it would only make sense to do this if Tesla specifically want to make some extra sales whilst leaving a few more people waiting.

I also have no idea how long it takes between the factory being told what to make and shipping - e.g. up to what point after cancelling an order would the factory be able to avoid making the car?

If you’re correct (and your logic makes sense to me), that would give the assumption no one (matching the spec of the inventory cars) will be delayed in getting their cars this/next month.

I for one would be gutted if I’m not matched now, considering I saw 3 on there yesterday matching my spec.

Here’s hoping all outstanding orders are fulfilled on the next boat!

 

[Cowpring]

If you’re correct (and your logic makes sense to me), that would give the assumption no one (matching the spec of the inventory cars) will be delayed in getting their cars this/next month.

I for one would be gutted if I’m not matched now, considering I saw 3 on there yesterday matching my spec.

Here’s hoping all outstanding orders are fulfilled on the next boat!

Agree. I’ll be very disappointed if I’m not allocated a car on one of the next two ships to come over.

Seems grossly unfair if they are putting cars into inventory to try and gain new customers rather than assigning to existing orders.

 

[Vladislav]

I dont get this inventory, isnt it even more expoensive than ordering online? basic SR+ is 39490 online, ok add tow hitch thats 40490. But inventory asking price 42-43k+ ? where is savings?

 

[Latibes]

They’re same as online. Other colours except white incur extra cost, white interior is extra and tow hitch is extra!

 

[Latibes]

They’re same as online. Other colours except white incur extra cost, white interior is extra and tow hitch is extra!

Plus Destination fee of 990 is also included.

 

[TM3PTN]

Previously inventory cars were actually cheaper than new orders. When I ordered my M3P+ last week I got it for cheaper than ordering one from scratch in exactly the same spec. My car was listed as having a huge 9miles on the clock.

Been advised my customer services today that the car has made its way from Heathrow to Manchester so I should get an e-mail/text off Stockport SC any day soon to arrange collection

Looking forward to it

 

[Rob R]

Just 21 of the 45 cars that appeared in inventory on Thurs? are now left. Majority left have tow hitch, which is interesting. Three Standard Range +.

 

[ianto999]

I had ordered, but then the exact model (LR MSM/black hitch) came up on inventory, so I clicked 'buy' and cancelled the order, and it arrived a week later...it does seem rather chaotic/random.

 

[TM3PTN]

I had ordered, but then the exact model (LR MSM/black hitch) came up on inventory, so I clicked 'buy' and cancelled the order, and it arrived a week later...it does seem rather chaotic/random.

I just find it crazy that I was potentially going to order one from scratch and would have had to wait months for it to arrive - paying a premium for the courtesy - yet having waited a couple of weeks the exact car I wanted popped up in inventory and I’ll have the ‘keys’ in my hands in the next few days still a brand new car too!

You shouldn’t have had to cancel your order and then actively go and buy this one - if it’s the same spec as the one you ordered, someone with a bit of common sense in the order fulfilment team should have contacted you to say a car is available and given you the option to receive it. Bonkers

Glad you’re sorted and hope you’re enjoying it

 

[ianto999]

I just find it crazy that I was potentially going to order one from scratch and would have had to wait months for it to arrive - paying a premium for the courtesy - yet having waited a couple of weeks the exact car I wanted popped up in inventory and I’ll have the ‘keys’ in my hands in the next few days still a brand new car too!

You shouldn’t have had to cancel your order and then actively go and buy this one - if it’s the same spec as the one you ordered, someone with a bit of common sense in the order fulfilment team should have contacted you to say a car is available and given you the option to receive it. Bonkers

Glad you’re sorted and hope you’re enjoying it

It does seem crazy that you can sit waiting for a car, and then see the same thing on the inventory... makes me think that if Tesla could make this aspect of delivery as efficient as the cars, they would do even better.

 

[Cowpring]

Surely there's a kind of order cancellaction / inventory stock loop going on here.

In that people, who have ordered their cars months ago, see their spec in inventory, so order it. Then they cancel their original order, which probably gets put back in inventory. Next person comes along, does the same thing.

Keeps going and going until there's a total mess of orders and cancellations. It's like some kind of wierd pyramid scheme.

But potentially even more odd that all of these vehicles could be on the same ship - so VINs are jumping around different vehicles on the same ship, all being delivered at the same time.

And if this is the case, it wouldn't be happening if Tesla just simply assigned all the VINs on the ships at sea rather than keeping them a secret for weeks.

 

[rotor2k]

More inventory just added including SR+ models!

Thank you for posting this! Thanks to you, I managed to order a LRAWD Grey with black interior and tow hitch.
Two questions:
- How does one know delivery date?
- How does one apply a referral code retroactively?

 

[Latibes]

I managed to order one today from the existing inventory with the exact spec I had originally ordered. Tesla kindly reassigned the VIN to my original order and I now have a final invoice. Still about a month to wait for it to be delivered, I guess it's sitting on the Grand Dahlia.

Firstly Tesla should inform you of deliver date in due course
Secondly I don't think you can retroactively apply a referral code. I tried to do this myself and was told its not possible! I would still try though!

 

[TM3PTN]

Thank you for posting this! Thanks to you, I managed to order a LRAWD Grey with black interior and tow hitch.
Two questions:
- How does one know delivery date?
- How does one apply a referral code retroactively?

You’ll only get the delivery date once the car is at your chosen SC. You can call customer services to help push things along - I have been calling the every few days for an update

Again, for the referral code I think you’ll have to ask the guys on customer services if they can. I’ve heard various stories around this on here with some people saying they have been able to, and others not.

congrats on your order! Good luck

 

[nightowl]

Surely there's a kind of order cancellaction / inventory stock loop going on here.

In that people, who have ordered their cars months ago, see their spec in inventory, so order it. Then they cancel their original order, which probably gets put back in inventory. Next person comes along, does the same thing.

Yeah that is what I think might be happening. Even before they offered cars on the "existing inventory" page, quite a few people were changing their orders (see the order summary spreadsheet "comments" column) so they might've ended up making two cars. Which is probably how there ended up being a fair few P- cars in the inventory a couple of weeks back.

But it depends on how much time there is between ordering and the factory being told what to build, and also if the factory is able to avoid making ones that have been cancelled. Also I wonder if phoning up to change an order to a different spec actually cancels the old one or just removes it from your account. Would be a bit silly if their cancellation process didn't actually prevent the spec being submitted to the factory but I can imagine from a software development perspective that the process of changing from one spec to another that the "cancel the existing car" part could be overlooked.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

The factory don't build to order - they build batches of cars of different specs and then they get matched up later on. Tesla predict demand and can be out in their estimate which is why we saw the white interior getting dropped from the configurator back in June as they wanted to puch people towards the inventory they had coming through.

Its also why Tesla have so few options, the more options the more permutations and the need to build to order. We have 3 models, 5 colours and a wheel choice, maybe a tow bar or not (but on the MX they ended up just making that standard to reduce the options)

 

[Rob R]

No Model 3 in Inventory today (Sunday, 13/10). Have all 45 cars from Thursday now been sold, or is something else going on?

 

[Rob R]

The factory don't build to order - they build batches of cars of different specs and then they get matched up later on. Tesla predict demand and can be out in their estimate which is why we saw the white interior getting dropped from the configurator back in June as they wanted to puch people towards the inventory they had coming through.

Its also why Tesla have so few options, the more options the more permutations and the need to build to order. We have 3 models, 5 colours and a wheel choice, maybe a tow bar or not (but on the MX they ended up just making that standard to reduce the options)

Hey George, you going to Planet Mars when Elon fixes that for us?

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Hey George, you going to Planet Mars when Elon fixes that for us?

If I knew what you meant I'd comment

If you don't want to know how Tesla do things then carry on. We're talking about a company that using a mchine learning algorythm to set used car prices and control the windscreen wipers rather than do things the traditional way.

 

[MrBadger]

We're talking about a company that using a mchine learning algorythm to set used car prices and control the windscreen wipers rather than do things the traditional way.

No wonder wipers don't work well if its the same algorithm they use for inventory stock