Is Tesla holding back ?

[celter]

I am wondering if Tesla deliberately made the Model S a bit lacking in term of equipment. I mean, when Apple released their first Iphone or Ipad I am sure they left something out for the next models. Why wouldn´t Tesla do the same? If the Tesla Model S was delivered with parking sensors, ACC, blind spot monitors, lane assist system, head-up display, a lot of storage in the cabin etc., what would be left for Model S 2.0 ? Personally, if this is the case, I do not hold it against Tesla. I think it´s a good business strategy. What do you think?

 

[Raffy.Roma]

I am wondering if Tesla deliberately made the Model S a bit lacking in term of equipment. I mean, when Apple released their first Iphone or Ipad I am sure they left something out for the next models. Why wouldn´t Tesla do the same? If the Tesla Model S was delivered with parking sensors, ACC, blind spot monitors, lane assist system, head-up display, a lot of storage in the cabin etc., what would be left for Model S 2.0 ? Personally, if this is the case, I do not hold it against Tesla. I think it´s a good business strategy. What do you think?

Maybe it could be a good business strategy for USA but I don't think that it could work for Europe. I very much doubt that In Europe such a big car like Model S without power folding mirrors and parking sensors will be successful.

 

[GeekGirls]

What do you think?

I think it's as unlikely a theory as the frequent claims that Nintendo / Apple / whoever are deliberately holding back stock to make their products look more popular by virtue of always being sold out. Neither one makes the slightest bit of sense from a business standpoint. If you were Tesla, would you worry about selling a second car to the roughly 20,000 people who ordered one already? Or would you focus on attracting some of the remaining millions of people who could afford one but aren't yet convinced?

Given that Tesla is still working hard to deliver features they've already promised, like scheduled charging and iOS/Android apps, I find it hard to buy into any speculation about how easy it would have been to deliver other goodies requiring additional design work, added cost, and even more software features.

 

[PRJIM]

Tesla has some plans for the future, these plans are not ready just yet. They know what they want to do, they just need time to get there. There will be planned improvements to the Model S.

 

[celter]

I think it's as unlikely a theory as the frequent claims that Nintendo / Apple / whoever are deliberately holding back stock to make their products look more popular by virtue of always being sold out. Neither one makes the slightest bit of sense from a business standpoint. If you were Tesla, would you worry about selling a second car to the roughly 20,000 people who ordered one already? Or would you focus on attracting some of the remaining millions of people who could afford one but aren't yet convinced?

Given that Tesla is still working hard to deliver features they've already promised, like scheduled charging and iOS/Android apps, I find it hard to buy into any speculation about how easy it would have been to deliver other goodies requiring additional design work, added cost, and even more software features.

I see your point, but I don´t agree. The marked for a Tesla S 2.0 wouldn´t be the 20 000 that already have a Tesla Model S. It would be the millions that are not early adopters and opted to wait for a better equipped model.
The rumours about the car already beeing hard-wired for parking sensors and blind spot monitors make me wonder.....

 

[dennis]

I see your point, but I don´t agree. The marked for a Tesla S 2.0 wouldn´t be the 20 000 that already have a Tesla Model S. It would be the millions that are not early adopters and opted to wait for a better equipped model.
The rumours about the car already beeing hard-wired for parking sensors and blind spot monitors make me wonder.....

A Tesla engineer that I spoke with confirmed what I already surmised: features like parking sensors and blind spot detection were back-burnered in the time crunch to get the Model S to market. The days of "clipping the jumper wire to double performance" a la IBM 360 are distant in the rearview mirror. All manufacturers are under incredible competitive pressure, and the reason they leave features out is because they can't complete them in time, not because they are holding them back to make the next product look better.

 

[Oreo]

There's sure a matter of extra costs to include those features, but when They already have a backlog (and deadlines) why should they include it?
To be the worlds best sedan, it would definetly help to add these relatively cheap extras. So in IMHO Tesla isn't quite There yet.
Would I sit around and wait until it happens?
Hell no, I'm turning 40 soon.

 

[Al Sherman]

I think it's as unlikely a theory as the frequent claims that Nintendo / Apple / whoever are deliberately holding back stock to make their products look more popular by virtue of always being sold out. Neither one makes the slightest bit of sense from a business standpoint. If you were Tesla, would you worry about selling a second car to the roughly 20,000 people who ordered one already? Or would you focus on attracting some of the remaining millions of people who could afford one but aren't yet convinced?

Given that Tesla is still working hard to deliver features they've already promised, like scheduled charging and iOS/Android apps, I find it hard to buy into any speculation about how easy it would have been to deliver other goodies requiring additional design work, added cost, and even more software features.

Exactly correct in my opinion. There's almost no chance they held anything back as a "business strategy" to sell more of the NEXT car. Just wouldn't make any business sense for SO many reasons. There could be MANY reasons to not include something, but I would guess NEVER just to sell more of the NEXT car.

 

[jerry33]

In some industries you do hold back and release items only when the other competitors do. In these industries there is no incentive to release new features/products/improvements until the competition does so because there will be a negative impact on the bottom line. The idea here is to have a few bullets left to fire after the competition has done their shooting and maximize the current product range's lifetime. This wouldn't apply to Tesla though.

 

[bonnie]

hmmm. Well, in general, I agree with most of the responses here. But with one exception: AWD.

I don't think AWD is ready for the S yet, but I'd bet it will be offered at some point in the future. And I'd bet that Model S AWD will be held back until the Model X AWD has been launched.

 

[goyogi]

I don't see much incentive for them to hold back. They still have far too many orders to fill that they don't have to worry about enticing old customers to upgrade their cars for the latest and greatest. Also any options is an opportunity for profit which they need now.

 

[JRP3]

Tesla is still working out issues with what they are offering. Adding more to the mix would only cause more potential problems. If they are holding back it's because they have to.

 

[yobigd20]

Ah, so you mean it's like a nightclub in a busy town holding a line of people outside to make it seem like they are really popular , trying to entice more ppl to come in but when you actually get inside you realize it is empty and the bouncers were just being ****s?

Nope, not a chance. Unlike a crappy nightclub desperate for customers, this baby's the real deal. A game changer. No need to fake it. They are doing their best to meet demand while managing cash flow. I think if they beefed up their plant more for the Model S that it would burn too much cash for them and their line would be too big to support the future demand of this vehicle after the initial backlog of orders are fulfilled. A waste of precious cash that they'll need for the Model X manufacturing line and the gen III.

And I am not worrying about Model S demand once this backlog is through for one very simple reason - they have yet to do ANY advertising. LOL. All orders right now are purely word of mouth and by people coming across reviews online and in magazines. Imagine what the reservation rate would be like right now if they put a few commercials on prime time! My bet is that they're waiting until the summer for this. A side effect (intentional or not) is that this also gives them the time they need to work out any initial kinks in the software. Better to fix those now with a smaller amount of cars in the field (we're all beta testers lol I think it even says that in the contract somewhere haha) as opposed to beefing up and having double/triple more cars out now only to discover a bug that might piss a lot of ppl off. This is the "risk" we take as the early adopters of the car. After its super stable and the manufacturing line has matured and operating at 100% efficiency then let's start hitting the mass media with advertisements!

 

[wraithnot]

A Tesla engineer that I spoke with confirmed what I already surmised: features like parking sensors and blind spot detection were back-burnered in the time crunch to get the Model S to market. The days of "clipping the jumper wire to double performance" a la IBM 360 are distant in the rearview mirror. All manufacturers are under incredible competitive pressure, and the reason they leave features out is because they can't complete them in time, not because they are holding them back to make the next product look better.

The version I heard from a Tesla sales representative was that they tried to license many of these features from other companies, but they couldn't get a deal that made sense with their current sales volume. The car was supposedly engineered to make it possible to add these features later for existing owners if Tesla ramps up their production volume enough to make things cost effective. Of course I didn't get this in writing so it should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Tesla may have added capability for these additional features to be added later on (that's part of the "upgradeable" nature of the car), but that does not necessarily mean they are "holding back" the features now with the intent to get people to upgrade to a future model. Tesla haven't even delivered all the PROMISED features yet . It's pretty clear they won't be able to deliver those additional features yet even if they wanted to.

 

[aronth5]

hmmm. Well, in general, I agree with most of the responses here. But with one exception: AWD.

I don't think AWD is ready for the S yet, but I'd bet it will be offered at some point in the future. And I'd bet that Model S AWD will be held back until the Model X AWD has been launched.

Agree.

 

[BenTesla]

I've heard of that with other businesses and thought it was bad business then. In Tesla's case it would be especially dim witted. They're going to want to sell this version for as long as they can without major changes. In my mind if Tesla spent say $1 million developing a solar panel option for the roof of the car, they have to get that money back. I'm not a business expert but it wouldn't make sense for them not to sell the technology they've developed considering it could be out dated in 3 years or when ever they build the next model

FYI: I think solar panels on the roof is a bad idea. Didn't really work for Fisker so why would it work for us?

 

[dbanner]

I assumed the same. At some point you have to go to market. A startup like Tesla doesn't have time to do it all while there is little cash being earned.

A Tesla engineer that I spoke with confirmed what I already surmised: features like parking sensors and blind spot detection were back-burnered in the time crunch to get the Model S to market. The days of "clipping the jumper wire to double performance" a la IBM 360 are distant in the rearview mirror. All manufacturers are under incredible competitive pressure, and the reason they leave features out is because they can't complete them in time, not because they are holding them back to make the next product look better.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

The version I heard from a Tesla sales representative was that they tried to license many of these features from other companies, but they couldn't get a deal that made sense with their current sales volume. The car was supposedly engineered to make it possible to add these features later for existing owners if Tesla ramps up their production volume enough to make things cost effective. Of course I didn't get this in writing so it should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

This version of events seems plausible to me. Add to this the time constraints of getting the car out by June 2012. One of the criteria they could be using is whether the feature could be added later at the service centers — for an extra charge or not. If this is their strategy, it makes sense that the cars would have been pre-wired for these add-ons and that Tesla waited to implement them. Now that the factory is at full production volume, Tesla would be in a better position to negotiate on cost.

 

[mknox]

A Tesla engineer that I spoke with confirmed what I already surmised: features like parking sensors and blind spot detection were back-burnered in the time crunch to get the Model S to market.

Yeah, they had to forego those options to focus on those highly functional door handles that make opening the door so much easier :wink: