More Model 3 changes and leasing now available

[Leafdriver333]

What am I missing or a better yet what is my referral going to be missing by getting a SR tomorrow? Are they only missing the seat heaters for $2,500? Was there any other difference besides max range?

SR+ $39,500, 240 miles, seat heaters (216 miles at 90% charge)
SR, $37,000?, 220 miles, no seat heaters? (220 miles at 100% software limited)

0-60 will be 5.6 vs 5.3.
I don't want 5.6sec car any more.
Also not sure if Tesla will give SR driver profile setting.


So with the change, SR gets the following hardware upgrade for free.
Power adjustable leatherette seats with heating element that won't work.
Fog lamps.
Extra battery cell capacity that can be turned on in the future for $$$.

 

[Curt Renz]

The stock market is reacting rationally to the announcement today. Those who made reservations three years ago expecting a $35,000 Model 3 had three recent weeks to buy one online with no questions asked. They can still order one for $35,000, if they are willing to first talk with a salesman about possibly adding optional equipment. So Tesla is also acting rationally.

 

[Az_Rael]

There are two types of customers who lease;

1. Terrible at math and finances.
2. Very good at math and finances.

Only group 1 will be leasing a Model 3.

You forgot the 3rd group of folks who can lease the car as a business and can write it off (assuming that hasn't changed under the new tax laws). For those folks leasing is a great financial option.

 

[cdub]

I bought a black/black MR @$39.5K . Also have a deposit on a SR+ @%37K . Now wondering which one to keep. Wondeing if I can transfer to another buyer for the one I don't keep.

Huh? Why are you buying another one? You have one. Keep the MR

 

[ngogas]

FSD will be 1k or free soon. Lol. Still waiting out

 

[Barklikeadog]

FSD will be 1k or free soon. Lol. Still waiting out

this

 

[CCIE]

The stock market is reacting rationally to the announcement today. Those who made reservations three years ago expecting a $35,000 Model 3 had three recent weeks to buy one online with no questions asked. They can still order one for $35,000, if they are willing to first talk with a salesman about possibly adding optional equipment. So Tesla is also acting rationally.

It's unclear what the off-menu price of the SR is. The announcement says all models now have AP at an increased cost. So, SR may be $37k now.

 

[OCR1]

There are two types of customers who lease;

1. Terrible at math and finances.
2. Very good at math and finances.

Only group 1 will be leasing a Model 3.

I don’t think it’s that black and white. If you are self-employed, earn a high income (let’s above $300K), and live in California, you are likely paying over 50% in Federal and CA income taxes. If you use your car exclusively for business, the entire payment, including the down payment, can be deducted as a business expense. So you are effectively getting a 50% discount on your lease. If you purchase the car, you can only deduct the depreciation on the car, and it’s over a longer period of time so it’s a much smaller deduction. For people in this category, leasing can be very attractive.

 

[electrictorque]

They may extend the credit/rebate ...

Tesla pops after news that the tax credit for electric vehicles may be extended (TSLA) | Markets Insider

Extend at what level? $7500 or current Which is supposed to be 1/2 ?

Also key word: "May"

 

[Leafdriver333]

You forgot the 3rd group of folks who can lease the car as a business and can write it off (assuming that hasn't changed under the new tax laws). For those folks leasing is a great financial option.

But that's just like saying having tax break on mortgage interest is why I have home mortgage when I can pay cash for the house and don't pay any interest and get no tax credit.

 

[mattjs33]

0-60 will be 5.6 vs 5.3.
I don't want 5.6sec car any more.

To be frank, you probably can't tell the .3 second difference. And that's massively dependent on conditions such as available grip and state of charge. This is a non-issue in the real world.

So with the change, SR gets the following hardware upgrade for free.
Power adjustable leatherette seats with heating element that won't work.
Fog lamps.
Extra battery cell capacity that can be turned on in the future for $$$.

Everyone on this forum is missing a major point. The SR and the SR+ were announced at the same time. Yet only the SR+ has a certification. There technically is NO such thing as a SR car. It's a SR+ with broken heated seats. There's no difference in the battery, and I'd bet there's not really any software limiting to it either. Who would notice? How many people would drive to that last mile? And did anyone ever see those supposed cloth seats?

A SR car, if anyone orders one (they are making it difficult to do so) is just a SR+ they are losing money on. It won't be around long. Pretty much anyone could see this coming. Tesla painted themselves into a corner with the $35K target and this is the result. Tesla has earned whatever press they get on this.

 

[Curt Renz]

It's unclear what the off-menu price of the SR is. The announcement says all models now have AP at an increased cost. So, SR may be $37k now.

Good point. However those who placed reservations three years ago expecting a $35,000 Model 3 had three recent weeks to order one. If they now have to pay a little more for taking extra time to consider purchasing, that is normal regarding the timing of purchasing any product.

 

[latimerluis]

Hardware 3

As a result, Model 3 Standard will now be a software-limited version of the Standard Plus, and we are taking it off the online ordering menu, which just means that to get it, customers will need to call us or visit any one of the several hundred Tesla stores. Deliveries of Model 3 Standard will begin this weekend.

Similarly, anyone who has already bought Standard Plus and wants to convert to Standard is welcome to do so, and we will provide a refund for the difference in cost.

I just called Tesla Sales to try and downgrade my Standard Plus to a Standard and they mentioned I needed to speak with the person who sold me the vehicle (even though I purchased it online). She couldn't or didn't know how to help. Most likely the latter, since she also mentioned they were still selling the "standard interior", which I'm pretty sure has been scrapped entirely with the news. I think the news dropped probably had surprised the sales people too, so don't be too surprised.

Oh well, looks like I've gotta make a drive to a Tesla store. Does anyone know when "the weekend" begins in the Tesla world? Is that considered to be Friday or Saturday?

 

[OCR1]

But that's just like saying having tax break on mortgage interest is why I have home mortgage when I can pay cash for the house and don't pay any interest and get no tax credit.

Those are not comparable. With a mortgage you only get to deduct the interest, not the entire monthly payment. With an auto lease you get to deduct the entire payment, which in my example is a true savings of 50% of the monthly payment. If you know you have these deductions you can reduce your quarterly tax withdrawals and take the money you are not giving the government and invest it.

 

[AviP]

So everything they announced on February 28th, then revised again in mid-March, is now completely changing again.

Sounds like a company in distress. Forcing options on customers that they don't want. Conversely, those that select the option could have gotten it cheaper. I think Tesla's 450,000 Model 3 order book has disintegrated because of all its bad customer management. If they had been better managed, they would have grown organically and not been in such disarray.

GM, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, VW, Toyota, Honda, Nissan have such ridiculous budgets for marketing and Tesla is pretty much word of mouth, yet it has been unable to capitalize on that gain due to capital outlays. It had an order book that all these companies were envious of and yet it managed to disenfranchise so many of these customers by making only the expensive models. That ongoing philosophy is how Tesla is killing itself. Branding itself as a luxury car maker while simultaneously being mass market is nothing short of idiotic. And with a performance brand like Porsche entering the fray, it's going to eat into some of Tesla's high end models. The only positive I see in Tesla is its Supercharger network. The Model Y did not blow any skirts up. And the pickup (Model P?) will undoubtedly price between the Y and the S which I think is too high. Basically, it's all for the luxury car market, yet the capital expenditure seems to be spent towards mass market production. It makes no sense.

I think Eon Musk has got to go for Tesla to survive. He is far behind the level of competency needed to make sound management decisions.

 

[dmurphy]

Sounds like a company in distress. Forcing options on customers that they don't want. Conversely, those that select the option could have gotten it cheaper. I think Tesla's 450,000 Model 3 order book has disintegrated because of all its bad customer management. If they had been better managed, they would have grown organically and not been in such disarray.

Changing prices and options is a sign of a company in distress? Really?

I'd say it sounds like .... a company. Any company.

 

[azred]

FSD will be 1k or free soon. Lol. Still waiting out

Just wait until they add FSD in all new cars for a low price bump. Greedy Fred and many other full price FSD buyers will come unhinged yet again.

Other than holding down sticker prices, it has never made sense to exclude the full suite of self driving tools on every car. Tesla will have lots of electric car competition soon, but electric cars with FSD will be an edge for at least a few years more. And hopefully many more cars using the technology will speed up improvements. I would like to use NOA, for example, but even the improved 2019.8.5 version is too wacky. (The past couple days I have been getting the giant red wheel with screaming warning sound for running stop lights as I was legally moving from carpool lanes to regular lanes. Scary stuff.)

Tesla is smoking bad dope if they really believe they will have a fleet of driverless cars on the streets as the first batch of leased 3’s come off lease. But if every car has the full set of self driving tools, maybe they will get there more rapidly.

 

[voip-ninja]

You forgot the 3rd group of folks who can lease the car as a business and can write it off (assuming that hasn't changed under the new tax laws). For those folks leasing is a great financial option.

That's really still part of the "can do math and understand finances" group.

The reality also is that the majority of folks who "write off a lease" for business purposes should not be doing so, at least according to my accountant.

If you are a realtor who uses their vehicle to do house showings for example you can right off the percentage of the vehicle used for that purpose on your taxes.

You cannot write off mileage/use that is used for commuting and you can almost never write off 100% of a vehicle's use unless the vehicle is used solely for business purposes.

TL DR - the majority of people who own a business and write vehicles off for tax purposes would probably fare poorly in an IRS audit.

 

[mattjs33]

FSD will be 1k or free soon. Lol. Still waiting out

They can pretty much charge whatever they want for unicorn farts, because gullible people still line up to buy them.

 

[voip-ninja]

I don’t think it’s that black and white. If you are self-employed, earn a high income (let’s above $300K), and live in California, you are likely paying over 50% in Federal and CA income taxes. If you use your car exclusively for business, the entire payment, including the down payment, can be deducted as a business expense. So you are effectively getting a 50% discount on your lease. If you purchase the car, you can only deduct the depreciation on the car, and it’s over a longer period of time so it’s a much smaller deduction. For people in this category, leasing can be very attractive.

If you purchase the car you can write off an unlimited amount of mileage on the car, for 2019 it's .59 per mile. So if you are a low mileage driver then writing off the lease probably makes more sense but if you are a high mileage business driver it probably makes sense to keep detailed logs (or buy a GPS logger) and write off all that sweet sweet mileage.

And you are right, only business use can be written off but a frightening number of people think that slapping a business logo on their car somewhere entitles them to write off 100% of the use of the car including daily commuting to/from their business and taking the kids to Costco on the weekend.

 

[CCIE]

Good point. However those who placed reservations three years ago expecting a $35,000 Model 3 had three recent weeks to order one. If they now have to pay a little more for taking extra time to consider purchasing, that is normal regarding the timing of purchasing any product.

Agreed. I can't imagine why anyone in the US would still have a deposit for an M3. If they were still trying to scrape together enough money to buy the SR, they probably should be looking at something used.