Price gouging continues on the 3. Can't say I'm surprised.

[Texas]

Tesla’s preference for selling high-dollar models ahead of lower-margin models is nothing new. I got my P85D in late May, 2015, more than a month ahead of the original estimated delivery date—after Tesla noticed my order was loaded with every option other than executive seats, jump seats, and the spoiler. Why shouldn’t Tesla move the high-margin cars to the front of the queue as soon as they can? Isn’t it obvious that the company is trying to overcome almost insuperable financial odds? Pulling in as much money as early as possible is simply one strategy the company must follow to survive.

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

I'm recovering! Great meeting you, your wife, and your Cannonball accomplice

The pleasure was all ours! And after seeing the 3 up close, I'm leaning towards ordering white we might have an all white garage soon...

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

Tesla’s preference for selling high-dollar models ahead of lower-margin models is nothing new. I got my P85D in late May, 2015, more than a month ahead of the original estimated delivery date—after Tesla noticed my order was loaded with every option other than executive seats, jump seats, and the spoiler. Why shouldn’t Tesla move the high-margin cars to the front of the queue as soon as they can? Isn’t it obvious that the company is trying to overcome almost insuperable financial odds? Pulling in as much money as early as possible is simply one strategy the company must follow to survive.

My money is held high in my trembling, clenched fist just begging for them to take it already

 

[mhan00]

Back in Feb. Electrek article "Tesla is now claiming 35% battery cost reduction at ‘Gigafactory 1’ – hinting at breakthrough cost below $125/kWh" . Assuming this is accurate and the "Long Range Model" has 20kW more than base, that's $2500 more manufacturing cost for the batteries, plus some increase in battery case/battery mgmt. system.
So is an estimated 300% mark-up excessive for a mass market car option?

No. You absolutely cannot just look at just the marginal cost of something to the company. The Model S supposedly has a marginal cost of around 35k. That does NOT mean Tesla could start selling the S for 40k tomorrow and survive as a company. There are a lot of other things that they need to account for. For example: the cost of research and development of the S that they need to recoup, the cost of the actual factory and machines and assembly line upgrades, the cost of the service centers they're building and expanding, the SC network, research and development of future products, depreciation of the factory and the machines, electricity costs, IT costs, technical support, delivery costs, storage fees for vehicles before they're delivered, infrastructure and administrative costs, etc etc etc.

It works the same for the batteries. Sure, the extra kWh in the upgraded pack may have a marginal cost of 2500, but there are a lot more things Tesla had to spend money on to actually build the batteries that have to be amortized across each unit sold, plus Tesla has to add their profit on top of that.

One of the biggest issues new businesses have is that they price their margins too low because they don't take into account all of their expenses, especially as their business expands.

 

[AceSkywalker]

The only glaring problem with the pricing is the premium package. Some people don't want X feature, but want Y feature in the package. I don't care for the glass roof, but I do want better audio. Someone else could want the glass roof and nothing else. Either way its paying more for the few we want and an amount of what we don't want, like those damned cable packages.

Metallic paint is a couple hundred more expensive than what the competition offers.

The upgrade from 18" aero to 19" sport wheels is okay when looking at the competition, though I thought that the aero component was a thing that you could remove from the wheel to expose a more traditional wheel if you so desired.

 

[JoRey]

Let's put it this way. Individuals who could have afforded a 50,000+ on a Tesla would have already bought a Tesla years with the CPO program. At the moment Tesla priced the Model III to what the market will bear due to the demand. The first Model III's are therefore priced accordingly. I imagine that given some time as soon as they run out of individuals who are willing to pay the price for certain options, the price will drop accordingly on those options. The simple truth is that some reservation holders are stretching their budgets. Consider that the average family does not make a 3 figure salary and that the average is at around 50,000 dollars. Factor in the cost for food, shelter, bills, expeensives and there is not much surplus. Especially when you consider that wages have not grown proportionally to inflation. As it stands the option's pricing on the Model III do not reflect a car meant for the masses. Compare the price of options to the Bolt, Leaf, Ioniq and Volt. Tesla has to date not have experience selling cars and options to the "average" american. Prices that the boss paid for the Model S does not reflect the price that their potential employees will pay. Their lies the problem and the reason why so many people where taken back by the cost of some of the options. Also consider that musk previously stated that he expected the average selling price to be around 42,000 dollars. Although the base Model III does bring the best value for your money compared to any other electric car. In a effort to streamline production Tesla priced out some individuals from would have otherwise been simple upgrades or did not reduce the price of some options to reflect the starting price of 35,000.

 

[mhan00]

I really doubt the price will drop much, if at all, in the future. They might start unbundling some options as they gain their footing in manufacturing and can start doing more customized cars, but the cost of all the options will likely be very similar or even more than what they are now bundled together.

 

[MXWing]

Next OP complaint is we were promised a spaceship and no way Model 3 0-60 time of 5.1 can achieve escape velocity to leave the earths orbit.

 

[cwerdna]

6.6??? My 2011 leaf has 3.3

Yes. Beginning with 2013 model year, all Leaf SV and SL come with "6.6 kW" OBC. The cheaper S trim only has a 3.x kW OBC unless one buys the charge package, which adds the CHAdeMO inlet upgrades OBC to 6.6 kW.

The reason why I use quotes is because the 3.3 kW OBC actually could pull 3.8 kW from the wall but 3.3 kW was the max output to the battery. The 6.6 kW OBC is 6.6 kW max from the wall but max of 6.0 kW to the battery. Nissan seems to refer to the '13+ Leaf's 3.x kW OBC as 3.6 kW w/3.3 kW max to the battery (see Specs tab of http://nissannews.com/en-US/nissan/usa/presskits/us-2013-nissan-leaf-press-kit and 2017 Nissan LEAF Press Kit).

 

[Lanber]

The industry standard for car making is the car needs to have a construction cost maximum 50% of the retail price for it to be a success.

And looking at that extra range, it makes perfect sence for a 9k price hike. They double the price and then a bit more. Why? 1 Because they can and 2. Because the willingness to pay for that extra range is there.

 

[JoRey]

Wonder what they mean by "additional configurations......without upgrades will become available".

 

[HabitualUser]

Numerous issues with the prices on the 3.
I would be ok with the big battery costing $4K to $5K. But $9K? Just say no.

TIL Tesla is not in business to make profits, nor expedite the transition to sustainable energy, but to provide timk225 with cheap prices for their exceptional products.

LOL.

Hey timk225, step your game up.

 

[TehDoak]

He's correct, the profit margin on the options are the higher on options then the base. The solution is QUITE simple....just buy the base model. You'll get the best value. And that's true of nearly ANY car ever. Options are ALWAYS over priced on new cars.

 

[dhrivnak]

That's not my problem, I didn't ask them to build it so big.

Actually you along with the other 500,000 reservation holders did just that. That shows huge demand so to meet the demand you need a big factory.

 

[Zythryn]

If you feel an upgrade is not worth the upgrade, don't buy it.
I'm buying the smaller battery, the 18" wheels, but likely the base autopilot and the premium upgrade.
I don't need the extra range, so the added cost is not worth it to me, thus I am not buying it.

You can do thee same

 

[dragonxt]

Teslas wording makes me nervous.

Does anyone sees anything that alludes to me having to wait in order it get this configuration?

Base Battery
PUP
White seats
Blue exterior

Obviously base battery's won't me in production until Nov, but apart from that.

 

[dragonxt]

If a difference of $1000 is really throwing your plans off, perhaps you should reconsider your car plans anyway.

I happily paid 110k+ for my MX

I was fine with being up charged on a higher end product.

Blindly throwing money around without questioning it's validity is a good way to go broke.

Notice Tesla doesn't charge as much on some other items compared to the S and X

 

[Thomas Edison]

Sounding like a newb I ask.... what is PUP?

Teslas wording makes me nervous.

Does anyone sees anything that alludes to me having to wait in order it get this configuration?

Base Battery
PUP
White seats
Blue exterior

Obviously base battery's won't me in production until Nov, but apart from that.

 

[dragonxt]

Sounding like a newb I ask.... what is PUP?

Premium Upgrades Package

 

[mhan00]

Premium upgrade package.