RIP Panoramic Roof... :(

[whitex]

Problem: Customer prefers a pano roof that does not leak.
Solution: Sell one less car to that customer?

I doubt this whole pano roof leaking situation is widespread. We've never had any such issues and love our pano roof.

If Tesla can build a falcon wing door, I am sure they can figure out how to make a roof that does not leak...

Most people are not going to no buy a Tesla because Model S is missing a pano, or do you think if Chevy Bolt had a pano root they'd be outselling the Model 3?

 

[Trebek1762]

my wife thought it was just my 'thing' that i got a Tesla. Then after driving in it for the last 6 months, she said..."oh wow, I love this car, my next one will definitely be a Tesla.

Now that they dropped the sunroof, she is going to look elsewhere for her next car now. She loves the sunroof.

 

[PhilDavid]

If it's a massively desired option, why have Tesla canceled it?

You should ask Tesla that. I bet at least around 50% of Model S vehicles were configured with a sunroof.

 

[PhilDavid]

Most people are not going to no buy a Tesla because Model S is missing a pano, or do you think if Chevy Bolt had a pano root they'd be outselling the Model 3?

They may decide to hold onto their existing Model S if buying a new one means you lose the sunroof.

Also someone who might otherwise buy a new Tesla might instead look to buy a used Tesla so they can buy a Model S with a sunroof.

It's a big deal for people who use a sunroof and appreciate it being there.

 

[ssheth74]

Looks like it is back as an off-the-menu option (along with all the other options that they removed) .. meaning you have to order it from a Tesla salesperson instead of online.

https://electrek.co/2018/11/13/tesla-removed-options-off-the-menu-items/

 

[RDoc]

Most people are not going to no buy a Tesla because Model S is missing a pano, or do you think if Chevy Bolt had a pano root they'd be outselling the Model 3?

Agreed, even though that's a significant reason why we personally won't trade ours in at this time.

My take is that Tesla is totally focused on becoming profitable and are cutting every expense they can. Minimizing the variants of the cars, not expanding their service centers, ramping down the quality of their CPO program, not fixing their delivery system, all go to that end.

Thus far, there's a significant demand for their cars and no competition so they have quite a bit of room for profit optimization. Essentially the cars have been too attractive and now they are just fixing that problem since they still sell every car they can make.

 

[djlott]

Looks like it is back as an off-the-menu option (along with all the other options that they removed) .. meaning you have to order it from a Tesla salesperson instead of online.

Tesla brings back all recently removed options as ‘off-the-menu items’

I saw this today as well. I agree with Electrek's take, in that I don't see how this is a more "customer friendly experience" but at least the options are there. My take? It makes the car look less expensive online with the reduction in the number of options. That could equal more customers buying Model S when a fully loaded (online version) 75D is $88K.

 

[Tic-tac-toe]

I was told by our Tesla salesperson that the company really wants people to come to their showrooms, take a test drive, etc rather than order their cars online.

This is just another incentive in that direction.

Ours was free supercharging during the ownership of our car. Incentive ended Sept 16, 2018 and I don’t believe that offer appeared online.

 

[RDoc]

I was told by our Tesla salesperson that the company really wants people to come to their showrooms, take a test drive, etc rather than order their cars online.

This is just another incentive in that direction.

Ours was free supercharging during the ownership of our car. Incentive ended Sept 16, 2018 and I don’t believe that offer appeared online.

I've no doubt that's what you were told, but it makes absolutely no sense to me. What is the point to having secret options that you have to go into a showroom to even know exist? It's an odd sales strategy that requires the potential customer to guess what options might be available and physically go in to ask if they are. I suppose the K-Mart "blue light special" technique is possible, but am skeptical.

First: if people can't see things like options or special offers such as the one you mentioned, how is that going to encourage them to even consider Tesla much less make an appointment to see one.

Second: for lots of us who are considering replacing our existing cars, what's the point to forcing us to make an appointment to waste a salesman's time? This is especially true for people who don't follow these threads. They look at the Tesla site, find that, no, their desired configuration isn't available any more, and like us, decide to wait to see what's going to happen.

 

[Darren Donovan]

I was told by our Tesla salesperson that the company really wants people to come to their showrooms, take a test drive, etc rather than order their cars online.

This is just another incentive in that direction.

Ours was free supercharging during the ownership of our car. Incentive ended Sept 16, 2018 and I don’t believe that offer appeared online.

A lot of Tesla fans love the online order option, which minimizes interaction time with a salesman at the dealership (showroom).

 

[brianman]

A lot of Tesla fans love the online order option, which minimizes interaction time with a salesman at the dealership (showroom).

Yah, kinda kills the whole Amazon vibe of ordering a car from Tesla. Odd that they're moving away from this experience. :|

 

[tomas]

Yah, kinda kills the whole Amazon vibe of ordering a car from Tesla. Odd that they're moving away from this experience. :|

Really! Last thing I want/need is to have to spend gratuitous time with someone who knows less about the car than I do!

 

[whitex]

They may decide to hold onto their existing Model S if buying a new one means you lose the sunroof.

Also someone who might otherwise buy a new Tesla might instead look to buy a used Tesla so they can buy a Model S with a sunroof.

It's a big deal for people who use a sunroof and appreciate it being there.

Tesla changes things so quickly, by the time your car is ready for replacement (3+ years?) there will be many more features not available anymore. Just a simple example of my car - solid roof, leather seats, plus suspension, 80A charger, piano decor, ability to run 2 apps on the screen. This is just one of many.

 

[sakimano]

Who cares about pano roof. But carbon trim and 11kW charger instead of 16.5kW? There are EVs coming with 22kW onboard chargers. Does Tesla really need give me even more reasons to go with the oncoming competition?

Ever heard of superchargers? They're really cool. 100+kw

Charging at home, frankly who cares how fast it is as long as you're picking up 20+ miles per hr? You've got 8-10 hrs to charge it. If you're at 5 kw per hour connected you're fine.

 

[Jan Fiala]

Ever heard of superchargers? They're really cool. 100+kw

Charging at home, frankly who cares how fast it is as long as you're picking up 20+ miles per hr? You've got 8-10 hrs to charge it. If you're at 5 kw per hour connected you're fine.

Lol, come on, grow up!

 

[sidmini]

The pano is a nice but there are more things to go wrong with one, motor, mechanism, rubber seals....i have one and it's great in the summer giving you the "top-down" feeling.

 

[PhilDavid]

The pano is a nice but there are more things to go wrong with one, motor, mechanism, rubber seals....i have one and it's great in the summer giving you the "top-down" feeling.

This could be said about many other aspects of the Model S. People buy the Model S for the features and technology it offers and I'd like to think pano sunroofs were perfected 10 years ago. If they have leaking issues, they should fix that rather than stop offering an option important to so many customers.

I bet they've had more issues with the retracting door handles than sunroofs and I don't see them discontinuing door handles...

 

[vdiv]

I bet they've had more issues with the retracting door handles than sunroofs and I don't see them discontinuing door handles...

Ah, but they did in a way, neither the Model X nor the Model 3 have motorized retracting doorhandles.
Anyhow, the way I'd like to look at it is the Tesla you get is special, there are some like it, not for long, but this one is yours.
Value and enjoy what you have.

 

[PhilDavid]

Ah, but they did in a way, neither the Model X nor the Model 3 have motorized retracting doorhandles.
Anyhow, the way I'd like to look at it is the Tesla you get is special, there are some like it, not for long, but this one is yours.
Value and enjoy what you have.

I've never head a leaking sunroof in any of my cars.

The fact remains this is a massively popular option that is super important for customers who want a sunroof in their car. When you pay around $100K for a car, if a sunroof is important for you, you should be able to buy the car with one.

 

[Mediocrates]

The fact remains this is a massively popular option that is super important for customers who want a sunroof in their car. When you pay around $100K for a car, if a sunroof is important for you, you should be able to buy the car with one.

Why do the price of a product and the desires of any given individual determine what a manufacturer should include in their product?