Tesla mistake? - "fully loaded, newly built cars to our service loaner fleet"

[DCGOO]

I received a brand spanking new loaded Model X P100DL (less than 250 miles on it) when my 2015 S went in for service for the first time in 22,000 miles, last week. My car went in on a Friday, so they *forced* me to keep the loaner for the weekend <sigh>. It was even a blue one, my color of choice. Needless to say, once again my enthusiasm went up

 

[croman]

Tesla Highland Park only does Tesla loaners and I got a 2015 loaded P85D with executive seats (not great for car seats). It was hella fun to launch in Insane (no ludi). My daughter loved it but stuff flies all over the place and its fairly violent. I only did two faux launches (not launch mode if that was even on the car).

My car is a 75D (at that time a 60D) so the loaner, despite being older, was higher spec'd. I believe my SC will be giving upgraded loaners going forward as the older loaner fleet is now being CPO'd. I'm hoping to get an X if I ever need another loaner because I'm interested in picking one of those up, perhaps, in a couple years and nothing is more informative than a prolonged test drive.

 

[cgiGuy]

I thought the OP's quote was from a statement Tesla made in April 2013.

July 3, 2017
Tesla Q2 2017 Vehicle Production and Deliveries (NASDAQ:TSLA)

 

[Max*]

July 3, 2017
Tesla Q2 2017 Vehicle Production and Deliveries (NASDAQ:TSLA)

I've heard this promise before. Not as far back as 2013, but at least earlier this year if not late last year.

 

[cgiGuy]

I've heard this promise before. Not as far back as 2013, but at least earlier this year if not late last year.

Sure.. me too. But to criticize them for not having 100% P100Ds at every service center, yet, seems a bit premature.

 

[Az_Rael]

It was very similar wording in 2013. Close enough that I thought that was what we were talking about. I am willing to bet the new policy will pan out as well as the old one.

The best way to experience service is, of course, not to experience service. If your car does need service, then it should be swapped with a car that is ideally better in some or many ways. To this end, Tesla is building a fleet of top of the line Model S loaners. These will not be our basic model – they will be state of the art with all the best features and options.

 

[CHG-ON]

If true, I think it's a huge mistake.

 

[thegruf]

I thought the OP's quote was from a statement Tesla made in April 2013.

No, this:

Tesla plans to deploy fully-loaded P100Ds as loaner vehicles in all service centers

A lot of posters seem to have missed my original point that Tesla will saturate the lnevitably limited market for top spec models with discounted ex-demo P100Ds, causing excessive depreciation, thereby damaging sales of their most profitable model the P100D and in turn losing revenue. Further a reputation for excessive depreciation is a negative for ownership that Tesla have avoided well so far.

A side discussion is that most of us are used to getting lowly spec loaners and having that "good to be back in my car satisfaction moment"
I rather suspect that this is outweighs the number of owners that will go "I just have to have one of those as my car now feel crap in comparison" - as most owner will buy the best spec they can afford anyway.

At the risk of a few disagrees I maintain that this is a risk strategy for Tesla that would benefit from thinking through some more.

 

[GSP]

The actual loaner fleet and similar statements in the past are not totally a side discussion. They strongly suggest that Tesla will not actually have a loaner fleet made of top spec vehicles despite the recent statement. Tesla has made this statement enough times over the years, without following through and actually doing it, why should anyone believe it unless it actually happens?

So, there will likely be no impact on depreciation of top spec cars, even if there might be if the policy was actually implemented.

GSP

 

[electracity]

Tesla has made this statement enough times over the years, without following through and actually doing it, why should anyone believe it unless it actually happens?

The haven't done it because they sold those production slots to new car buyers. What you are hearing from Musk is "plan B". If demand dips they will build loaners/inventory cars. The incremental cost of additional cars each quarter is small as long as they are not substantially increasing labor costs.

Tesla has entered unchartered waters with the Model 3. They don't know what buyers will do.

 

[SPXMike]

FYI, I took my car into Buena Park this week - need a battery replacement. They were out of loaners; I was told end-of-quarter, we sold a bunch of them off, etc. Enterprise was on-site and rented me a Lincoln. The car was on-site - they didn't bus me over to the local Enterprise office. The Enterprise rep told me they had just bought eight MS 75 kWh cars, and had just taken delivery of the first two. Their plan was to rent them to service customers when the service center runs out of loaners. Not sure if this change will be widespread, but I found it interesting.