Tesla Model 3 in Australia

[aroth]

You bought a vehicle that was discontinued before you even received it. Good luck explaining that to buyers once the P+ saturates the market.

Come again? The P- is just an LR AWD with a software unlock for the faster acceleration. Hardly discontinued. Hell, the P+ is basically the same car again, just with a spoiler glued on (literally), bigger wheels/brakes, and a software unlock for higher top speed.

Doubt anyone here plans on reselling their Model 3 anytime soon, however given that the P- has the same performance as the P+ save for the higher top speed (not relevant unless you'll be driving on a track, which most people won't) and that the main thing most P+ reviews find fault with is the 20" wheels I'd think the P- would hold its value pretty well. It's the more desirable car, and rarity tends to add value rather than diminish it.

Or to put it another way, the P- is strictly better than the LR AWD which Tesla now sells for the same price-point as the original P- offering. That means they've already appreciated in value.

 

[meowsers]

Come again? The P- is just an LR AWD with a software unlock for the faster acceleration. Hardly discontinued. Hell, the P+ is basically the same car again, just with a spoiler glued on (literally), bigger wheels/brakes, and a software unlock for higher top speed.

Sure. What I'm getting at is that, historically these "unknown" variants don't do very well in the resale market. If someone is looking at two vehicles, both performance, both with the same mileage, but one with the "upgrade pack", I don't think the P- will come out ahead.

I just bought what I wanted and I think we can just agree to disagree. To each his own.

 

[WoodWombat]

Unfortunately I agree with this. They seem to be way behind the ball on this one, I would expect this to keep going until demand dies off (maybe november at least). I don't have much hope of getting my car until mid-october at the earliest. For a company that lives and dies on its numbers, they don't seem to be (at least outwardly) concerned with delivering this as quickly as possible.

To extend on this, given the terrible way that Tesla dealt with this in the UK market, one would have thought that the local teams would have learned from their mistakes and scaled their operations accordingly. Basic stock control and vehicle logistics is not exactly rocket surgery, they know no less than 2-3 weeks before stock arrives in the country exactly what is coming and where it is to be dropped off. They have the list of orders, prioritised by existing owner, reservation date and then order date (possibly bucketed into cutoff batches to avoid resource starvation). Even if this is thousands of vehicles, a human being could easily assign stock in a spreadsheet based on what is being sent over with high levels of confidence and clear all this up in a few days. Instead, we have now got 5 weeks of half-arsed deliveries and vehicles being allocated out of order.

As a shareholder, this is very disappointing to me. I know that once I get my car I will forget most of the bad taste that this is leaving, but I will have difficulty recommending a Tesla to anyone who is not an enthusiast or very patient indeed, which is the exact opposite of what we need right now. I have bought many new cars from many manufacturers (Peugeot, Subaru, Toyota) over the past 25 years, but never had this level of uncertainty around a delivery date.

 

[RobDickinson]

If someone is looking at two vehicles, both performance, both with the same mileage, but one with the "upgrade pack", I don't think the P- will come out ahead.

Yet my P- was priced the same as the LR AWD .. So long as I come out ahead of an equivalent LR for sale, very likely, I am fine.

Yes no one will pay as much for a P- as a P+ but I didnt pay $7k extra...

 

[meowsers]

Yes no one will pay as much for a P- as a P+ but I didnt pay $7k extra...

Well, until they offer the white interior separately, those of us who want it will have to pay more.

 

[meowsers]

but I will have difficulty recommending a Tesla to anyone who is not an enthusiast or very patient indeed, which is the exact opposite of what we need right now.

I have already told everyone who asks to either prepare for endless waiting and terrible customer service, or stay away until they get stuff sorted out. Only the diehard consumers like us put up with this sort of thing, the average person won't wait and Tesla is doing themselves a great disservice by squandering a hard earned brand reputation like this.

 

[RobDickinson]

Tesla will get on top of this as much as they ever seem to this is a crazy spike in demand for them

 

[PJF000]

Basic stock control and vehicle logistics is not exactly rocket surgery,

Did you say "rocket surgery"?

 

[Brissienew]

Sure, the reservation system ended up being pointless in Australia. So were the Signature reservations.

I feel sorry for those who have reservations but are getting their cars later than the late comers. I had placed a deposit soon after the announcement, then read on this forum that it is likely that reservation will make little difference in delivery time, so I got my deposit refunded. I think Tesla had simply used the money to help with their cash flow, it was a 3 years interest free unsecured loan to Tesla, and I think it reflects poorly on them.

 

[WoodWombat]

I feel sorry for those who have reservations but are getting their cars later than the late comers. I had placed a deposit soon after the announcement, then read on this forum that it is likely that reservation will make little difference in delivery time, so I got my deposit refunded. I think Tesla had simply used the money to help with their cash flow, it was a 3 years interest free unsecured loan to Tesla, and I think it reflects poorly on them.

I don't begrudge this interest free loan to Tesla, and after my long wait for a three phase Powerwall 2, I should not have been surprised at another wait. I just wish that they could have at least tried to show that they were rewarding us early supporters with more than just a pretty card and photo combination (which was also late).

 

[jyavenard]

I wanted the white interior.
You bought a vehicle that was discontinued before you even received it. Good luck explaining that to buyers once the P+ saturates the market.

Very easily. Early purchaser got an advantage and provided a much better option than the LR AWD. The early performance model was the best all-rounder: better acceleration, better autonomy, better comfort.

You can get the metal pedals and the rear spoiler for less than $200 ($15 for the pedals)

What will end up happening is just like in the US, where you can purchase the performance model and make it a P-.

The track mode has always been available on the stealth performance in the US, I don't see any reasons for it to change.

Mind you I would have preferred the performance package with 19" wheels; had that been available I would have chosen it.

I didn't choose the P- for financial reasons, but because it was the better purchase.

 

[Brissienew]

But the whole point of reservation is to be able to get the car based on the order of reservation. When Tesla took the reservation, they never stated that the orders are based on the profitability of the cars’ configurations, or whichever colour cars or interior they are building first.

 

[Kangojack]

I feel sorry for those who have reservations but are getting their cars later than the late comers. I had placed a deposit soon after the announcement, then read on this forum that it is likely that reservation will make little difference in delivery time, so I got my deposit refunded. I think Tesla had simply used the money to help with their cash flow, it was a 3 years interest free unsecured loan to Tesla, and I think it reflects poorly on them.

Without our help (supporting the model 3) the push to world wide EV adoption would have taken a lot longer. Maybe even decades.
Personally i was happy to provide them with the support by pledging my Support with a deposit.

I’m a keen startup supporter, supporting companies with the vision to move forward. I once supported a kickstarter campaign that went 12 months over the scheduled delivery time frame. without all the support from the Kickstarter community this new product wouldn’t have got to market.

 

[Brissienew]

Without our help (supporting the model 3) the push to world wide EV adoption would have taken a lot longer. Maybe even decades.

Yes, but why can’t Tesla make the reservation count? It can’t be that difficult to give earlier reservation holders their cars first?

 

[Dave3333]

Without our help (supporting the model 3) the push to world wide EV adoption would have taken a lot longer. Maybe even decades.
Personally i was happy to provide them with the support by pledging my Support with a deposit.

I’m a keen startup supporter, supporting companies with the vision to move forward. I once supported a kickstarter campaign that went 12 months over the scheduled delivery time frame. without all the support from the Kickstarter community this new product wouldn’t have got to market.

Yep. And I think the other thing to keep in mind is that obviously there are going to be delivery problems for us because there are about 2,500 of us waiting for a car at the same time. In the future, I imagine the process is going to be much quicker and smoother as there won't be a massive glut of orders to fill all at once.

By the time we get around to selling our other ICE car to purchase another Tesla (in another 7 years or so), I'm expecting things to be far simpler, and without all this sitting around and desperately waiting for a phone call!

 

[sabretooth]

I feel sorry for those who have reservations but are getting their cars later than the late comers. I had placed a deposit soon after the announcement, then read on this forum that it is likely that reservation will make little difference in delivery time, so I got my deposit refunded. I think Tesla had simply used the money to help with their cash flow, it was a 3 years interest free unsecured loan to Tesla, and I think it reflects poorly on them.

There are no doubt flaws in the system, but it's not that simple. Deliveries have been scheduled and started so we're and and more likely to see walkups get VINs and invoices sooner and sooner as the backlog shrinks.

Secondly, each state has independent stock , so a 2019 reservation holder trying to order a config in QLD might get an invoice within a week, but a day 1 in Vic might be waiting for the next boat.

 

[aroth]

But the whole point of reservation is to be able to get the car based on the order of reservation.

From the consumer's point of view.

From Tesla's, the whole point probably starts and ends with "cashflow".

 

[Brissienew]

From the consumer's point of view.

From Tesla's, the whole point probably starts and ends with "cashflow".

And the word ‘deceive’ in there somewhere....

Some of you are obviously a lot more forgiving than me.

I will probably still get one myself, a SR+ in white, but I will wait till I get a test drive first.

 

[Kangojack]

Yes, but why can’t Tesla make the reservation count? It can’t be that difficult to give earlier reservation holders their cars first?

Big companies suffer from lack of processes.
I should know I help them resolve such issues.

I’m sure the intension was to delivery by reservation date, but the tools the end users uses are often not tuned to the process.
I expect the delivery agents are working from an excel list and it might not even have the reservation date.
It’s just a hunch.
People always find the shortest path to accomplish a task. If that means ignoring the reservation date they most probably will.

 

[aroth]

Some of you are obviously a lot more forgiving than me.

I never went in on an early reservation, so it's easy to forgive an oversight that may result in getting a car sooner than I otherwise would.