Tesla on Jalopnik.com (leasing story)

[RobotGrease]

Any press is good press? This is Jalopnik's homepage right now.

 

[Johan]

Then again who cares about Jalopnik.com?

 

[archibaldcrane]

Well, they're right, $500/mo is a ridiculous thing to advertise.


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[Zythryn]

Agreed, but Tesla made it really easy for them this time.

 

[Arnold Panz]

Well, they're right, $500/mo is a ridiculous thing to advertise.

Completely agree. You know, $700 or $800/month wouldn't be so bad, and would get them in the ballpark of reality (gas savings etc.). Tesla left itself totally open on this one. They want to not be "an expensive toy for the rich", but this is an expensive car, even in its cheapest form, and even with the total cost of ownership for the life of the car. That's OK -- that was the plan. Gen 3 will be the economically viable car for the masses. This was just overzealousness on Tesla's part, and we've seen this before where no one stops the freight train as it barrels down the tracks, and Tesla ends up with a self-created situation on their hands.

 

[kevincwelch]

The guaranteed resale value back to Tesla was money. Unfortunately, they shot themselves in the foot with these ridiculous "what's your time worth?" factors.

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[jerry33]

The calculator isn't so bad, but there are a lot of silly boxes that should be there for interest's sake only. What they really mean is $500 extra a month--only they don't say extra. When I used the calculator and put in the real numbers, I came out with about $14/mo. savings.

 

[Majerus]

The worst part about the calculator is assuming $458 a month a business saving..

 

[Larry Chanin]

Then again who cares about Jalopnik.com?

Agreed. Jalopnik is not serious journalism. It's the bad press from Motor Authority, Bloomberg and WSJ, that this $500/month fuzzy math invoked, that bothers me.

Larry

 

[vfx]

The calculator isn't so bad, but there are a lot of silly boxes that should be there for interest's sake only....

Those boxes make (new EV) buyers think about things they would not thought of.

 

[riceuguy]

While Jalopnik is hardly a friend of Tesla, how many of us thought the same thing when we did the math! :smile:

 

[Lyon]

Yeah, their math is doable but it's almost impossible to get there. Jalopnik is, however, indefensibly poor journalism. They seem to be especially angry that Tesla managed to make Model S. They're on record as saying Model S was vaporware that would never be made. Well, Tesla made it, made it well and is selling it like crazy.

 

[doug]

Jalopnik is rather late to this story.

 

[Trnsl8r]

Agree with the rest of you. Jalopnik - not good - but Tesla set themselves up for this one. Hard to blame the kid for kicking the football when it's propped up so nicely...

- - - Updated - - -

Agreed. Jalopnik is not serious journalism. It's the bad press from Motor Authority, Bloomberg and WSJ, that this $500/month fuzzy math invoked, that bothers me.

Larry

Well actually... it's not Jalopnik. All they're doing is linking to this article on Car & Driver that did the leg work... Tesla’s Model S Lease and Financing Program Expensive, Misleading – News – Car and Driver | Car and Driver Blog

 

[ddenboer]

Tesla's math is not great -- I think we are all agreed on that.

BUT

I've done 11k miles on my car. I have not had to fill up with gas at all. My old car would have needed 28 fills by now. I usually went out of my way to fill on the way home from work (I have a very strict schedule in the morning the usually prohibits filling time). Filling took around 8 minutes. I've saved around 336 minutes of time here including travel. I've also saved $1400 in gas. My time is worth a lot to me. They are on to something there.

 

[Norbert]

Tesla needs to find the attention of those who are willing to put aside traditional financial calculations ($/luxury) for a moment, and consider the special value an electric car such as the Model S provides.

 

[kevincwelch]

My time is worth a lot to me. They are on to something there.

I do think they've hit a psychological target with this one, but one must admit that there are a certain few out there that could actually recoup the minutes/hours lost to dealing with an ICE, and then there are those who feel like their time is worth a lot but in reality it is not.

The whole concept of driving away with a $75,000 car for $500/mo is ludicrous.

 

[DonPedro]

In Elon Musk's shoes, given the choice between having Jalopnik.com publish this or nothing on Tesla, I take this. What Tesla needs is awareness of its offering, and this gives just that. Nobody who was about to decide to buy a Model S is going to go "wait a minute - it really isn't $500???".

 

[jimbakker666]

The worst part about the calculator is assuming $458 a month a business saving..

I liked the $100 per hour even more...because when you're making $100 an hour, the most important consideration when shopping a car is affordability.