The way this is implemented seems wrong. If only buyers who take delivery counts, the scores should be based on that. Now you have a scenario where Bjorn's link doesn't work any more but the race still continues. It is still likely one of Bjorn's buyers will cancel their order or refuse delivery. If that happens somebody else could win who reaches 10 orders after Bjorn, but 10 deliveries before Bjorn. That would be terribly unfair. The right thing to do now would be to let referral links work until 10 deliveries (not orders) and add another column that shows number of deliveries. I hope for the next promotion they will stop the free car and just do the $1000 discounts. It is a mess.
Example:
Referrer
Orders Deliveries Bjrn3169 12 4 Ivind3331 8 3 Peter 3 2 Kevin 4 1 Tam 7 0 Nikolai 4 0 Joe 3 0
Just some random thoughts:
1. Maybe its intentionally setup this way so that people do work and actively try to get ten LEGIT referrals that they know personally. Right now, I see a lot of spam and people using internet methods to get referrals. I would guess personal referrals would have less cancellations that strangers on the internet.
2. Maybe it's a loophole for Tesla to not give away the prize. 10 referrals but not 10 deliveries? No soup for you.
3. It can definitely be used to game the system. Say you're neck and neck with someone. Just get your buddy to use up the other persons referral with no intention of taking delivery. Even if you lose a deposit, it's still worth it in the end.