So one detail I find interesting is that Elon really under-sold the 75D removal: it was done on very short notice and was removed unceremoniously.
If they really wanted to, they could have created a
lot of 75D sales by saying: "we will not be selling this small Model S/X ever again, we are shifting our product palette up". There were even rumors that the 75 kWh battery pack will remain but will only be renamed - and Tesla could have addressed those rumors by making it really unambiguous that it's going away.
Instead they announced it in a minimal fashion, almost as if they
didn't want an inrush of new 75D orders, fully aware of the fact that the 75D variants make up 50%+ of the sales.
This supports
@KarenRei's point that this is done to improve margins even at the expense of sales. My guess is that they have a number of new features lined up to increase demand again:
- Faster charging speeds on SuperCharger v3. It's much overdue now, and I believe the recent price increase was part of the SuperCharger v3 plan. 100D and 100DP packs can probably make use of the full SuperCharger v3 speeds.
- New HW3 modules installed in all newly made cars starting on April 1.
- Possible FSD features switched on this year.
- The rumored Model S/X interior refresh - which should further streamline manufacturing and increase margins.
- Possible use of the more efficient (?) Model 3 power train in the Model S/X.
I'm wondering whether Tesla is playing the Intel Extreme CPUs game: make sure they are the fastest in town, and charge a steep premium for it. But don't over-do it and be much faster - only 10-20% better than the competition to milk 'premium products' sales.