Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[Right_Said_Fred]

Ok, but why do it at this point?

They've been doing it for years now: constant changes to pricing and to the referral program. Have we suddenly become allergic to it?

 

[SpaceCash]

They've been doing it for years now: constant changes to pricing and to the referral program. Have we suddenly become allergic to it?

I guess that since they previously announced the discontinuation of the program, this may be giving some of the more spergy among us some dissonance

 

[Ulmo]

In the Turo model, the owner gets the car back immediately and can inspect for damage right away. The robo taxi might make multiple runs before the owner gets it back.

In my experience with Turo, the owners don't check the cars, but end up blaming the damage from prior renters onto the renters they don't like that didn't cause any damage. Turo is a scam company for scam vehicle owners to charge 4x fees to renters. Furthermore, Turo doesn't offer flexible hours or extensions on rentals, and charges triple fees instead. Don't use Turo. (Use a traditional car rental company, or a new peer to peer company that doesn't encourage scammers.)

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

I guess that since they previously announced the discontinuation of the program, this may be giving some of the more spergy among us some dissonance

I believe the referral program was discontinued and revived two or three times already.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Because people stopped buying Tesla cars and they haven't shipped any, apparently.

Yep that’s what every media article on every media says, and Tesla’s PR team hasn’t said anything to contradict them. Wait, does Tesla have a PR team? Oh yah. Forgot.

 

[Carl Raymond]

I don't understand the nitpicking; it stimulates super-cheap, word-of-mouth advertising. The best kind of advertising.

And the rewards go to people who purchased a Tesla, effectively providing them with more value on their purchase. In a way, zero cost advertising.

 

[Ulmo]

Something? Like what?! And I am not even talking about business plan or product. Just from pure technical point of view. Starting several years earlier means absolutely nothing unless the front running maintaining the lead.

IBM had multi year lead on voice recognition, it meant nothing when they were surpassed by competitors before the tech can be productized, they just couldn't improve their accuracy as fast as the competitors can. IBM also spearheaded the research on using AI in diagnostic imaging, had a big plan as "Dr. Walson" with even marketing plans in place. They got quickly trounced by competitors because others had better accuracy. They also was the first to publish results in natural language understanding and question answering, had a big public stunt when Walson played jeopardy and won. What good does it do when Google easily crushed them later with better results?

Something, what exactly?

IBM also gave up. Giving up is in the genes of old businesses and businessmen. It's not in the genes of younger businessmen.

 

[Singuy]

Ok, but why do it at this point?

Probably because no mainstream news site published about the S/X refresh because they are too busy publishing high school drama. This will get the fleet of fans to start talking.

 

[KSilver2000]

5K on average will get used in like 3-5 mths for common usage.

..Also, this many miles should be enticing with gas $ costs, esp. in EU .. ~ cheers

An extra 4,000 miles is very little in terms of electricity costs. This isn’t going to change the minds of many potential car buyers. If anything, I would think it does the opposite. People will think this is just another instance of Tesla changing their stance on pricing or referral levels. If they want to incentivize, make it effective; 1K and even 4K miles is nothing.

 

[bdy0627]

I don't understand the nitpicking; it stimulates super-cheap, word-of-mouth advertising. The best kind of advertising.

I'm really not trying to nitpick, just asking the question of why they are temporarily increasing the rewards right now. Totally agree that it's a very cheap way to try to increase sales. In that sense, it's smart.

 

[HG Wells]

He won't stand for monitoring(this has been proven) nor will he refrain from tweeting inappropriately. He is the face of TESLA. He just retweeted a porn site for chrissakes.

Wait, are you saying that Elon doesn't act Presidential ?

 

[SO16]

I'm really not trying to nitpick, just asking the question of why they are temporarily increasing the rewards right now. Totally agree that it's a very cheap way to try to increase sales. In that sense, it's smart.

I wish they would leave the rewards as it currently is with 5k. 1k miles seemed kinda low.

 

[anthonyj]

I'm really not trying to nitpick, just asking the question of why they are temporarily increasing the rewards right now. Totally agree that it's a very cheap way to try to increase sales. In that sense, it's smart.

I wouldn't worry about that. It's a small incentive. Now if they start nuking S/X prices like in Q1, we have a problem.

 

[TSLA_Hopeful]

Not to brag, but I sold two cars today. I already sold a car last week. That's 3 cars in 2 weeks lol.

 

[K_Dizzle]

Not to brag, but I sold two cars today. I already sold a car last week. That's 3 cars in 2 weeks lol.

I sold 2 cars this weekend as well, one to a Porsche car guy and another to a girl who commutes 200km each way to work. Since it’s all highway I demod AP and she was sold. That’s 15,000 km of free supercharging for me.

 

[AcesDealt]

looks to me like the S/X program reduced it's gross profit by 500-600M$ relative to Q4, and the model 3 dropped 170M$. Given that the model 3 will continue to contract in profitability per vehicle, thus negating some of increased volume sales, if Tesla wants to get back to profitability it's mostly about the S/X.

 

[dc_h]

I think the best place for GF4 would probably be Czechia, Slovakia, or Poland. Lower labor costs, and short proximity to a large component supply base.

Poland is becoming a big tech hub. Well educated and language skills east and west.

 

[Wnuk]

looks to me like the S/X program reduced it's gross profit by 500-600M$ relative to Q4, and the model 3 dropped 170M$. Given that the model 3 will continue to contract in profitability per vehicle, thus negating some of increased volume sales, if Tesla wants to get back to profitability it's mostly about the S/X.

Can you explain how you came to the conclusion I highlighted in bold?

 

[azaz]

occams razor says the referral boost is a demand boost, however it could also be that the referral's were being under utilized and were costing less than expected to Tesla so they boosted it temporarily to see what usage is like.

also, I really don't get the opposition to advertising here. the great American companies like Apple and Nike have best in class products but that alone isn't enough. companies spend on advertising because it works.

 

[Navin]

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