The new fantasy sales framework will fail

[zer0cool]

I don't dispute the other points, but eight hours was a lot longer than I spent. Maybe two hours, so about the same as driving time to a store. The second from last time I purchased a car from a dealer, the time spent at the dealer during delivery was over eight hours. (I believe they really hated me because the manufacturer set the price on a special deal and they couldn't charge the $5K extra they were gouging others.)

You REALLY only spent 2 hours to buy a car, getting a loan and selling your car? Man, you should become a consultant and teach your process to car dealers everywhere. You ll make millions!

(adding an aside here... really just on selling car alone, assuming you don't shop around, and just drive to carmax and have it assessed and take whatever they give you, takes more than 2 hours)

There are also lots of time consuming stuff after all that's done too and Tesla does a really terrible job at those. For example getting title work to customers on time (so their temp tags don't expire), DMV stuff, state fees, taxes, licence plate etc. When you buy online, you have to take care all of those which can take hours and hours (and physical time to go to those places).

For my last BMW, the dealership took care all of that. So literally the total time for me to buy a car, sell mine, get financing, and all paper works done was the amount of time I spent at the dealership. It's MUCH less than buying a Tesla online and dealing with all those paper work on my own. Buying online was a huge hassle way way more complicated than filing taxes. Honestly I don't think the average person can complete those tasks without messing up somewhere.

 

[GoTzillaR]

This assumes that no one will have "already owned an S or X, rented an EV from somewhere or borrowed an EV from friends" going forward. And the idea was to reduce the number of test drives. For many folks, just sitting in the car in a gallery is enough to verify seat comfort, which is one of the more usual concerns for the average driver. For the performance drivers, there won't be any problem with getting a test drive. This whole no test drive thing has been blown way out of proportion. It's really going to end up being a non-issue.

I really hope that I overlooked that "No test drive" thing. Closing down most show rooms is no issue, but cutting workforce down and cutting their bonus to none from those people work in show rooms mean there will be way less OAs and plus, Tesla will start offering 7 days/1000 miles refund after a transaction has completed, are implying all the extra care will be done post-sale. These are the issues.

 

[scaesare]

Only if you believe that 86%. Why does Tesla need to lower the price on S and X and introduce $35k model 3 if they have already succeeded in the way they had before? Sorry Tesla, the demand has dropped and competitions have rose. Within this year, the only advantage Tesla will have is supercharging network.

I'm not saying Online will fail. All other manufacturers start doing that. But, cutting their workforce in OA and test drive is not the way to succeed.

That 86% is... well.. a percentage of total orders placed, not an absolute value. It could be 86% of 1,000 or 86% of 100,000 orders.

Why are you:

A) Conflating the percentage with the demand?

B) Doubting that percentage is accurate?

C) Assuming it makes any difference in either case? Regardless of demand, if online accounts for the vast majority of orders placed, then that's a successful method...

 

[ohioviper]

Only if you believe that 86%. Why does Tesla need to lower the price on S and X and introduce $35k model 3 if they have already succeeded in the way they had before? Sorry Tesla, the demand has dropped and competitions have rose. Within this year, the only advantage Tesla will have is supercharging network.

I'm not saying Online will fail. All other manufacturers start doing that. But, cutting their workforce in OA and test drive is not the way to succeed.

I have talked to several sales reps in different Tesla showrooms. Each time they tell me just go online and place your order so I would believe that the 80+ percent being ordered online doesn't accurately reflect the relationship of the sales person to the online order.

 

[GoTzillaR]

That 86% is... well.. a percentage of total orders placed, not an absolute value. It could be 86% of 1,000 or 86% of 100,000 orders.

Why are you:

A) Conflating the percentage with the demand?

B) Doubting that percentage is accurate?

C) Assuming it makes any difference in either case? Regardless of demand, if online accounts for the vast majority of orders placed, then that's a successful method...

I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. That 86% I think you were referring to is the percentage that Model 3 owners completed their deals without a test drive. If we are talking about the same thing and if that 86% were true, that doesn't mean anything because there are so many circumstances why the buyer didn't have a test drive.

I didn't say online order will fail. Online order will be fine and there are other manufacturers start doing the same thing.

 

[GoTzillaR]

I have talked to several sales reps in different Tesla showrooms. Each time they tell me just go online and place your order so I would believe that the 80+ percent being ordered online doesn't accurately reflect the relationship of the sales person to the online order.

I placed my order on X, 3 and Taycan online as well. Online will be just fine. That's not my concern...

 

[Doug_G]

Merged the duplicate Model S and Model 3 versions of this thread together, and moved to the Tesla company section - which is the appropriate place for this discussion.

 

[scaesare]

I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. That 86% I think you were referring to is the percentage that Model 3 owners completed their deals without a test drive. If we are talking about the same thing and if that 86% were true, that doesn't mean anything because there are so many circumstances why the buyer didn't have a test drive.

I didn't say online order will fail. Online order will be fine and there are other manufacturers start doing the same thing.

Not sure why you responded to my post challenging the OP's assertion that online sales would fail then.

 

[Peteski]

The only thing I see failing these days are traditional B&M stores. All we have now in the high street are coffee shops!

 

[Barklikeadog]

You REALLY only spent 2 hours to buy a car, getting a loan and selling your car? Man, you should become a consultant and teach your process to car dealers everywhere. You ll make millions!


For my last BMW, the dealership took care all of that. So literally the total time for me to buy a car, sell mine, get financing, and all paper works done was the amount of time I spent at the dealership. It's MUCH less than buying a Tesla online and dealing with all those paper work on my own. Buying online was a huge hassle way way more complicated than filing taxes. Honestly I don't think the average person can complete those tasks without messing up somewhere.

I don't think people plan ahead. You test drive theirs, they test drive yours. You get some basic numbers and go on your way.
Agree on the numbers remotely, ask the dealership to put together the paperwork and set a sign/pickup date. No reason to be
sitting there while they put it all together. Hey dealer, can you scan/email the sale to my insurance agent? Thanks!

 

[trm2]

B) Doubting that percentage is accurate?
.

I doubt the number because percentages are just fractions and 5/4ths of people are bad at fractions. lol.

 

[Big Toys]

The on-line model will not be sustainable. Think about it: how many Amazon returns do you have, for any reason? Now try that with a $40K+ car.

 

[Barklikeadog]

I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. That 86% I think you were referring to is the percentage that Model 3 owners completed their deals without a test drive. If we are talking about the same thing and if that 86% were true, that doesn't mean anything because there are so many circumstances why the buyer didn't have a test drive.

I didn't say online order will fail. Online order will be fine and there are other manufacturers start doing the same thing.

I don't see how they can come to a solid number. How many of those buyers even had access to a model 3 to test drive it? This is like a McDonalds closing the doors after 8am and serving drive
through only, then claiming that 94% of their customers made a purchase via drive through. So get rid of the whole sit down restaurant model. The vast vast majority of automobile driving society
isn't going to make a $60,000 online purchase of a car sight unseen, not sat in, not test driven.

 

[neroden]

Except nobody watches DVD's anymore. Unless you live somewhere without high-speed streaming of HD movies.

Well, collectors who want curated high-end uncut prints do. The Criterion Collection is still profitable.

Of course, we order them online. Only.

 

[neroden]

The only issue I see with online only ordering is trade ins. Most people still trade vehicles in... Of course this could just help carmax/carvana/etc...

The trade-in procedure is already online (send Tesla photos, they send you a price). And Tesla already would prefer that you go to Carmax.

 

[neroden]

I am very much an early adopter and tech enthusiast, and I bought online. But I would not have bought it without driving one first. In my case it happened to be a friends' car but that was just fortunate. You're making it clear that the lack of a store would not have affected your purchase. Do you consider yourself a typical car buyer? I can tell you don't and that you aren't,

You can't sell to the 95%, the same way that you sell to the .5% that Tesla has historically sold to.

I'd like to emphasize that the US car market is 17.2 million cars and Tesla is currently aiming to sell a little over a quarter million in the US; maybe three quarters of a million when Model Y comes out. That's 1.5% - 4.4% of the market. (Globally, the percentage is even smaller.)

If they ever get around to selling to the 95%, you might be right. They aren't even close.

 

[neroden]

It's an interesting move. It's one thing to buy clothing online without ever having try it out

Clothing is the one thing I never bought online... until garment manufacturers started publishing accurate sizing charts with correct measurements.

There's usually a couple of things you have to get right to move sales online, and some companies fail to get them right. (Tesla is screwing up the condition reports on their used car sales, for example.)

 

[timx]

I’m not quite following how this is that much of a change, at least from my buying experience. I bought X at Minneapolis service center after test driving - completed transaction online using computer there (though easily could have done that from my phone). Then picked up vehicle there 3 months later. Service centers aren’t going away, and there’s one in every major metropolitan area. Surely they will still have people there to answer questions and models on site to see in person. I could care less about galleries in malls (there are none in Minneapolis though I’ve been to some in other cities). It seems most prospective customers are aware of Tesla cars by now and making a trip a bit further away to a service center doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.

 

[erik_k]

I placed my order on X, 3 and Taycan online as well. Online will be just fine. That's not my concern...

What’s the Taycan price? How much does the recent MS price drop undercut the Taycan? Make it worth getting a l S instead?

 

[GoTzillaR]

What’s the Taycan price? How much does the recent MS price drop undercut the Taycan? Make it worth getting a l S instead?

$2500 to order. Rumor has the starting price at $85k. I'm expecting another $30k for options.