The reservation was an intention of buying the car. The initial versions of car are very rough on the margins of company. All the cash burn in production line and R&D hurts. So, company likes to make the premium version first so that it can help the company. Also, it's good for the company as some of customers might shift to premium version for an earlier delivery. The disagreement in views here might be because some reservation holders think that by giving Tesla $5000 (or any amount) they have purchased the car and are customers while Tesla believes (and stated so) that it's not a production slot or a delivery sequence/date. You only become a customer with a binding agreement when you configure and agree to terms and condition of purchase.
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El Guapo.... I can't find the thread either here or on TM site. Someone took a picture of the Ludicrous and non-ludicrous battery information plate, and found them to be the same. That's why I said "conjecture" is... they are the same. Don't know for sure, and I don't think Tesla would say.
When you pre-order an iPhone Apple does not say well we are only going to produce the ones we make the highest margins on first then we will produce the low margins phones later......they build them all, at the same time, to meet customer demand based on how they were ordered on a first come first served basis......how it should be, that's how a real company does it, that's how Tesla should do it. They have a automated factory, they took reservations, now they should meet those reservations......regardless of margins.
Merrill
Merrill
My take on this is that I made a decision to order something that they have not made yet. I reserved 6/14 RN 10777 confirmed 1/17 and ordered a 70 with everything and 5 seats. So on one hand I feel that my reservation did not give me any special place in line and many folks who spent more money and have RN's much higher than mine will receive there car before me. I understand why Tesla is doing this and even though I feel a bit put off by it I'm fine not getting my Model X til the end of the year. I have purchased 2 Tesla's because I love the car and want to support the vision for the future. I kind of look at this like a concert or play that you buy tickets for, if you want front row you will pay more, if you want to pay less and have to use binoculars to see the show it is your choice. Just a bit difference dollars between the two. The good thing is maybe the issues on the earlier car will be fixed by the time I receive mine.
Tesla makes cars in batches. The larger the batch, the less expensive it is to make each car, so if an order comes in while they are making that batch, it gets included. They've always made the fully loaded batch first, this really should come as no surprise.
anticitizen13.7
Not posting at TMC after 9/17/2018
In practice it's not that clean, even for Apple.
I've participated in Apple enthusiast forums long enough to know that year after year, people get screwed on their iPhone pre-orders. Sometimes phones they ordered don't get shipped for days or weeks. Sometimes their in-store reservation was sold to someone else (by accident?). Those who line up on launch day have to confront this:
Between the garbage, the smells, the NYPD cops abusing people... this is not a "premium" experience. I'd rather wait for my Tesla than deal with scalpers and angry police.
And then there are always launch day QC issues: displays with flaws, chipped/scratched aluminum, loose buttons, etc. Some people go through 5-6 iPhones before finding one that is reasonably up to spec.
A car is vastly more difficult to build in quantity than an iPhone, and there's a lot more that can go wrong from a QC perspective. Each car is built to order. It's not like an iPhone, where the devices are all substantially similar except for display size and storage.
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An iPhone can't be compared to a complex product like a car. Also, when it is outsourced to another country and when questions are raised about the working conditions for people there. Also, the price point of an iPhone is mere $700 whereas base X starts at $70000. Difference in economy introduces so many inconsistencies that an educated direction can't be obtained by this analogy.
