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No, it' more like your best friend does some dumb **** (again and again in this case). "Might want to revisit your thought process."
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Model S blowed away competition even when EV were a much smaller market. And Bolt, Leaf and i3 are aesthetically challenged cars. They also don't have bleeding edge tech like autopilot. So, I highly doubt that trend will change. (assuming Model 3 is as great as S and X).
Model S had no competition whatsoever (except Frisker Karma, but these guys managed to shoot themselves in the foot on a number of occasions).
A lot of people like the design of Bolt/Leaf/i3 (for a bad reason though).
A number of high-end cars has autopilot option. I don't see why BMW cannot install one in i3 if they want, for example.
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Other manufacturers haven't shown aggressiveness for innovative features like autopilot. Let's see if they will add it in future in their cars.
Krugerrand
Meow
You're tunnel-visioned.
The base model HAS TO BE compelling to attract as many people as possible to it (to reach Tesla's ultimate goal) and part of that will come from having it decently optioned. That can be done by having it include features like AP (which costs Tesla about as close to nothing at it comes since the majority of AP is programming), 200 miles of real world range, 6* safety rating and so on. Those kind of options do not cut into the car's profitability.
Then Tesla can offer a bigger battery, dual motors, upgraded interior materials, a performance package etc... and price the crap out those to make the gravy train money.
So you see, here is the one time that we can have the cake AND eat it.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
So your idea of helping a friend seems to be the equivalent of kicking them in the nuts repeatedly. With friends like that....
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I don't understand your logic. Derailing the reservation process of the vehicle that is the culimination of its existence as a company by definition hurts TM.
Perhaps you use the words "intention", "hurt", and "derail" differently than every person I've ever met.
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MrBoylan
Member
Um, yeah, so... sorry but this is way off base. Do you really think programming/software has no value? Is that why Oracle is a $172 Billion company and Microsoft $430 Billion? It's just programming. It's just software. Just give it away for free. You can make it up on volume.
If it were easy to do, you could get AutoPilot on any car. But you can't. Right now, you can only get it on a Tesla. Other companies - ones with larger R&D budgets than Tesla - have some pieces of it. They may even match it or beat it in overall functionality some day. But right now, Tesla has the most advanced AutoPilot capabilities on the market, because they chose to invest millions hiring the right people and dedicating them to the task of developing it and refining it over time. And if they continue to invest millions of dollars in making it better, then Tesla can maintain its lead for the foreseeable future. Giving that away for free would be a terrible business move.
Just like Supercharger access, you can't add Autopilot to a Bolt or a Leaf, for any amount of money. It's currently a major differentiator and one that Tesla needs to make money on to recover their development costs which are just as real as the physical materials cost of the aluminum, lithium and copper in the frame, batteries and motors.
Developing AutoPilot cost millions of dollars in highly paid software engineers' time and expertise. The only way to recoup that R&D investment - and to keep making it better - is to charge for the feature. The cameras, sonar and other sensors cost money too, but that's a pittance compared to the software development costs.
And if they were to give it away on the Model 3, how do you think Model S and Model X owners would feel about having to continue to pay for it? You would be eliminating tens of millions of dollars (billions, when production ramps up) in potential revenue by giving away a feature that's a competitive advantage that cost millions of dollars to develop.
AutoPilot is one of the features that I think not only won't (and shouldn't) be free on the Model 3, but shouldn't be discounted at all from the price they charge for it on the S and the X. The feature is identical across the line-up and the cost should reflect that. Charge less for the leather seats, paint upgrades and maybe even the P upgrade (compared to the S and X), but AP shouldn't be any cheaper on a Model 3 than it is on an S or X. My two cents...
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They had my deposit for 3.5 years when their risk of failure was many fold times what it is now. What's your point? And yet GM got bailed out to the tune of billions of dollars and Tesla didn't. If Tesla can get capital to work with and people are willing to give them an interest free loan then I don't see the problem. Again, good try.
You must be a power individual with ties to industry if you can do that with some anonymous internet postings on an enthusiast website. Why would you care enough to 'disrupt the reservation process'? Are you that bitter?
Krugerrand
Meow
Of course not. Context pls and tx.
Tesla has not added consumer cost to software/firmware upgrades of their vehicles. When creep was added, did the cost of the base of Model S rise for all new orders based on that? When hill hold was added? When summon was added? When any number of dozens of other updates happened? There was a cost when AP hardware was added to the vehicles, but not with the continuing OTA updates.
Tesla has added value to all vehicles, in many cases, at no additional cost to the consumer. There's no reason to think this won't continue with Model ≡.
Yep, it technically costs Tesla to do that just as it costs Tesla to put up new SuperChargers and expand existing ones, but it's not affecting the profit margin of the vehicles to do it. It was vehicle profit margin that was being discussed.
We'll find out eventually how it all plays out.
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Reread the underlined.
BMW Group U.S. Reports July 2014 Sales
3/4 Series | YTD July 2014 | 69,154
To keep it simple, let's assume linear sales by month...
69154 * 12 / 7 = 118,550
10% of ^ = 11,855 sales of Model 3 is higher than cfttester thinks? What a small thinker!
If Tesla can't sell more than 11,855 Model 3 per year (annualized once deliveries start) I'll be very surprised.
Brad_SC
Member
Regardless of where you are physically located, and what configuration you are ordering... there is likely to be another person with whom you are competing against for delivery priority. To that point, I want my car ASAP. So, I'll be in line to reserve ASAP that way I can gain any possible "upper hand" that there may be.
