There's so much talk lately about how much the reservation price will be and how many reservations there will be. I'd like to take a different approach to answer those two questions, and ask why would Tesla want Model 3 reservations?
I think the answer would be to gauge interest and/or raise the capital to fund R&D. I think Tesla already knows that interest in the Model 3 is high. That leaves funding for R&D. Since funding would be the primary reason for reservations, I think that would lead to a higher reservation price with a lower expectation on the number of reservations. Keeping the reservation count low would also help when production starts to get the backlog under control sooner.
Of course, I think the other possibility would be that Tesla has funding for R&D under control with the sales of Model S and X coming in faster than they can make them. Do they even want or need reservations? I think not taking reservations would show signs of a maturing automaker that is able to fund R&D the same way their competition does. It would certainly send a message to all the critics.
I think the answer would be to gauge interest and/or raise the capital to fund R&D. I think Tesla already knows that interest in the Model 3 is high. That leaves funding for R&D. Since funding would be the primary reason for reservations, I think that would lead to a higher reservation price with a lower expectation on the number of reservations. Keeping the reservation count low would also help when production starts to get the backlog under control sooner.
Of course, I think the other possibility would be that Tesla has funding for R&D under control with the sales of Model S and X coming in faster than they can make them. Do they even want or need reservations? I think not taking reservations would show signs of a maturing automaker that is able to fund R&D the same way their competition does. It would certainly send a message to all the critics.