Will/Can Plaid Prices go lower? (Considering ordering,, or wait?)

[Mordin]

I'm banking on my recently delivered plaid to be the car that I drive for the next 10 years. It ticks all my needs at the moment haha.

Who knows what will happen in the future. I'm 250 miles into this car and I'm pretty damned satisfied thus far.

I would advise waiting as long as you emotionally can.

Just ask yourself if you can pull the trigger at the first sign of price increase before it goes too high or if that's just an abandon point because you missed the bottom.

 

[Predation]

We're so close to November... I am hoping the price will stay the same through the end of the quarter. Thinking about ordering in mid November to try and get a '24?

Work with a service center. They have insight to inventory that don’t show up. 24 vins will have “R” replacing “P”

 

[ZenRockGarden]

I think prices are near the bottom for plaid. What they'll do is gradually increase plaid performance to keep it as a halo car vs assorted competition. They don't sell enough of them to want to be hyper competitive on price

 

[ucmndd]

I think prices are near the bottom for plaid. What they'll do is gradually increase plaid performance to keep it as a halo car vs assorted competition. They don't sell enough of them to want to be hyper competitive on price

Performance is basically already at the limit of physics and tires. I don't see where it goes from here... not many levers to pull. The pool of people willing to replace their cars for newly found tenths of seconds is vanishingly small.

 

[clerks]

I think prices are near the bottom for plaid. What they'll do is gradually increase plaid performance to keep it as a halo car vs assorted competition. They don't sell enough of them to want to be hyper competitive on price

Seems like a lot of this depends on what the new Model 3 Performance looks like. The gap between the two may shrink further compressing prices.

 

[ZenRockGarden]

Seems like a lot of this depends on what the new Model 3 Performance looks like. The gap between the two may shrink further compressing prices.

I suspect Tesla will swap out the current M3P for something with a harder edge on it, and in turn this will mean that the Model S and X plaids will have to also move up to make the overall product array make sense.

I also think Tesla won't mind if demand for Model S and X is a little soft - they don't make much money there in the first place

 

[clerks]

I suspect Tesla will swap out the current M3P for something with a harder edge on it, and in turn this will mean that the Model S and X plaids will have to also move up to make the overall product array make sense.

I also think Tesla won't mind if demand for Model S and X is a little soft - they don't make much money there in the first place

I thought it was just the opposite and margins are higher on the S?

 

[iggy33]

Obviously, its hard to time this given all the price reductions and overall market. However, I think I'm jumping in and getting a Plaid after being in the market off and on for a while. I think the odds are greater that the price will increase than go lower. Or at least there's a greater odds of a dramtic increase than decrease from where things are today.

Also, Elon has said before that Tesla uses the average monthly payment as a guide. So, I think a lot of the pricing adjustments are do to the rising interest rates.

 

[clerks]

Obviously, its hard to time this given all the price reductions and overall market. However, I think I'm jumping in and getting a Plaid after being in the market off and on for a while. I think the odds are greater that the price will increase than go lower. Or at least there's a greater odds of a dramtic increase than decrease from where things are today.

Also, Elon has said before that Tesla uses the average monthly payment as a guide. So, I think a lot of the pricing adjustments are do to the rising interest rates.

Did you see the inflation report this week? Rates are still going up.

 

[SO16]

Did you see the inflation report this week? Rates are still going up.

Maybe the fed is done raising the rates.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1713159597710614883

 

[teko]

Maybe the fed is done raising the rates.

They haven't stopped printing the money so...

 

[ZenRockGarden]

I thought it was just the opposite and margins are higher on the S?

S and X are made in just one factory, with high complexity and low volume. Elon has personally said he only keeps making them for "nostalgia". All the money and margin are in the 3's and Y's

 

[ginmqi]

If you've waited this long before pulling the trigger on a Plaid...might as well wait until near end of this year/December/Q4. The price dropped to its current level way back on Sep 1 and it's going on 6 weeks and no sign of price going back up....lot of Plaids being sold just from reading posts on this forum and STILL no price hikes...but referral reductions....i doubt there will be much price hike on the Plaid as by then it will literally dry up demand knowing how low it can go.

There's a non zero chance that the MSP can go below 89k before end of this year.

 

[ginmqi]

S and X are made in just one factory, with high complexity and low volume. Elon has personally said he only keeps making them for "nostalgia". All the money and margin are in the 3's and Y's

On a per unit/car basis, the S and X has higher margins than the 3 and the Y. This has been true pretty much for all automakers with regards to high end luxury models.

On a per "line"/volume basis, the S and the X makes WAY less margin/profit for Elon's bank account than the 3 and the Y.

The fact that Tesla cut their price on the MSP from 130k to 89k and is STILL likely in the black on the S production line clearly shows how much margin there was/is in the Model S on a per car basis.

Now on a volume basis, a car maker lives and dies by the mass market cars due to HIGH volume and consequently lower per car margins....ie Model 3, Corolla, Civic, etc.

 

[iggy33]

Did you see the inflation report this week? Rates are still going up.

I think there's a lot of uncertainty on rising interests. I actually wasn't saying they were not going up. I was more just pointing out that the rate hikes were probably a part of Tesla's strategy.

 

[n2mb_racing]

Another thought. Prices could go back up again if they introduce a major improvement. I.e. if they upgrade the battery to beat the Lucid Air Sapphire. It could be a minor tweak, like increasing the number of cells. I'm not really sure why the P100D could fit 8,256 cells, while the Plaid only has 7,920 cells. Perhaps they go back to the old configuration and that bumps the battery to 104 kwhr. Though, that only gets a ~43 hp bump, probably not enough to take down the Sapphire.

Maybe they switch over to 4680 cells to fit ~20% more battery. But, that would require a significant redesign of the chassis, so unlikely they would do that.

 

[iggy33]

So wait...If I order one today and pay the deposit, is the price locked in? So, if they raise the price over the next week, I still get the are at the reserved price right? Anyone know the answer?

 

[brkaus]

$11

So wait...If I order one today and pay the deposit, is the price locked in? So, if they raise the price over the next week, I still get the are at the reserved price right? Anyone know the answer?

tesla has almost always treated it as locked. But if you don’t take what they deliver you the second time your order is done and order fee is lost.

 

[NeuroRad]

Performance is basically already at the limit of physics and tires. I don't see where it goes from here... not many levers to pull. The pool of people willing to replace their cars for newly found tenths of seconds is vanishingly small.

People don’t understand this until you have extensive time driving one. To get the full performance you need hot tires and a very good road surface. Also, if you look very carefully at the power meter at the bottom of the dash when you launch you’ll see it doesn’t go all the way to max. It slowly ramps up.

 

[n2mb_racing]

People don’t understand this until you have extensive time driving one. To get the full performance you need hot tires and a very good road surface. Also, if you look very carefully at the power meter at the bottom of the dash when you launch you’ll see it doesn’t go all the way to max. It slowly ramps up.

Yup. Limited by traction and / or motor amps until 60 mph. Then limited by the battery maximum power output from about 60 mph and up. So I'd guess upgrading the battery won't do much for the 0-60, but would cut the quarter mile time to compete with Lucid.

Interestingly, the Lucid Sapphire has essentially the exact same tires as the Plaid, except the fronts are on 20" rims instead of 21s: "265/35R20 front and 295/30R21 rear Pilot Sport 4S rubbers". The Sapphire weighs 500 lbs more, so maybe that is how they put more power the ground to get a 1.89s 0-60?