I don't get the attitude that things are not permitted to change, and that if it was said, then it must be offered, spare no expense - but it must be done on time because they promised they would ship by end of Q3.
The discussion above was re: Elon stating that Tesla will deliver something that is better than the prototype. Yes, for some people who may not need the folding, a change of "no folding, but sexy" may be good (or if not good, just not a big deal). But for many who were drawn in by that particular feature, it wouldn't be a good change and the delivered product is now less than what was originally shown off.
Removing features that were important enough to warrant their own slide and mention in a subsequent email years later is not my definition of "better". For some things, like the camera mirrors (which I think most people expected to be gone, and even Elon mentioned they hinged on regulatory approval), it's understandable. Something like no folding seats, IMO, is not.
For the record, as long as the second seats move up enough that I have as much, if not more, storage than I do in the S, I'm OK with no folding (as-is my wife, who notes the seats will usually have car seats latched in anyway), but if it comes to pass that there will be no folding option at all, then I do consider it an overall fail.
It seems that the email from 15 months ago also still talked about the folding second row, no? I think the point is that many of us made the reservation assuming that the second row seats would fold. Or somehow get out of the way. I don't think that's an unreasonable assumption.
I for one agree that things can change. Hopefully for the better. But I think we can all agree that this is a departure from what Tesla has led us to believe as late as middle of last year.
Agreed, though I'd just stick in that we still don't know that the second row will never fold. From my talks with various folks, it doesn't seem the individually-moving second row seats in the sig will fold flat, but that doesn't preclude an option later on in general production that WILL fold flat. It could just be that it's going to take time and until then, Tesla will prioritize vehicles with non-folding second-row seats.