I have put down the deposit and don't really care until final unveiling. I understand their goals in upselling Model 3 reservation holders.
I don't really mind that the $1000 is holding my position in line at Tesla. Otherwise it would sit useless in my bank account.
It is a bit depressing how they downsell the Model 3, but I'm hoping it's just their weird strategy. If some people pull their deposits then even better, I can get my car sooner :P
But I definitely won't be buying before test driving it.
> Those reservation holders must pay an additional $2,500 to turn their reservations into an order, at which point the original $1,000 deposit goes toward the overall payment for the car. Buyers can cancel their orders within three days for a full refund, the company confirmed, but after that their money is Tesla’s for good.
That I think was the reason the deposit price was dropped to
$100. That's nearly nothing at the price these will come in at so Tesla gets a nice big number of 'pre-orders' to wave around and get second and third waves of press coverage while basically selling people tickets from the take a number roll at the deli.
It's $1,000. I think a lot of people in the tech community can afford to part with $1,000 for a while. It's fully refundable until you actually convert your reservation into a concrete order, so you can change your mind later.
I'm thinking about getting a second car for my family. I don't need it immediately. A Model 3 sounds like it would be perfect for the job. I put $1,000 down to reserve one just in case. If I decide I don't want it, I'll get my money back. I'll miss out on maybe $15 of interest on that money in the intervening time, big deal.
The Model 3 is supposed to start at $35,000. Demand doesn't seem to be a problem, as they have hundreds of thousands of reservations and pretty much stopped trying to solicit more while they work through the backlog. The major challenge for now is actually getting production up to capacity.
Model X deposits ranged from $5k for the base model to $40k for the Signature model. Those deposits sat for up to 3 years for early reservations.
The upcoming Roadster requires $50k and $250k deposits.
The upcoming Semi requires a $20k deposit.
The original Roadster also required a deposit.
I'm unsure of the original Model S.
Tesla's current estimate for base Model 3's is "late 2018" for early reservation holders. Take that with a grain of salt given how reliably they announce unreliable release dates.
I waited in line to reserve a model 3. Pretty disappointed by the news lately.
It's pretty much a given that the first release will have some problems but add onto that the complete bareness of the model 3 base model and I'm scratching my head whether this is worth it.
If it's going to be close to 50k for a model 3 with autopilot I'm probably going to cancel. EVs are nice but I don't have loads of cash to throw at them.
EDIT to add - Bronco Sport orders opened last July with the car going into production last October, so placing a reservation probably indicated some real level of interest in buying a car within a few months.
For the Tesla, you have to figure a lot of people put $100 in (knowing it's refundable) to hold a place in line for god knows how long until the Cybertruck actually comes out, just in case they want one. They started taking reservations for these in 2019. It's been a while.
I don't know about 25%, I've read 12% somewhere, but I'm thinking about it. I was not one of the first to pre-order and I'm not in the US, which makes the waiting time.. extra long. I'm wondering if by then (something like mid-2019 I guess) it won't be easier to get a "used" one, or even a used model S. I also don't like the opaque pricing: pretty sure with the options I'd like it'll cost no less than 50k€, which is far from the announced low cost. I still like the idea to get a model 3 though, and there is no good alternative as of today.
Making the pre-order deposit $100 was a great play by Tesla.
"$100" in the context of "shiny new car" is so minuscule; tons of people are going to put that $100 even if the have only the faintest whim of wanting that car. And Tesla will be able to say, "check out our millions of reservations," as ammunition against the naysayers.
A Tesla Model 3 at $27,500 would have been such an absurdly sweet deal the demand would be ludicrous.
If they could have snapped their fingers and manufactured as many as they needed, I would guess based on passenger vehicle sales numbers, they could have sold 300,000 in a single quarter at that price. They barely build that many in a year.
I’m sorry, you were never going to see a Model 3 for $27,500. With the way the credit phases out, they could never have built up the capacity to fulfill $35k orders under the full credit, just to have the price then spike as the credit phased out and be left with huge excess capacity as it came back to full price.
They really are sales. Anecdotally, I pre-ordered a model S, for a little more. Eventually when it can time to buy, I got my money back (actually more due to exchange rates). I then pre-ordered a model 3. Eventually, I will cancel that order too because I ended up upgrading to a Model S. The point here is, Tesla still need to convince people to hand over the cash. The cost of withdrawal and sunk cost in minimal if you don't like it.
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