Official Tesla Model S thread

[Zythryn]

For current owners it is pretty 'meh'.
For bringing people into the EV market I think it is a pretty attractive idea.

Lease for three years, residual is guaranteed and pegged to a non EV (Mercedes S). If you want to, at the end of 3 years you can return it to Tesla, sell it to someone else if it is worth more than residual, or keep it.

Takes out all the risk, but still gives you some of the advantages of ownership.
Could be fantastic for the business, but as I said, it is rather meh for owners. Of course, owners get to drive around in it which makes up for it

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Is it a given that the Model S loan balance will be <= the residual value of the S class at the 36 month mark?

edit: Neglecting the interest, 36/66 = you're 54% of the way through the payments, and the S class has a 43% residual.

 

[evnow]

edit: Neglecting the interest, 36/66 = you're 54% of the way through the payments, and the S class has a 43% residual.

You aren't taking the 10% down payment into account. I think you will be close to even.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

edit: Neglecting the interest, 36/66 = you're 54% of the way through the payments, and the S class has a 43% residual.

You aren't taking the 10% down payment into account. I think you will be close to even.

Good point. It also doesn't take into account that in 3 years EVs may be so popular that and S class is nearly worthless.

 

[cwerdna]

It kind of depends... Toyota screws you, for example, on the federal tax credit for a Rav-EV if you lease...

well that is a lie

But Nissan and GM do pass it on.

Yeah, the 43% resale value after 3 years isn't that great. If they tied it to vehicles that DO hold their value well but aren't in the same class or price range (e.g. Priuses), it'd be a much better deal.

Try looking at used prices of Priuses. 2-3 year old Priuses, esp. at Toyota dealers. They aren't very cheap. (Been there.... helped a friend getting into a new '11 Prius at end of 2011, months before '12s were on the lots. Looked into used Gen 2s (04-09) and 3s (2010+) and found little savings.)

I agree that this announcement was pretty anti-climactic. I expected more, given the hype.

 

[Sublime]

I'm pretty sure I could have gone to any credit union and gotten financing for a Tesla. So the only thing being announced is basically a 3 year buy back guarantee. But is that really a big deal? If Tesla is in business in 3 years, you'll be able to get more than they're guaranteeing for it. If they're out of business that guarantee isn't worth anything anyway.

 

[evnow]

I'm pretty sure I could have gone to any credit union and gotten financing for a Tesla. So the only thing being announced is basically a 3 year buy back guarantee. But is that really a big deal? If Tesla is in business in 3 years, you'll be able to get more than they're guaranteeing for it. If they're out of business that guarantee isn't worth anything anyway.

The 3 year buy back is pegged to a car that is one of the worst in holding value. For a comparison ...

12k miles, 43% : Model S
15k miles, 49% : Leaf

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Is there a way to easily find such values? I quickly went to alg.com and it seems like if you want values, you have to subscribe.

Would be interesting to know the above figures for a Prius or Prius c.

 

[GeekEV]

I'm pretty sure I could have gone to any credit union and gotten financing for a Tesla. So the only thing being announced is basically a 3 year buy back guarantee. But is that really a big deal? If Tesla is in business in 3 years, you'll be able to get more than they're guaranteeing for it. If they're out of business that guarantee isn't worth anything anyway.

The guarantee is made against Elon's own money. Even if Tesla goes broke, you're still covered unless you believe Elon will too.

 

[Sublime]

The guarantee is made against Elon's own money. Even if Tesla goes broke, you're still covered unless you believe Elon will too.

Elon has taken everything and more that he's made from paypal and put it into spaceX and tesla. If either declares bankruptcy (especially Tesla), Elon himself is probably not far behind.

I don't think that's going to happen. I think Tesla has a better EV strategy than anyone, Nissan included. My point was the guarantee just isn't worth much... claimable or not.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Can we assume Tesla gets a kickback on each finance contract?

 

[palmermd]

I'm pretty sure I could have gone to any credit union and gotten financing for a Tesla. So the only thing being announced is basically a 3 year buy back guarantee. But is that really a big deal? If Tesla is in business in 3 years, you'll be able to get more than they're guaranteeing for it. If they're out of business that guarantee isn't worth anything anyway.

The 3 year buy back is pegged to a car that is one of the worst in holding value. For a comparison ...

12k miles, 43% : Model S
15k miles, 49% : Leaf

But that is the guaranteed lowest. It might hold 65% and be one of the better for resale, but at least you know what your floor is with resale in three years.

 

[ebill3]

Can we assume Tesla gets a kickback on each finance contract?

I don't know about that, but there are better financing rates than U.S. Bank's "as low as 2.99%" and Wells Fargo at 3.59%.

 

[Valdemar]

Tesla "wins" Another unintended acceleration case?

 

[DaveEV]

Tesla "wins" Another unintended acceleration case?

No, the news article says that the Tesla was pushed into opposing traffic by a Mercedes during an "incident". Sounds like aggressive drivers who let road rage get the better of them and the people in the Accord lost.

 

[ELROY]

Tesla "wins" Another unintended acceleration case?

This could be closer to unintended acceleration.LOL
And I was just going to go eat there this weekend....

LOL...at the last picture...Kind of looks like a big fish trying to get in to this seafood restaurant.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Another possibility is Tesla licenses the supercharger hardware or standard somehow to third parties who aren't bound by the free-for-all model. So you have two options on your Model S road trip, pull into the Cracker Barrel and pay $20 for a readily available spot, or go down the road to Tesla's free station and wait in line for two hours.

When the CHAdeMO adapters are available for Model S/X, and Tesla licenses the Supercharger tech to the "for profit" charging infrastructure industry, pressure will be off the free ones in all but the most key bottleneck locations.

 

[mwalsh]

Tesla "wins" Another unintended acceleration case?

No, the news article says that the Tesla was pushed into opposing traffic by a Mercedes during an "incident". Sounds like aggressive drivers who let road rage get the better of them and the people in the Accord lost.

Another Accord vs. EV (well, a Volt) incident where the Accord occupants lost badly. I caught a glimpse of the Volt on TV the other night and had been meaning to look the incident up on Google since:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Granada-Hills-Deadly-Fatal-Crash-200784711.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Smidge204]

Tesla "wins" Another unintended acceleration case?

No, the news article says that the Tesla was pushed into opposing traffic by a Mercedes during an "incident".

The news article linked says nothing of the sort. Where did you get that info from?

Edit: Nevermind, apparently there's a video that wasn't loading...
=Smidge=

 

[Zythryn]

Tesla "wins" Another unintended acceleration case?

No, the news article says that the Tesla was pushed into opposing traffic by a Mercedes during an "incident".

The news article linked says nothing of the sort. Where did you get that info from?
=Smidge=

I am not sure where Drees got it, but it appears the police are looking for a driver of a third vehicle.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/04/02/police-look-for-mystery-driver-who-may-have-been-involved-in-oc-crash-that-killed-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They don't know the level of involvement of the third vehicle.
In any event, I am very sorry for the loss of life and hope that they can figure to what happened.
20 year old cars rarely fare well in head on collisions