Tesla's constant price changes frustrate buyers, and this will be even more likely as cars become computers
Last week, Tesla changed the prices on their cars again. In just the last few months there have been a huge number of price changes, particularly on the Model 3. As the halving of Tesla's $7,500 rebate approached, Tesla introduced a medium-range car but changed prices on variations as the end of year approached. Many people were rushing to pick up Teslas in the fourth quarter to get that rebate, and with good motivation -- the car should have cost $3,750 more on January 1.
Late December, instead of it being hard to get a car delivered in time for the rebate as customers were told, many cars were available directly from Tesla stores, sometimes with bargains.At the same time, Tesla dropped the price of all cars by $2,000, so the net price rose $1,750 Autopilot was changed to be $3,000 instead of $5,000 A mid-range with Autopilot dropped from $50K - $7.5K to $43K - $3.75K, so thus $3,250 cheaper after rebates.
After anger was expressed at this, prices went up $500 on the Standard Plus range, and $1,500 on longer ranges. The mid-range was discontinued. The FSD upgrade discount went away. A big reason for anger, however, is that the resale value of one year old cars is driven in part by the price of the new cars. Normally the used vehicle will sell at some discount to that new price, based on age, miles and demand. Clearly, if you can get a new mid-range model 3 with Autopilot for $43,000, nobody is paying anywhere close to that for the used one just because the owner paid $51,000 for it. It gets even worse when the new models have extra features, as they will.
There is remorse on the part of early buyers, but can anything be done about it? Batteries are going to keep getting cheaper. Companies are going to alter prices in the face of changing markets and strategic decisions. It's probably going to get even more dramatic as the price of computer components and sensors also drops, and as makers scale up production.
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