Agree with this, and I definitely don’t consider it an asset. The only reason the 35k car was mentioned, is it was touted as the “mainstream, affordable” Tesla.
For the interior material and quality, I am not exaggerating. Feel the material, texture, things like turning signal stalk, hear the sound of door closing, etc, it is at best between Civic and Accord. Maybe closer to Civic. Far from German Luxury brands
But thinking back, I agree with you. People who are planning to spend $35 on a car won’t look at Civic. They will look at base A4, BMW3 or MB C, … Then Model 3 appears to save them money on fuel and potentially depreciate less, so they may choose Model 3 over others at the expense of having a lower quality/comfort level. Yeah, I can see.
Using what is happening at Google in Silicon Valley as a potential model for the rest of the US is unrealistic. In fact the general mix of cars in California looks very little like the mix of cars in most of the rest of the US. And that isn’t surprising. People buy what suits their needs. No matter how amazing it is the Model 3 is never going to be the sole car for a family with 3-4 kids.
The best thing I’ve seen lately on the Model 3 is this long discussion with Sandy Munro of Munro and Associates. They are the folks who are disassembling a Model 3. Well worth watching to understand more about the reality of the Model 3 and what it represents.
Key bit is that he thinks the batteries, technology and suspension on the car are brilliant. The rest of the car is a mess. He says other car companies ignore Tesla’s technology at their peril, but that Tesla is ignoring 100 years of basic car design and manufacturing at their peril. Tesla is very good at some stuff but they have not mastered the dinosaur tech.
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I couldn’t agree more on this. This is specially true for the last 6-7 years.
I watch this video as well. I found it very objective. It is not from Tesla haters nor fan boys. However, having driven Model 3 for a day, I kind of don’t agree the suspension setup is that great, or both rough city street, ride is definitely choppy and unrefined. On back mountain road like Highway9, although body lean range is well controlled, but wheel hopping is severe. I think this is due to weight of the car and suspension setup.
@mp11477 They definitely exaggerated, but at the same time they are not wrong in saying that the 35K price point is extremely attractive (i believe the median new car cost is 30K).
You bring up a very valid point. This car is going to put a lot of people in financial problem as their enthusiasm will override common sense. Many will stretch their budget to just get the base model and some will have buyer remorse after they realize they spent 50K on a car that can’t fit a family. It’s the reason why I cancelled my Model 3 reservation after I gave it more thought.
I think you underestimate people. Tesla is burning through the reservation list so fast that even non-owners who reserved after a week are being invited. Lost of people are opting out of the 60k Teslawagen.
I bet there’s more of these in real life than crashes.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20180423/OEM/180429993/are-teslas-days-numbered
Good popcorn material for sure!
It’s not even the 60K version, the 35K version will sink many buyers. The average car cost is 30K, with the premium package and the small battery, the Model 3 will come in at 40K. The tax credit will help the situation, but it is still a lot of money to pay up front for people who are stretching to buy it.
I don’t know if they are on target with what they are expected to sale. I just know on average, they have built about 2000 a week since 1-1-18. I guess that would put them at 50K units at the end of Q2 or 12% of their original reservation of 400K (VIN assigned, might not be delivered). This is before any international sales, AWD, leasing or the base battery. They are so confident in their current orders that they are still not exporting cars to Europe or Asia. AWD won’t be available until after July, the base probably won’t even come until late Q4. I am sure many have dropped, at the same time I am sure they have enough to keep selling until Q1 of 2019.
Keep in mind Tesla will likely hit the tax credit phase out (200K sold) in either late Q2 or early Q3. If they do it before Q2, watch for people rushing in to place the other before Q3 so they don’t lose the tax credit.
Thanks for posting that…good podcast
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The other problem is that if your income is modest then there is no way in hell you will be able to use the full $7.5K of the Federal tax credit. You have to be making at least $65K to do that. If you are rocking other deductions to your income (home mortgage for example) that number is even higher.
This is one of the reasons to lease an EV. The manufacturer’s finance arm or leasing company can claim the credit and pass it on to you as an incentive. Doesn’t matter what your income or tax situation is in that case.
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I actually applause Tesla to include an above average driver assistant features in their cars. However, by no mean it is autonomous as Tesla sale person or Elon Mush have marketed. If you visited a showeroom before the Mountain View accident, the sale will tell you how great Autopilot is, all you need is to set your destination, the car will drive you there … … The way they sale this feature is over promised on the extreme side. I don’t mind Tesla over promise delivery date or things like that, but a safety feature, it is un-responsible IMO.
Keep in mind, this “auto pilot” driver assist feature may have save more people than kill, but it isn’t acceptable at the current rate. Even if it saves 999 and but kills 1 is such a large failure rate in the automotive industry or in any industry. Just a example, even the SSD for car infotainment, nothing life threatening if it fails, is required to have DPPM of 500, or 0.05% failure rate. A safety related feature, needs to be single digit DPPM if not approaching 0 DPPM.
Thanks for the podcast, definitely good to hear the pros and cons of the build quality of the Tesla Model 3. I’m curious to see a comparison compared between the model S, X and 3 from Munro and Associates.
Exactly, but the question is why would you buy a 55K compact when you make 65K. Unfortunately I think it will happen a lot.
As far as leasing, Tesla doesn’t lease well due to how they handle the tax credit and the high money factor. It makes no sense to lease it unless it is an inventory car, which is currently unavailable on the Model 3. Most EV car makers have to rely on cheap leases to move them, Tesla is not as dependent on it as the other makers.
I think people who buy Model 3 are not with house hold income of $65K.
They don’t lease well because they have no incentive to. People will still fork over $1000 a month to own a base model tesla. I bet leasing is a cash cow for them.
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Plus $5000 down…
Lots of lease returns beginning to come in soon, so expecting significant downward pressure on used prices, as well as possible cannibilozation of new sales. Model S (and to a lesser extent, X) need both a major interior update quality wise given prices, as well as much larger batteries. Curious to see how sales do until that happens.
Yeah, want to hear @ng0 on this. Not saying he’s making 65k, but have a feeling he’s overextending himself just because he has fell in love with Model 3 on a blind date 
I still think it will have the 911 effect (to a smaller scale). Once prices gets to a certain point, the car will not depreciate to a point where it has no value. Rational or not, this is what strong brand recognition will get you. The OTA will keep it above water for a while, thiis is not going to pop up for 6k like the 500e or leaf
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