$35k Model 3 now available

Exactly! Tesla is the very description of an industry disrupter.

Actually the EPA range for the 3LR is listed as 334 miles. I agree, there is no real increase in range, just a more realistic prediction of range.

 

I make too frequent use of the capabilities of a lift back to get a car without one.

 

Yes and no. People who have been on the waiting list for 3 years will get their cars in 2 to 4 weeks. Those who are placing their orders for the first time will be somewhat longer, maybe a couple of months. Tesla is now producing about 7000 models 3s a week with production scaling up to 10K per week by the end of the year. Some have speculated that there are more than 100K reservations for the $35K car in the US alone. It will take them at least 8 weeks to work through that backlog before getting to new orders.

 

Did you get anything with a VIN, yet?

All I have is the reservation number. Regardless, I have enough to chat with the banker and insurance agent on Friday. Then sell the 2017 Prius Prime, haul off the old RV, and other cleanup.

Bob Wilson

 

If I were willing to do that, I could just say we can always take our Mazda5 on out of town trips, etc. and then I could get by with an 80 mile range Leaf. But I like to take my car when I go flying (lift back) and out of town (great mileage, very comfortable) so it seems the 3 is a tweener for me - not useful enough for in town use, not long range enough to go out of town. I'd be more interested in a next generation model S if they could up the efficiency and range and bring it down to $35k or so. I'm also extremely used to my HUD and use it almost every second I drive. I also don't trust Tesla service or build quality. Also, is there a mode where these stupidly fast cars can be power limited?

 

May as well ask for a $35k BMW 7 series. Used, perhaps, but that won't happen new.
You can limit the max speed, you can also put it in Valet mode, but that locks the glove compartment.
These may simply not be the car to fit your needs.

 

With gov't rebates, the lowest end Tesla is now about the same price as the highest end Prius. This really breaks my brain.

 

The Tesla m.o. is you will get a VIN about a week or 10 days before the car is ready for delivery. You can't get a loan funded until you have a VIN and signed sales contract, which means you have to hustle that last week!

Not to disappoint you but to be realistic, as non-reservation holders, I would not expect delivery for at least 8 weeks, but I hope I am wrong.

 

Interesting that Tesla Shares are down 6% in after hours. The $35k car maybe a little too late, the real test will be selling cars over the internet and having in place enough people to a handle any increase of sales and service.

 

When the Marines were surrounded at the Chosin Reservoir, they asked Chesty Puller what he thought, “All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us…they can't get away this time”

The $35k Tesla is the last, remaining criticism of Tesla by the SHORTs. The big bond payment is due today and the last quarter report indicates they have the money. Tesla may not have enough to make a profit in Q1 2019. But it won't matter because of the production on ships headed to Europe and Asia.

Bob Wilson

 

Tesla is the most shorted stock in the market, consequently it is extremely volatile. With the introduction of the $35K car, deliveries to Europe and China, expansion of facilities in the US and China, introduction of the model Y this year, the Semi getting closer to production, and the model Pickup on the horizon..............the future of Tesla motors looks rosy. Unfortunately, it doesn't look so rosy for legacy automakers like Toyota who fail to see the FUTURE.

 

Oh please. Toyota sees the future just fine. They just have to live in the present where most people can't afford EVs (as Elon admitted).

Tesla plans to make 400,000 cars in 2019. Toyota had made that many by the end of the second week of January. They know that they would sell probably 1/10th as many cars as they do now if they had to add $10k-$20k to the price of each of their cars while cutting their range by 40-70% and greatly restricting their refueling options. Do you think they'd sell as many $30,000 base-model Corollas with a 225 miles range as they currently sell $18,700 base-model Corollas with a 420 mile range? Of course they wouldn't.

Most people just aren't going to pay that sort of premium for electrification and that's why Tesla has exhausted the US buyers of their expensive Model3's and thus had to make this announcement along with the job cuts and store closings that go with it. Further, less well publicized was the dramatic cuts in price they just applied to the S and X, probably for the same reason - lack of US buyers.

EVs will be ready for prime-time when they don't come with a price premium. For right now, they're only ready for early-adopters willing to pay a price premium.

 

+1.

Early adopters are a groovy thing!
They're one of the reasons why I have a $180 phone in my pocket that's 9/10s as good as the $800 phones that the kids are going into hock over.

If TSLA were a private company (like another Musk industry disruptor that will be op-testing a manned space vehicle tomorrow morning - maybe) then there would be none of the drama over the stock price.
However (comma) there are those who believe that all of the hot mess hype is actually one of the reasons that TSLA might crack a half million in production this year.
Kinda reminds me of a certain political figure.....
Even tweets like him.

This is 2019, but in some ways it's not very different from 1919.
There were disruptive players back then too like Sears (126 years old) and Ford (115.)

Sears is swirling around the toilet drain because they failed to adapt, but people forget that about 100 years ago they were the Amazon of the day for the flappers of the day who could order 'foundational garments' (whatever the heck THOSE are! ) from a living room in BFE and have them delivered that same month - maybe.
Ford is famous now for assembly lines, but since people don't know beans about history they don't forget---because they were never taught that Ford was tinkering with things like a living wage, vertical integration, and integration loooooooong before these concepts were bandied about in universities.
Of course....they were pretty good at strike breaking too.
People always remember THAT.

When I was in submarines they taught us that if your ship is in trouble, getting to the surface is only one very small part of damage control.
Plenty of ships sink when they're already on the surface and something bad happens.

This is kinda where TSLA is.

All of the drama with stock shorts, debt loading, and a founder who went to the DJT school of public relations and communications will probably sort themselves out - well.....except maybe the debt loading.
Their "real" problem is that a 10 year old Tesla needs to be better than a 10 year old Toyota.

Remember.
Toyota had to pay a gigabuck to dot.gov NOT because octogenarians were confusing the go and the stop pedals, or because the floor mat wasn't bolted into place, but because Toyota FAILED TO manage a crisis.
GM did the same thing with ignition switches.
Ford did likewise when they threw Firestone under the bus and before that when people were cracking jokes about Pintos.
Those three companies were already old and well established and had money in the bank when the 3AM phone call came in.
Hey...
It's a rough world out there.

My only 2 problems with TSLA are that (1) they seem overly qualified to mishandle a major crisis and (2) there's still a perception in the non-EVangelist community that Teslas are hangar queens.
EXPENSIVE hangar queens....
Add to this all of the drama that we got when hybrids were so politicized....and remember...the FIRST main-stream hybridized car was manufactured by a company that wrote the book on reliability, stodginess, and that was flush with money.
Three things that TSLA are most decidedly NOT!

We'll see.
I kinda hope it all works, because if it does then I'll wind up driving a 10-year-old car with Tesla looks and Telsa performance instead of Priuses.

LOTS of fanboys are going to have to buy them first though!

 

Besides the feds, State credits / incentives vary.
Wonder what all those that were screaming, crying, belly aching & complaining how long the cheap model was taking to get here, will do now ....
Baah - there'll be anorher worthy cause around the corner

.

 

Most working class folk do not think that a $35,000 car is....'cheap.'

 

It’s all Hype

 

Apologists for Toyota.

 

Tax credit is going away..hence the introduction.

Good for them though..they fulfilled their promise. I must admit..I was skeptical!