For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1678155
I've always thought of the Tesla dealers - especially the shopping centre ones - as 'Marketing Suites' rather than traditional car dealerships.

So I don't suppose it really matters. And servicing could be done on grotty industrial estates instead of expensive flagship locations.

ps. Does the title of this thread need changing to 'Tesla said it would be in profit, but turns out actually, not'
By Colonel Panic
#1678162
On the Tesla blog it half implied that servicing would be done at the owner's house rather than in a garage. Seems a tad optimistic for anything other than merely checking wiper blades & aircon filters. But perhaps this is the way it will go. https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/blog/35000- ... ilable-now
At the same time, we will be increasing our investment in the Tesla service system, with the goal of same-day, if not same-hour service, and with most service done by us coming to you, rather than you coming to us. Moreover, we guarantee service availability anywhere in any country in which we operate.
By JoeC
#1678166
That sounds like BS from Tesla.

The are touting instant gratification by being able to buy in a few clicks but there is at least a 3 month wait time before your vehicle ships, so that fails at the first hurdle.

No test drives - just buy the car and give it back if you don't like it!

Quite literally, you could buy a Tesla, drive several hundred miles for a weekend road trip with friends and then return it for free.


No chance to touch, sit in or even see a £35,000 purchase? This will only appeal to those early adopters who don't need convincing to buy a Tesla but won't appeal to the later majority.

The public just aren't ready for that sort of buying practice. Tesla are trying to change the system not because it is better for customers but because it suits their business model - always a poor strategy.
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1678167
I thought the plan was no-one truly owned anything anymore, and the long term model was rental - a very USA thing - so to some extent they may think they're leading rather than following in getting rid of showrooms even if it is a cash saving measure.

I don't like it much - although it saves on assets lying around unused it comes with the risk your rental car may not arrive when you most need it. The system as a whole becomes very fragile - like a lot of our public services and people having neither security of a home or a job from hour to hour.
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By KingJames
#1678168
I think they offer fleets of test drive machines at places like Westfield shopping centres. After all there isn't a lot of variants to choose from in reality.
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By Miscellaneous
#1678169
JoeC wrote:That sounds like BS from Tesla.

I agree, the more I see and hear the more I dislike Tesla's approach to business.

I still feel they won't make it long term.

JoeC wrote:Quite literally, you could buy a Tesla, drive several hundred miles for a weekend road trip with friends and then return it for free.

Haven't we all done that with a test drive, albeit at the cost of some fuel?

JoeC wrote:No chance to touch, sit in or even see a £35,000 purchase?

It makes little difference re test driving, however it's $35 000 (£26400), that's a huge difference. It's a reduction in price which I don't accept is even dented by the dealership announcement. I read it as an acknowledgement their previous business model was failing.

On another note, does that not bring them in line with the Leaf and Zoe price wise?

@stevelup fair point re title, I've asked the Mods to change it.
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By OCB
#1678207
Colonel Panic wrote:People whinge that car dealerships are a dreadful experience, and then they whinge when the dealerships are by-passed.


I think it depends on which brand, which dealership and where you are.

Certainly the last car (well, 7 seater sprog-shuttle) I bought was online from Germany, without seeing it. I did try to buy one here in Belgium via a shiny glass and chrome dealership, but one "importer" has a monopoly on several brands here - result was a quote for a car with less options but would have cost 25% more..oh, and the basic warranty when buying in DE was 3 years. In Belgium it was 2...

When I went to the dealer with my online quote - trying to get some sort of middle ground - he just gave a Gallic shrug and said he didn't care as most people were too scared to buy online and "import" a car themselves. I went first class by ICE to Frankfurt, then local train south for 45 mins and drove the car back on temp German transport plates. Import fee in Belgium was around 100 euro iirc, and involve some typical Belgian bureaucracy. Total import/transport cost was less than 400 euro

The car was delivered to an actual dealer in Germany, there was no way to avoid that - they were nice enough, but completely forgot I'd ordered winter wheels/tyres - so they had to have them shipped to me at their cost. That wouldn't have been so bad, but the car was built and delivered in winter...with summer wheels/tyres... :roll:

The biggest "risk" I had was I couldn't get an extended warranty here in Belgium. The local monopoly importer was the only one to offer it - and they point blank refused. Which was one more reason I was happy not to give them my money.

Had good,bad,horrendous experiences with dealers when I was still in the UK.
I see the option to buy "online" and have as much done at home/small franchised maintenance centres as inevitable.
By romille
#1678216
KingJames wrote:What was the difference in the cash position for the period the profit was made in out of interest? Could be good reasons for it not being reflective of the profit however could also be a sign of accounting tricks from someone overly motivated to make a profit.

Profits/ Losses and cash have quite often got little correlation because of movements in balance sheet items, like Debtors, Creditors and stock. Quite often growing businesses have good profits and poor cash flow.
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By Miscellaneous
#1678228
When a company announces the selling price is dropping from $50 000 to $35 000 I think it's an indication one should not read anything meaningful in to that company's financials. :wink:
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By OCB
#1678238
Miscellaneous wrote:When a company announces the selling price is dropping from $50 000 to $35 000 I think it's an indication one should not read anything meaningful in to that company's financials. :wink:


It's been the business model for tech companies for decades, no?

Your fastest shiniest processor/GPU can cost thousands from Intel etc when first released. Early adopters know they're paying a hefty premium.

Price comes down as the product hits mainstream volumes. Part of the reason for this can simply be that the manufacturer knows he can't - physically - build and ship high volumes initially. He has neither the tooling nor yields etc.

When I started in high volume mfg with IBM in the mid 90s, they were still "build to plan" rather than "build to order". That former business practice spread the peaks/troughs of cost etc through most of the lifecycle of a pc/laptop/server model. Release to Market was painful, we were always in supply constraint due to processors, disks, ram etc + adapting part of a line for these small first runs took time and money + training of staff on the new build process etc. Rework levels were inevitably higher, partly as the newest of tech had higher fail rates during burn-in, and the line staff made more mistakes/took longer initially.

I've been watching with some interest how Tesla has taken one hell of a gamble going from "boutique" to mass market. What they've gone through in terms of volume ramp-up is not surprising. The fact they've gone for it at all, however, takes some set of dog's danglies.
By Colonel Panic
#1678240
You are at risk of comparing $35k Bramleys with $50k Cox's Orange Pippins; the two may share a body, but the details are very different; battery capacities ergo range, trim etc etc.

It's a bit like comparing a bottom of the range BMW 3 Series with an M3.
Anon, Flyin'Dutch' liked this
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By eltonioni
#1678322
Is Elon Musk's Tesla more trustworthy than VW?
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