Every week, it seems like we thought Tesla would run out of Model 3 cars that week. But the company kept its production up and apparently worked through its backlog of orders a few weeks ago. The people who still have reservations fall into 3 categories:
For this week’s article, I’m going to update an article I published about 3 months ago on giving rides in your Tesla. I’ve been an EV owner for over 7 years (6½ years as a Leaf owner and 6 months as a Tesla Model 3 owner) and have been offering rides in my EV the whole 7 years.
This article will be an update on a bunch of year-end Tesla topics. I’ll cover the latest news on the tax credit, the referral program, availability of inventory cars, the improved financing, the trade-in and delivery process, whether wait for the $35,000 car, and the latest on volunteering at the end of the year at a Tesla Delivery Center.
I have written a series of articles on this site that attempted to accurately estimate the total cost of ownership (TCO) of various Model 3 trims, and then also compare those TCO estimates to a variety of competing cars. You can read the latest one, comparing the Model 3 to all the mainstream midsize sedans (Camry, Accord, Optima, and Malibu).
The Europeans have been waiting for almost 3 years to configure their Tesla Model 3s. Recently, the configuring of the Model 3 All Wheel Drive and Performance versions was opened up for European reservation holders. Tesla released the uplifting video below yesterday.
It seems like every week there is a new deadline given by Tesla. I’ve only had a couple of marketing courses, but I seem to remember a huge problem in sales is people are 99% ready to buy, but are just not quite ready to pull the trigger. If you give them a reason to decide, some will decide to buy, some will decide to wait, but you will at least get some of the people off the fence to pay the bills.
Today is my anniversary. No, not my marriage anniversary, but my 7 year EV anniversary. I was going to post a picture of our marriage certificate (purchase contract), but since I’ve traded in my Starter EV for a Trophy EV (same wife, different EV), the new car insisted we get rid of the reminders of the first relationship and I don’t have that. In honor of that 7 year journey, though, this article is a summary of EV life back then, EV life today, and a few competitive EVs.
Sometimes I feel like the boy who cried wolf. On October 12, I wrote an article that you should order a Tesla Model 3 by October 15 or you wouldn’t be guaranteed delivery by year end. Then, on November 11, I wrote about 5 options to still get a Tesla in 2018. Tesla didn’t want that to be the end of the story. As we wrote on November 15, the company secured extra trucking capacity and announced to the world it won’t use rail to ship to the East Coast (since it takes too long and Tesla wouldn’t want you to miss out on getting your Tesla by year end). But that’s not all.
With oil prices hitting their lowest level in more than a year (since October 9, 2017), you might think there isn’t much of a reason to buy a Tesla anymore. Well, I’m here to give you plenty of reasons I’m still glad to be driving electric.
I’ve written a lot of articles about how great and affordable the Tesla Model 3 is, and I truly believe it has the potential to become one of the best selling cars of all time. Does that mean it is the right car for everyone? No — although it must be enjoyable for everyone to drive (or not drive, once the full-self-driving software is available), it just isn’t the right car for everyone.
