Tesla model 3

Is this the first time there has been a line to buy a car? I remember say when the zr1 came out there was lots of buying selling of "places" ie golden ticket holders but no actual line out of the building. Are the new aged internet type the ones inventing lines like this? Crazy none the less

It was all the talk in the office today after a couple guys went and reserved them. I understand the hype of such a car, but cannot personally imagine putting a deposit down on a car that might be really ugly and that we really know nothing about. I hope I am proven wrong after the reveal tonight. I spent some time today finding other much cooler ways to spend $50k on a car (these guys will opt for the top of the range models).

What is the secondary market for Teslas? Could be a low depreciation way to drive a new car for two years?

Last time i looked a few months ago, the cheapest/oldest/highest miles/smallest battery Model S's were realistically not available under ~$48k with most at 55+. So much less than 50% depreciation in 4 years, if that's any barometer.

I think it's important to note that the $1000 deposit is fully refundable. So if it's ugly or the price shoots up they can cancel their order and get it back.

It's also significant that Tesla has sold over 100,000 cars, about half of that in 2015. So with the model X and the model 3 it's not unlikely that they'll get to the 200,000 car mark pretty quickly. (In the next year and a half or less.) Some people putting their deposit in now are no doubt just making sure they're in the "still eligible for the tax credit" group. Others are probably just caught up in the hype.

They may have sold 100,000 cars but not all while the tax credit was in place, even with Volt, Leaf, etc.. We haven't hit the 200,000 mark. That's sad in my book; maybe this car is what changes the market?

As a Leaf driver with 6 months left on the lease I'm pretty excited about the reveal. Even if it takes a couple years to get a model 3 - I can wait.

I got a chance to track a p85d a while back, it was really good. I went i to it with disdain got out wanting one for a dd.

I've only ridden in a p85d and havent driven any Model S but it seemed to be everything i thought it would be. It's not that i don't care about the Model 3, but the Model S is something i already know i love and it would be on my 'own one at some point' list even if the Model 3 blows it out of the water for the same money new vs used.

In reply to sesto elemento:

That seems to be the consensus. I have never heard of anyone who drove one and ended up not liking it, haters included. I would love one but the price is out of my reach...so far.

Should be interesting. My bet is you won't see many out the door for less than 45K.

Brilliant by Tesla though. Taking all of these deposits on a car that is a year and a half away from production. Even if they want a refund down the road, Tesla can earn the interest on the money. It'll be interesting to see what the actual conversion rate is on deposits.

Watching on their website. They're just running ads for the model S right now.

chandlerGTi wrote: They may have sold 100,000 cars but not all while the tax credit was in place, even with Volt, Leaf, etc.. We haven't hit the 200,000 mark. That's sad in my book; maybe this car is what changes the market?

The tax credit has been in place since 1/1/2010, and the Model S didn't launch until 2012. I'm not sure what you mean. Maybe you're thinking of the Roadster? That was their only car built prior to the tax credit being enacted. There were only about 2500 of those made so that's not a significant impact on the 100,000 cars sold, but even then most of those were built after 1/1/2010 I believe. So of the ~100k cars sold through 12/31/2015, ~97,500 of them were the Model S and all of those were eligible for the tax credit; what I do not know is how many of those were exported.

The S's were a lot more common than I expected in London.

I am seriously considering putting a $1000 deposit down on one. Lawdy!

I'm in love with how minimalistic that interior is. And in silver, it just looks right.

No gauge cluster. Interesting. The interior isn't like anything being made. Very sparse. It must be cheaper to make, I wonder if the response is good enough that's the direction more manufacturers will go. Just an overall huge reduction in the stuff associated with the car.

Per this article they've already got 130k pre-orders, if we were at 100k cars sold before this then I'd say the tax credit is going to be finished with these http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/31/11335272/tesla-model-3-announced-price-release-date-specs-preorder

Smart getting this amount of hype and then taking unlimited pre-orders, gives them some extra capital to bring this to reality.

Perhaps I'm just a contrarian, but I'm not all that impressed. The interior is boring, the tablet display looks like a tacked-on afterthought, and the exterior, while handsome enough, is hard to distinguish from a model S.

Maybe someday I will live someplace where I can have 220VAC in the garage.

Until then, no electric car for me :(

In reply to dculberson:

Hmmm, I am saying that if they had sold 100,000 then surely the leaf, electric focus, volt (etc) would have made up the other 100,000 easily? The tax credit was for all electric cars...

I like these, I was excited for the reveal, I'm sure they'll sell tons of them... but berkeley that touch screen nonsense. I want controls I can use without looking at them!

The tax credit is by manufacturer, not segment. So Tesla, Nissan, etc. all have their own cap of 200k cars. As of yesterday, the figure as of yesetrday was that Tesla had an esimated 50k-75k claimed tax credits. Plus, I think they'll likely extend the credit if the Model 3 is successful, as the government is trying to look pro-green tech these days.

In reply to Egghead Racer:

I see, that's good to know.