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This isn't a special process. "Buy New Today", "Buy Pre-Owned Today" (which is where the showroom models are) and "Custom Order" are in the same top-level menu

This isn't a special process. "Buy New Today", "Buy Pre-Owned Today" (which is where the showroom models are) and "Custom Order" are in the same top-level menu on Tesla's website, which is where you buy their cars, whether you're at home or in a showroom at their computer. Whichever you click, you choose a car, make a deposit right there, and are given an order confirmation and an account. It's the same process, and you have the same "full retail experience", no matter which of the three pages you started your order at. He even included screenshots of his account in the "My Tesla" portal, just like any other customer that ordered a car from them.

dkokelley 11y ago
While the "Buy Pre-Owned Today" option is given equal weight on the website, I specifically am referring to what happens on the back end. When you buy new, a new car is configured to your liking. I have to imagine Tesla's fulfillment operations are arranged primarily around this case (take new "shell" car, install customer-selected options, deliver to customer). It's the same process only in what the customer sees. And I'll agree that the customer should get a similar experience from a similar process. Tesla seems to have failed in this case. However, it's clearly not the same process on Tesla's end. Selling an inventory car is a subset of the pre-owned car sales process, and selling a specific inventory car that was somehow (erroneously?) available for R&D is a very specific case. Has the car been made road ready? Have they removed any beta features that are not for the public? This is a special process. However, since Tesla offers the option, it is their responsibility to ensure they can deliver.