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They also announced on Twitter: "As a thank you to our Tesla owners, all existing Model S and Model X owners who wish to purchase a new Model S or Model X Perfo
by azhenley 8y ago
They also announced on Twitter: "As a thank you to our Tesla owners, all existing Model S and Model X owners who wish to purchase a new Model S or Model X Performance car will get the Ludicrous Mode upgrade, a $20,000 value, at no additional charge"
https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1120852649400623105 https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1120852649400623105
- RickJWagner 8y agoWow. I'd like that.
- zaroth 8y agoCame here to post this exact excerpt. That’s a heck of a customer loyalty bonus, even if the margin on that particular SKU is itself quite ludicrous!
- mdorazio 8y agoAlternative view: they’re desperate to get more high margin model S and X sales because owners are keeping their existing models too long.
- azhenley 8y agoThat seems like a good position for both sides, doesn’t it?
- angott 8y agoNot surprised. They can't expect people to replace their car every two years as if it were an iPhone.
- adrianN 8y agoTime to introduce in-car purchases. Pay to overtake.
- colordrops 8y agoAlready exists. Autopilot and FSD can be purchased through the model 3 touch screen.
- anticensor 8y agoTesla self-driving uses the innermost lane by default. Pay to not overtake.
- benj111 8y agoPay to emergency brake would seem to have the potential for higher margins?
- janlaureys 8y agoWe have detected an emergency situation and can avoid this upcoming collision by automatically applying full force breaking. Do you accept the payment of $14,99 ?
- benj111 8y agoThink bigger. You forget Teslas are FSD capable. They can detect the urgency of the situation and price accordingly. A low speed shunt may be only $15. Avoiding a head on collision with a HGV? Only $10,000.
- zaroth 8y agoWell, lets entertain this idea for a minute and see where it takes us. First understand that the Ludicrous upgrade is only available on the Performance Model S/X which is $99k/$104k to start. There are two possible upsells here, from TM3 to Model S, or from a more basic grade of S to an upgraded Model S. There are very few people who set out to buy a $35k car and then consider the TCO of the TM3 as comparable and decide to go for it. I think the hypothetical TM3 shopper being upsold to a $99k S to get free Ludi is basically non-existant. Upselling AWD or maybe Model 3 Performance, but not a Performance S. Now, someone setting out to buy a $78k Model S, and deciding to upgrade to a $99k Model S is conceivable. Getting the Ludicrous option thrown in maybe even makes that likely. So what's the profit impact to Tesla for selling a baseline Model S for $78k with no discount, versus a Model S Performance with a Free Ludicrous upgrade? Gross margin of the S is ~30%. For giggles I'll assume gross margin of the Ludicrous upgrade is 50%. The hypothetical customer taking advantage of this offer is spending $99k and earning Tesla a profit of $19,700 ($29,700 - $10,000) versus without the offer getting a $78k Model S and earning Tesla $23,400. Lastly there is the theory that an existing Model S/X owner decides to buy a new Model S/X because now they can get a Ludi upgrade. Well, you probably don't know that Tesla already lets current owners upgrade their existing Model S/X with Ludi aftermarket for $7,500. You can even upgrade your battery for $20,000. I'd say this alternative view is bunk. Tesla grows by selling to new owners, and has said they design their cars with 1,000,000 miles in mind. Tesla goes further than any auto manufacturer in history to maintain the value of their existing owners' investment through constant OTA upgrades, even including increasing motor output, decreasing braking distance, and they have a system design geared toward field upgradable hardware including batteries and autopilot hardware. When was the last time you walked into a dealer with your late-model car and they had a list of upgrades they could sell you for it, to bring it inline with the same car on the showroom floor? Tesla has been doing this with their Model S at various times throughout its history. Their success is not tied to existing owners replacing their Tesla with a new one. It's actually quite the opposite. Part of Tesla's core value proposition is that every owner should feel like they are driving the latest and greatest, and their incentive is aligned to keep you driving it as long as possible. It's part of why they don't have model years in the first place.
- jakobegger 8y ago
- NotSammyHagar 8y agoit's both things! a great loyalty thing and they had greatly reduced sales of the more profitable model s because the 3 is so freaking awesome
- Someone1234 8y agoSlight tangent but what are you getting for $20K? Is it a software feature, or is there physical difference between the normal performance and "Ludicrous" model?
- toomuchtodo 8y agoThere is a smart fuse composed of an inconel alloy that is pyro-actuated to protect from overcurrent conditions when performing a Ludicrous launch (~1500 amp peak current drawn). It's not software only. Very fancy circuit breaker.
- ulfw 8y agoIt's that the same as a Flux Capacitor?
- erik_seaberg 8y agoMore details at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9904587 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9904587.
- secabeen 8y agoDo we know if that's needed with the new drivetrain?
- agumonkey 8y agoInterestingly, it seems SpaceX got to play a role developing the alloy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inconel#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inconel#History
- s0rce 8y agoInconel is just a group of nickel alloys, been around for years. No indication the specific alloys spaceX has developed are being used in the fuse, although they could be, however, wikipedia indicates they are used in rockets.
- 8y ago
- jedberg 8y agoSweet. So there will be a bunch of used model S’s coming soon!
- limaoscarjuliet 8y agoI read it as "there will be a bunch of crashed model S's coming soon".
- alasdair_ 8y ago> Ludicrous Mode upgrade, a $20,000 value I have a P85D. When Ludicrous Mode was announced, they offered it for $5000 as an upgrade. I have no idea why it now supposedly costs $20,000. Source: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-drops-price-of-p85d-ludicrous-upgrade-will-not-have-the-same-performance-as-ludicrous-p90d/ https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-drops-price-of-p85d-ludicrou...
- NotSammyHagar 8y agoi think it costs more because they need the money more now. they've got a lot going on, lots of new vehicles in development and not many models or sales to amortize it over.
- justinclift 8y agoThat $US20k seems to be purely marketing bullshit, aimed to sucker US buyers. :( Easy seen as such too. Compare the "Ludicrous Mode" for the Model X on the US website (US$20k) to the same thing on the Australian website (AUS$8.5k): https://www.tesla.com/modelx/design?redirect=no#battery https://www.tesla.com/modelx/design?redirect=no#battery https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/modelx/design?redirect=no#battery https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/modelx/design?redirect=no#batter... Note - you need to select "Performance" on the right side, for Ludicrous Mode to be shown. Ludicrous mode is "20% faster acceleration" for both. So it very much seems like the extra cost on the US buyers is to match this marketing update. That thing where Larry Ellison (Oracle) is now on the board of Tesla. This is the kind of crap he'd very much applaud. :( https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/modelx/design?redirect=no#battery https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/modelx/design?redirect=no#batter...
- AnthonyMouse 8y agoThe entire feature is marketing bullshit. There is no practical utility in making a car that fast go even faster, it's sold only as weapon in the battle to express the desired length of one's phallus in vehicle form. They should charge $15,000 for the first "10% faster" and then another $25,000 on top of that for the second 10%.
- brianpgordon 8y agoAlso: "In addition to our Long Range and Performance variants, we’re also re-introducing a lower entry price for Model S and Model X by bringing back our Standard Range option, now available for an even greater value with the new drivetrain and suspension updates." They just can't leave their pricing structure alone. How does Tesla management not appreciate how unnecessarily confusing this is for consumers?
- teej 8y agoYou go on the website, click a couple boxes, and it tells you a price. You pay what you see on the website. How is that more confusing than a regular dealership?
- brianpgordon 8y agoFirst of all, I doubt that the average Tesla customer is wealthy enough that they're in a position to shrug and ambivalently pay whatever the website tells them on that particular day, like they're in the checkout aisle of a grocery store or the pump at a gas station. When it comes to $50,000 purchases, people generally like to plan ahead. Second, the comparison isn't against dealers (which are awful), the comparison is against the ideal. All I'm saying is that Tesla is shooting itself in the foot with its inconsistency. Bringing up dealers is a whataboutism.
- natch 8y agoBringing up prices and ideal scenarios is whatboutism. These updates are about real features, not prices or fake ideal scenarios.
- brianpgordon 8y agoHuh? No it's not. The point under discussion is whether Tesla should be changing their pricing so often. I'm arguing that it would be better if they didn't. That's not a whataboutism. Deflecting the criticism and saying "at least it's not as bad as the dealers" is, on the other hand, pretty much the archetypal whataboutism.