Musk on Affordable Electric Truck

[anionic1]

Fundamentally, there is nearly zero correlation between Tesla’s pricing and the actual cost of goods sold.

They’ve made multiple price increases over the past year even as their prices went down.

The mid-range Cybertruck was priced similar to the Model Y AWD LR. Chances are that’s where the base Cybertruck will land price wise. The idea that Tesla would increase prices on existing Cybertruck pre-orders faster than on Model Y 2022 sales is just bizarre. Keeping pace with them? I can see that, but not outpacing them.

Increasing prices increases the chance Tesla will launch a single motor truck to make the line more approachable to consumers. Tesla has introduced the base RWD version on both the Model 3 and the Model Y (in China) to stimulate demand. They are apparently re-launching the Model Y RWD version in the US as well.

Suggesting that Tesla will not launch the single motor truck just suggests people don’t understand how Tesla does business.

Anyone that thinks cost of goods sold in 2021 went down is not on this planet. Thats literally what inflation is. And Telsas pricing has increased with inflation. Inflation was 7% in 2021.

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[Ogre]

Anyone that thinks cost of goods sold in 2021 went down is not on this planet. Thats literally what inflation is. And Telsas pricing has increased with inflation. Inflation was 7% in 2021.

They make these things called financial statements.

This isn’t “Projections”. They are legal documents which reflect that actual cost to produce the product.

 

[anionic1]

They make these things called financial statements.

This isn’t “Projections”. They are legal documents which reflect that actual cost to produce the product.

Please provide a source for the document you are referencing. There is no way an auto manufacturer built cars cheaper in 2021.

 

[SparkChaser]

I am always amazed at the statements about price, based on what? There must be a run on crystal balls or tea leaves. We ordered at a price. Has anyone ever in Tesla history ordered at a price and had that price changed? I know it is a pre order and only a loose contract of sale by any stretch of the imagination, but is it the norm for Tesla to change the price after an order is set???
I am asking this because I don't know.
Has anyone here ordered an S, 3 ,X or Y and had the price increased?

 

[Ogre]

Please provide a source for the document you are referencing. There is no way an auto manufacturer built cars cheaper in 2021.

There is clearly a way.

This was a frame grab of numbers Rob Maurer pulled from Tesla’s quarterly filings.

 

[Ogre]

I am always amazed at the statements about price, based on what?

It’s based on nothing. Nobody has any inside data. Anyone who claims they “Know” there will be an increase or by how much is full of shit.

There is a strong case to be made that Tesla might increase Cybertruck prices on pace with inflation but even that is just a guess. Tesla has long term pricing contracts which insulate them from a lot of this.

Most of the big claims about pricing increasing are pretty detached from actual inflation regardless.

 

[anionic1]

I am always amazed at the statements about price, based on what? There must be a run on crystal balls or tea leaves. We ordered at a price. Has anyone ever in Tesla history ordered at a price and had that price changed? I know it is a pre order and only a loose contract of sale by any stretch of the imagination, but is it the norm for Tesla to change the price after an order is set???

This is not really an order. It’s a preorder subject to any changes Tesla deems necessary. And Tesla has played games after an order was set. My guess is that they will never make the original configurations so all those people will need to go place a new order based on the updated configuration. Like the tri motor. Why make a tri motor if they are making a quad motor. All those tri motor holders will very likely never pan out. My own included.

 

[Ogre]

Maybe we need a letter like this.


For anyone with a Cybertruck preorder as of the March 1 pricing announcement, your original configured price will be honored. If you canceled your preorder on or after March 1 and would like to reinstate it, we will restore your original configuration, pricing and delivery timing. Our team will be sending an email in the next few days with more details.

I love this idea. But seems unlikely until pretty late in the game.

Tesla is greatly enjoying the chaos the Cybertruck’s state of flux is having on their competition.

 

[anionic1]

I love this idea. But seems unlikely until pretty late in the game.

Tesla is greatly enjoying the chaos the Cybertruck’s state of flux is having on their competition.

Tesla is way to big and cool now to send out apology letters. I am around 30,000 on my preorder and I am very doubtful they will honor any of the orders. If I were Elon I would think that people would understand the increases due to the social and economic challenges over the last few years.

I think Elon's recent statements about affordability and it being easy to build an expensive truck are because he doesn't want this to be another plaid where only the wealthier are able to afford it. He wants it to come out and blow the F150 out of the water as far as specs and affordability goes and right now material pricing is still crazy. We just got almost a 25% increase in steel pricing this month. And the increases just keep coming. We are considering shutting $100M job sites down to gamble on prices coming down over the next few months. Elon is very involved in his companies purchases and he is also waiting on pricing to come down. At the beginning of this year some commodities did start to drop/soften after the huge increases from last year. And now with the war and new Covid scare in China they are going back up slightly. I bet beginning of next year, with no major global issues, material prices will be where they need to be for Tesla to start taking the CT seriously.

 

[Ogre]

Tesla is way to big and cool now to send out apology letters. I am around 30,000 on my preorder and I am very doubtful they will honor any of the orders. If I were Elon I would think that people would understand the increases due to the social and economic challenges over the last few years.

When Tesla upped the prices on the 2021 Model X Refresh, people got an email from their service advisor. Since we’re not going to have a service advisor offering them a sort-of apology deal, I expect some broader communication since there are about 1.2 million more Cybertruck buyers than 2021 Model X buyers and none of us have service advisors.

At this point I suspect Tesla will have another actual Cybertruck event similar to what they did with the Model S Plaid when they started deliveries.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/11/22528963/tesla-model-s-plaid-ev-price-specs-range-speed

Hopefully if they do another Cybertruck event it will be outdoors at a venue where they can demo it off-road.

 

[SparkChaser]

SO if you can, answer the question has Tesla ever done that?
Changed the price after accepting a "Pre-Order"????

 

[Ogre]

SO if you can, answer the question has Tesla ever done that?
Changed the price after accepting a "Pre-Order"????

Sort of.

They did it with the Model X 2021 refresh sort-of-kind-of. That was roughly an 8% increase which included some pretty significant upgrades from the version people had ordered.

They also changed the original Roadster quite significantly at launch which resulted in a fair number of people having the price bumped. (Though they could have dropped some options to keep the price)

 

[anionic1]

SO if you can, answer the question has Tesla ever done that?
Changed the price after accepting a "Pre-Order"????

here is an example. This is exactly what they will do with the CT. They will change the options and tell people they need to change their order and bam... new pricing.

 

[Ogre]

here is an example. This is exactly what they will do with the CT. They will change the options and tell people they need to change their order and bam... new pricing.

How they handled a handful of people who waited 10 months after order fulfillment ended seems like an odd-ball choice of examples for how they will deal with a million plus pre-orders.

(I did mention some examples of more similar circumstances above)

 

[anionic1]

How they handled a handful of people who waited 10 months after order fulfillment ended seems like an odd-ball choice of examples for how they will deal with a million plus pre-orders.

(I did mention some examples of more similar circumstances above)

Regardless, Telsa has changed prices or agreements. Look at what they did with the solar roof. People had to fight to get them to honor their orders. There is no way that 4 years after the reveal they are going to be selling the CT for those original preorder prices. Most previous orders were filled within a year. Once I saw the quad motor come out it struck me that we will likely never see the original configurations. And thus, never see the original pricing.

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