More bad news from Tesla

This news is a few days old, but I forgot to mention it earlier.  Tesla has effectively raised the price of the Roadster by around $7000.

Basically what the company did is make many of the features which they claimed would come with the car options.  For example, the tires which were supposed to come with the car are now an extra $2300 option, and the standard model will come with much cheaper tires.

Other big-ticket items that are no longer standard equipment include $2,300 forged-alloy wheels and a $400 "SolarPlus" windshield. Lower-cost alloy wheels and a regular glass windshield will be offered as standard equipment. The destination charge also rose $1,000.

Beyond that, according to a list compiled by Tesla customer Tom Saxton, Tesla increased the cost of several options on the '08 models. They include doubling the cost of a metallic paint job to $1,000 and combining into a $3,000 "electronics package" several gadgets — stereo, navigation system, Bluetooth, etc. — that had been available individually. There also are some new options that weren't available before, including an "executive leather interior" for $6,000 and a clear-coated carbon-fiber accent group for $9,000. The company also will offer a $12,000 "battery replacement package" that will allow owners to replace the car's battery pack at any time after seven years.

This change has ticked off a lot of people who had put down deposits on the Roadster.  There have even been threats to take the company to court over this change.  Elon Musk sent an email out to the people with deposits down which apparently didn't say much except that options are important and they'll get that money back with the $7500 federal tax credit.

One of the hosts of the EVCast is on the waiting list and isn't sure if he's still going to go through with the purchase, not because the extra $7000 is a big deal when you're talking about a $100k+ purchase, but because of the principle that Tesla would suddenly pull this move on people who had put down deposits on the car they were expecting.

Clearly this move from Tesla was made because they're having money problems, which is not good news.

That's a tough one...when you're selling a $100k+ car and only trying to sell a few hundred units, is nickel and diming the way to go? That said, say we're talking about 500 cars x $7k, that's $3.5M...not exactly a drop in the bucket for any startup and we all know what happens when you sell your cars at a significant loss...(cough...Big 3...cough cough)

That's a tough one. I think the folks that put the deposits down did so because they can afford to do it, they wanted to support this very important movement, and they thought Tesla was a good pony to bet on in terms of who will be viable in the EV race. I can see being frustrated, but law suits?! Seems excessive to me

 That's a really really risky move on Tesla's part... I would be very ticked off if I was on the waiting list for an year or more and then have the price increased...  Don't make promises you can't keep...  First rule...  Personally, I would have ate the $7,000 cost and not lose the momentum and customer's faith...

Edited by seattlite - Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:35:40 GMT

 Not really very surprising after that constant refrigerator problem Tesla had last year; just sad, very sad.  I hope President Obamas energy stimulus plan helps EVs in general, from solar and Zap! to Zenn, GEM, BVD, Comet, Triac, Volt, Cadillac EV,  ..... and on!

 Somehow Tesla has lost a building spot in San Jose.  I do not know about future locations to build in; but a very large Lipton Tea factory closed a few years back in Santa Cruz...... (hint hint!)  I would enjoy Teslas built in my backyard- if I hung around enough maybe they would let me test-drive one just to get me out of there!  ;-)