Wow I guess this is the best proof of how Tesla is really changing the way auto owners think, this is something that wasn't unthinkable before Tesla and their over the air updates. Can you imagine a BMW owner complaining that his 2015 model does not have stuff that new 2017 models will get??

Tesla has done this for a long while. Newer larger battery pack options, newer interior and tech package options, and completely new performance and configuration options (insane, dual motor, and autopilot 1.0 all hit at once)

While there wern't announcements ahead of time what was coming, there were often advance notice that there was an announcement coming, and even when there wasn't - there was a big period of quiet from Tesla leading up to it.

For Autopilot 2.0 everyone knew it was coming for at least the Model 3 launch (Elon said as much at the Model 3 announcement), they just brought it forward.

It is really no different to what happens to customers for a bunch of other tech companies. Canon sure doesn't tell anyone when their new models are coming out - you know it'll probably happen at a major trade show, but only if you're someone that follows that kind of thing. The average customer at their camera shop isn't going to have the sales guy say "Hey, wait a week and we'll have the next version available."

Regardless, I think it’s a fair critique: buyer’s remorse is a real thing with Tesla. It’s one thing to buy a $3000 computer from Apple and have it replaced with a much better one the next week, it’s another to buy a $100K car and have a major improvement two weeks later.

Plus people but cars when then want cars, some will always lament they could have waited a bit, but most I expect will be happy to own a Tesla that was (and is) amazing just a few days ago.

If you want change in this regard, it's not going to come from Tesla.

For instance, let's say I pre-ordered a Model 3 now. But I won't get it the first half of 2019. And then a month later, Tesla announces Model 3 with Autopilot 2.5 hardware or whatever, holographic HUD, and so on. And that new car will ship within 2 months. Then I'd feel pretty screwed by Tesla...

In short, the delay between reservation and receiving the car is not an issue.

Big difference between buying a camera and buying a car.

For a young professional, buying a $35k car is probably just as eventful and significant to their savings/expenditure.

vs. "Hey, we have this great sale going on. What, new model? Naww, we are just having a sale!!"

The incumbent MFG's literally have "new inventory" sales on their last-years model to clear out inventory. They let you know well in advance that a new car is coming with new features so you can make an informed decision.

Is this not what "hey this 1-2 year old model is on super duper sale right now, it's really cheap, you should buy it!" means? Is a steep discount on older stock not always code for "better shift these before new model comes out"?

You see Apple fanboys fall for this one every time, too. "Yay I got a new iPhone 5 last week and it was SO CHEAP, I'm a genius... wait wtf they just announced the iPhone 6."

The upstart, by virtue of simply not yet having that many potential repeat customers around, is targeting first time buyers. The goodwill created by having as little obsolescence as possible far outweighs the extra sales they might get through it. This tradeoff changes significantly once a company is established and the number of potential repeat customers is high. Now it's always a balance between repeat sale likelihood and repeat sale cycle duration.

Different forms of obsolescence have different effects in different markets. E.g. unlike smartphone makers, car manufacturers tread very carefully when it comes to longevity. Red book value and all that. So what do they do? They have perfected the generational model update cycle. New generation cars are literally designed to make the predecessor look old, because that is the most acceptable repeat sale driver. Tesla just isn't there yet.

edit: I'm absolutely positive I'm missing the joke here

It's tough because if you are custom ordering a car mid-year there's a question as to whether to wait for a production allocation in the new model year or not.

Check :)

I am complaining, at least inwardly :-)

Elon stressed in the call that they did not give significant discounts, and the few that did happen were not to be repeated.

"Our vehicle gross margin increased Q2 to Q3. One of the other things I've seen out there is that somehow we achieved these numbers as a result of widespread discounting. That is absolutely false. There were a few discounts but they were few and far between and that has been absolutely shut down to zero. You can see that in the fact that the vehicle profitability increased, even excluding ZEV credits, Q2 to Q3."

I think it's fair to assume that they discounted the price because they were close to announce an "hardware" update.

That doesn't make your latter point wrong though, that was probably true too!

[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-06/full-text-...

Tesla likely reasoned that they would have a huge up in Q4 and instead of having one quarter with profitability (Q4) they could spread it out and show two consecutive profitable quarters with even higher profits in Q4.

This may indicate they will be attempting to raise more money early next year, it's the kind of 'good news' that investors like to see.

Tesla's main costs aren't the cost per unit but the engineer/software costs iirc.

This has actually been Tesla's business plan all along: start with a low volume, high-priced product (the Roadster) and gradually move towards successively higher volume, lower cost models.

Tesla is constantly behind on producing cars for its customers. They just wanted to generate money now rather than later.

I talk about Tesla a ton as well. My GF is similar, but with dogs. We made an agreement that whenever I talk about Tesla I have to replace 'Tesla' with 'dog'. She does the reverse.

Let me tell you, there is this new dog, it is so fast. And this dog has a low center of gravity which is great for handling. The craziest thing is that this dog can go from 0-60mph in just 2.8 seconds, it is ludicrous!

There were also some stories of people getting bigger discounts, like getting the 60kWh to 75kWh battery upgrade at no additional charge. Those were supposedly rare and were not supposed to happen, though.

By the way, huge fan of HashiCorp Mitchell. ;-)

Now I need to track down Elon Musk to discuss Consul.

Totally agree with you on this, long elon musk is always the play.

Presumably that is also why Elon doesn't want SpaceX to go public. That kind of push could easily end in a giant fireball there.