You 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?

The model I saw last week when I was thinking about buying is different than the model I saw this week. The price I saw last week for the set of features I remember selecting is different than the price I see this week.

They need to calm the rate of change here. It's been all over the map in Q1.

It was also all over the map in Q3 and Q4 of last year (when I was buying a Model 3).

However, I would take this any day over the opaque prices at a dealership.

Ever heard of sales? Companies do this constantly.

First 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.

Bringing up prices and ideal scenarios is whatboutism. These updates are about real features, not prices or fake ideal scenarios.

Huh? 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.

>The point under discussion is whether Tesla should be changing their pricing so often.

Heh no, you introduced that point yourself in a classic whataboutism move.

Tesla started the actual topic under discussion, which is updates to the Model S and X cars.

Consumers don’t care what yesterday’s prices or options were, prior to a purchase anyways. They care what today’s price is, what rebates are available, and what financing options are available for it.

I just don't think that's true. You don't make a decision like what kind of car to buy in a single day. If you're doing your research and comparing options, and the prices are shifting out from under you every couple of weeks it makes for a frustrating experience. Reviews and press coverage might be tailored to a particular price point and be difficult to interpret if the price has shifted since the reviewer wrote it.

Even if you're fixated on getting a Tesla, not many people have enough cash on hand to buy a Tesla straight out of their checking account. Nonliquid assets often take a while to turn into cash for large purchases. Every time Tesla raises prices or cuts low-cost products, they cause resentment among people in the process of buying their car. Every time Tesla lowers prices or substantially enhances their existing products, they cause resentment among people who have just recently bought their car. You never know when Tesla is going to announce a shakeup to their product line and make a fool out of anyone who bought their car the month before. It's sort of a corollary Osborne effect. I think the continuous delivery model for hardware enhancement is just asking for trouble. A "model year" approach with fixed hardware costs through the year and continuous software updates would make more sense.

I spent eighteen months researching my car and six more months waiting for it to arrive. It didn’t even have a price for the first year, but I knew approximately what to expect and I paid approximately what I expected. I forgot the exact price within 24 hours of the day it arrived, I got a final quote, and paid it. (I can tell you exactly what my loan payment was, though!)

The price matters between when you decide to commit and when you actually commit. If you accept a range of prices, the the price matters less than your timing in any potential discount or package benefit cycles.

It is difficult to care about (Tesla price guess here!) $45k vs $44k vs $46k, but is extremely easy to care about seeing the price drop $1k the day, or the day after you purchase it.