
Tesla – Great things are launching at 2pm - traviswingo
https://www.tesla.com/soon#travis
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BenoitEssiambre
"To achieve these prices while remaining financially sustainable, Tesla is
shifting sales worldwide to online only. You can now buy a Tesla in North
America via your phone in about 1 minute, and that capability will soon be
extended worldwide. We are also making it much easier to try out and return a
Tesla, so that a test drive prior to purchase isn’t needed. You can now return
a car within 7 days or 1,000 miles for a full refund. Quite literally, you
could buy a Tesla, drive several hundred miles for a weekend road trip with
friends and then return it for free. With the highest consumer satisfaction
score of any car on the road, we are confident you will want to keep your
Model 3.

Shifting all sales online, combined with other ongoing cost efficiencies, will
enable us to lower all vehicle prices by about 6% on average, allowing us to
achieve the $35,000 Model 3 price point earlier than we expected. Over the
next few months, we will be winding down many of our stores,"

Bold

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chadash
[https://3.tesla.com/model3/design#battery](https://3.tesla.com/model3/design#battery)
is showing a $35K base model

~~~
chadash
Some more notes:

* basic model interior has cloth seats and paired down amenities compared to current model 3

* Looks like autopilot costs $3000 over base

* Full Self-Driving Capability (on-ramp to off-ramp highway driving, autopark and summor your car in a parking lot) is another $5000 over basic autopilot

* Coming this year: ability to "Recognize and respond to traffic lights and stop signs." and "Automatic driving on city streets."

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nightski
I'm really excited for Tesla and have been waiting to order one some day. But
the problem is, while battery performance in winter doesn't concern me too
much - rear while drive and extremely low clearance does. It's just a non-
starter in northern climates. My Subaru outback handles this with ease and I
feel the Tesla would be a nightmare. It's unfortunate really, they want to
make it feel like a race car instead of a practical car.

We had an all time record snowfall in February and it's been an intense
winter.

EDIT: I realize they have an all wheel drive option but it's 10k more than the
35k option putting it in a luxury market. Not many Americans can responsibly
afford a 45k car.

~~~
injb
As someone who drives an M3 every day in the winter in the northern US in
snow, ice and everything in between, let me assure you rear wheel drive is not
an issue. Tires are what matter, not the drivetrain. Get a good set of winter
tires and it'll be fine.

~~~
windexh8er
Out of curiosity, how far north might you be? We've had record snow in MN this
year for February and own an SUV and half-ton truck. This month had a few
painful days for what normally would be fine in an M3 with winter rubber.
While these types of days aren't always the norm I would argue there's a lot
of value in AWD and 4WD systems, especially with appropriate seasonal tires.
Ultimately though I agree with your logic. An AWD with improper tires is worse
in the snow than a RWD vehicle with the right ones. I think the fallacy many
fall into is AWD is a silver bullet.

Ground clearance is another issue in itself, however. I've often wondered how
often this becomes an issue in Tesla vehicles.

~~~
injb
Yeah good point about ground clearance. We don't get as much snow here as MN,
but probably similar to Chicago. Traction-wise, it's as bad as it gets
anywhere in the US, but I've never had to deal with very deep snow in the M3.

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schintan
Est. 6-year gas savings = - $4,300

This is terribly misleading to include as a discount in "price after est
savings"

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taesu
2pm what timezone? honestly Tesla's web dev's couldn't detect timezone of the
visitor and dynamically change the time? or is it 2pm tmr.

~~~
deanCommie
CNBC claims at 2PM Pacific Time [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/tesla-
suspends-online-orders...](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/tesla-suspends-
online-orders-ahead-of-announcement-redirects-website.html)

~~~
nicoburns
That would be... now. I think. But the website is still showing "soon".

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bsaul
That's Tesla time. "Now", "Soon" and "before the end of next year" means
something entirely different. /s

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elamje
Travis, why does your link url include your name? Is it for tracking or fun or
what?

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pruthvishetty
It's the 35k Model 3, according to Electrek.

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fetus8
The $35k model 3 is live, and is delivering in 2-4 weeks.

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perfmode
Is it smarter to buy with cash or with the loan?

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azhenley
I did the loan option. The Tesla associates were very, very busy and were
incredibly bad about answering any questions about the loan. It was the only
negative part about the buying process. I went to pick up the car (3 hours
away) and they were still changing around my loan details when I arrived.

Negative part of their loan: they refused to cover the tax with the loan,
which has not been my experience through any other car purchase. This means
you must cover the down payment plus full tax amount when you pick up. They
never told me that until the night before I went to pick it up.

If I had to do it again, I would have got a loan through a credit union.

~~~
perfmode
This is helpful.

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whatok
[https://electrek.co/2019/02/28/tesla-model-3-standard-
batter...](https://electrek.co/2019/02/28/tesla-model-3-standard-battery-
interior/)

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Theodores
When is 2 p.m.?

I think that Tesla know enough about UTC and have a slick enough website that
they could get the time right for people outside Silicon Valley, who knows
people in Timbuktu could be part of the grand reveal too.

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chaoticmass
Pacific Time zone is center of the universe, duh.

~~~
octorian
Its only fair, given that everyone else (except Apple) assumes the Eastern
Time zone is the center of the universe :-)

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rdiddly
Gabbo is coming!

2:03 and no indication of anything different on that page, but I can go to the
Model 3 page and click on "Order Now"... is that the thing?

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synaesthesisx
$35K Model 3 + Model Y unveil?

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gravypod
This confused me until I remembered Telsa is likely PST. EST it's 5PM.

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busterarm
Do they hold announcements for when Elon is getting bad press?

"Break in case of stupid use of Twitter."

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techntoke
Prepare to spend at least $1k to reserve your car that will be available in 2+
years.

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whttheuuu
they start delivering in 2 weeks.

