Zoomi Life

Tesla Motors has announced price increases to various options and other changes to the still undelivered 2008 Tesla Roadster. These price increases affect all Roadster orders, including those which were already “locked in” (they’ve now been unlocked).

While they recently announced an array of high-end upgrades and options, including the new Sport model, other changes are not so customer-friendly. CEO Elon Musk promised that Tesla would be cash flow positive by this summer and apparently part of that plan is to hit up the early adopters of the Roadster for extra cash.

Not surprisingly, there has been a fair amount of customer backlash on this. Orders that had “locked in” have had their orders unlocked and been asked to reselect their options. Those locked-in orders were orders which has been placed, had a deposit put down, and all options chosen so that Tesla could begin production of the vehicle for delivery.

Changes include a raise in price for several options, including audio system upgrades. Other features that were standard, such as the wheels always shown on the models, are now optional with a different, cheaper wheel being standard. The wheels now cost an extra $3,000 $2,300 to upgrade. The charging cable that was standard for high-powered home chargers is now an expensive add-on ($3,000), which is in addition to the Tesla Motors home charging unit that’s already a high-dollar option.

Many prospective owners who pre-ordered the 2008 model and have waited over two years for its release (after a 14-month delay, even) are now getting phone calls telling them that they’re no longer locked-in and will need to re-choose their options and pay more money. The increase applies to all orders for cars whose VIN is 210 or higher. Many of these customers have already deposited $30-$50,000 for their cars and are understandably unhappy about this.

The base vehicle price has not changed ($92,000 for the 2008, raised to $109,000 for the ‘09). Small price increases like $500 for metallic paint, $1,000 for premium paint, $25 for floor mats, and $1,000 for the “destination charge” (delivery) are just some of the increases which are likely to lead to customer backlash and perhaps lawsuits over breach of contract.

Commentary on the Tesla Motor Club website forums shows that most customers there are very unhappy with some claiming to cancel their orders and go elsewhere for their EV. Many are angry that they’ve put up tens of thousands of dollars to get the company off the ground in exchange for early delivery and locked-in pricing only to find out that Tesla is reneging on their end of the bargain.

Tesla is currently working on a production run of about 390 units to fill these orders. For their part, they are saying that the base model price for these early adopters has not changed, only the options. Tesla proponents are saying that if the customer really wants to keep their original price, they have only to get the options after-market.

Slim condolence, I say.   Were I an early adopter, I would be pulling out now and finding something else. Tesla is definitely not doing much to boost their customer satisfaction rating or build a reputable name for themselves.  We’ll continue to monitor how lawsuits over this pan out, as I’m sure they’re coming–several early adopters are lawyers, after all.

Sources: 1, 2