Latest from Tesla Motors in my mail tonight:
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Sales & Marketing Update
From Darryl Siry, SVP Global Sales, Marketing & Service
Hello. I wanted to write to provide our customers with sales, marketing and service updates for the Tesla Roadster. I will cover the following topics:
Customer deliveries
Powertrain 1.5 switchover
2010 model year pricing and availability
Limited availability of 2008 model year Roadsters
Customer Deliveries
These are exciting times for Tesla as we begin delivering cars to customers. The process of signing papers to finalize a sale is oddly similar to a traditional car company sales transaction – with some distinctions, given Tesla’s unique position in the industry.
For example, by law we must print out your final bill of sale on a long, carbon copy form, and we even have to use an old dot-matrix printer for the job. It’s a strange thing to hear the printer spitting out ink – it’s such a throwback to a different decade -- but I’ve grown to like the sound: It means we’re delivering yet another car.
Then there is the “Monroney Label,” the prominently displayed, black and white window sticker with fuel efficiency data. The label’s format is prescribed by law, so ours looks pretty familiar, but with a Tesla twist: Where you normally see “miles per gallon,” our label specifies “kilowatt hours per 100 miles.”
Seeing this is quite a novelty for our customers. But we’ve grown comfortable with our newfangled label and the entire sales process, having delivered 27 Roadsters so far. It’s great we’ve had time to practice because we are about to increase the pace of deliveries significantly. In total, over 50 vehicles have been started on the line and the number is about to accelerate.
Powertrain 1.5
In our press release on Tuesday, we shared some great news. Our announcement to the media intentionally avoided the jargon we have come to know as “powertrain 1.5,” but the gist of it is simple: We have completed the transition to the new setup and will be inserting the new powertrain as planned into our production process. With that milestone achieved, our production rate has increased to 10 cars per week and will continue to increase in the coming months.
The new transmission, which will be manufactured by BorgWarner Inc., is durable, reliable and extremely efficient. The most recent mileage test on the EPA combined cycle yielded a result of 244 miles on a single charge -- a 10% improvement over the last test with the previous drivetrain.
The driving experience is vastly better. With about 30% higher torque on a single gear ratio, it feels like taking off in a rocket. You keep waiting for the torque to run out -- but it doesn’t. Just last week I had a journalist in the car and he kept saying, “I keep waiting for the shift!”
To be blunt, the latest Roadster is superior in every way to its predecessor, and our team of engineers did an extraordinary job in a very short time. If you loved the Roadster before, you’ll be blown away with the new setup.
2010 Roadster Pricing and Availability
With a small number of production slots remaining for the 2009 model year, we have started planning for the switchover to the 2010 model year. Our plan is to switch in the fall of 2009, as is customary. As a result, our 2009 model year run will be limited to a maximum of 600 units, similar to our production run for the 2008 model year. (The actual number may be smaller depending on the precise date we cut over to the 2010 model year.)
Base price for the 2010 model year will increase to $119,000 from the current base price of $109,000. This price change will be effective immediately for reservations taken after we have filled all remaining 2009 production slots. We have been going through the process of offering 3Q09 production slots to our waitlist customers to give them priority access to these remaining slots at the 2009 price, then the slots will be offered on a first come, first serve basis until the end of the 2009 model year production run.
If you have been considering reserving a 2009 Tesla Roadster, please contact your sales consultant soon or visit the reserve page on www.teslamotors.com.
Special Availability of 2008 Model Year Roadsters
As we ramp up production and increase deliveries to our 2008 model year customers, we will offer a limited number of 2008 model year production slots. We know that many people appreciate the historic significance of the 2008 Roadster and want to purchase and take delivery as soon as possible. However, we are still limiting the total production of 2008 model year vehicles to 600.
These slots will sell at a base price of $125,000, reflecting strong demand for the first model year. The slots currently being made available will be added to the end of the current list of reserved 2008 Roadster customers, currently scheduled for March production, but will have the 2008 model year VIN designation.
We will allocate these slots on a first come, first served basis. If you are interested in this offer, please contact Doreen Allen, National Sales Manager, at doreen@teslamotors.com or 650- 413-6231.
In closing, we are all very excited that we have cars on the road, the enhanced powertrain entering production, and our production rate increasing. I am also hard at work on establishing showrooms in New York, Miami, Chicago and Seattle, but I will provide an update on that separately. I encourage you to visit the owners’ forum on the Tesla website and keep an eye out for more news on our progress as we deliver cars to customers.
Thanks,
Darryl Siry
SVP Global Sales, Marketing & Service
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