Tesla’s dealership model relies heavily on a CarMax-style no-haggling policy: you pay list price, and in return you get 0-60 in two and a half seconds. But according to some reports, Tesla is very quietly offering discounts to get older inventory out the door. If you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on a Model S P90D, a $30,000 discount could be the difference maker.
Electrek reports that since Tesla unveiled the Model S P100D, taking the crown as the “Quickest Production Car in the World” in the process, there are some P90Ds left in inventory surplus to requirements.
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Discounts are not officially available, but Tesla is apparently trying to shift cars that are left in inventory, but have options that no longer fit with the Tesla lineup. Vehicles in inventory are generally either repair loaners or demo cars. The biggest discount seems to be on P90Ds with the $10,000 Ludicrous battery upgrade, which is no longer available for order on Tesla’s site.
The Ludicrous upgrade enables the insane acceleration that’s made the Model S famous, but since the P100D is Tesla’s new fastest flagship, it makes sense that the Ludicrous option is no more for the mid-tier P90D. Tesla needs to move the specced-out P90Ds to make way for P100Ds on Tesla’s lot. As a result, some customers claim they’ve been offered up to a $30,000 discount on the vehicle, which can reach $130,000 with options.
A separate report says that one-off discounts on the P90D aren’t the only quiet offers from Tesla dealers right now. Customers with Model X orders in the pipeline are apparently being called with an offer to change to the seven-seat configuration and air suspension for half price, giving an upgrade worth about $7,000 for $3,000 instead. The theory goes that either there’s a slowdown in Tesla’s supply for cars with the five-seat configuration, or Tesla is hustling to get orders in faster for better sales figures this quarter.
Either way, one thing is clear: Tesla’s no-haggle, one sticker price policy isn’t quite as firm as it first seemed.
