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Elon's demand "secret weapon" ...what is it?

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I'll repeat my idea from the release thread: rental.

Do a deal with a national rental company to make Teslas available for rent at reasonable cost, and voila, test drives available, no need for special event permits.

Or, an alternative: Tesla Test-drive Taxis. Tesla makes Model Ss available as taxis. But when you hire the cab, you can opt to drive it yourself.

Or: long-term rental. They don't sell you the car, you rent it long-term. Buy option available.
 
Yes, I heard that, Steve. My scribbled notes say "...secret weapon on demand side...may deploy this year....weapon against the dealers".

I'm at a loss, though, as to what it could be.
 
I'll repeat my idea from the release thread: rental.

Do a deal with a national rental company to make Teslas available for rent at reasonable cost, and voila, test drives available, no need for special event permits.

The economics just don't work out to have "cheap rental" and "Model S" in the same sentence. Plus, as great as the MS is, it is not a great rental car.

Remember, he said..."everyone pays full retail...no one gets a break."
 
The economics just don't work out to have "cheap rental" and "Model S" in the same sentence. Plus, as great as the MS is, it is not a great rental car.

Remember, he said..."everyone pays full retail...no one gets a break."

I didn't say cheap, I said reasonable. Rental companies want to make money on the rental, Tesla just wants you to buy the car. Demo discount is 1% per month + $1/mile, right? Then rent out the Model S for 0.05%/day + $1/mi. Want to rent a base S60? It's $35/day + $1/mi.

EDIT: Hands up anyone here who doesn't own a Tesla and wouldn't take up that offer.
 
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Evangelical Owner Recognition/Award

A program to better harness current owners evangelical promotion of Tesla to prospective owners. Solar City I think pays $ 50 bucks or something if they help sign up a new homeowner. I don't think small cash payments will (or should be) the major incentive, but I am sure they can come up with something good that will motivate (more superchargers based on local sales overall or from current owner referrals).
 
I'll repeat my idea from the release thread: rental.

Do a deal with a national rental company to make Teslas available for rent at reasonable cost, and voila, test drives available, no need for special event permits.

Or, an alternative: Tesla Test-drive Taxis. Tesla makes Model Ss available as taxis. But when you hire the cab, you can opt to drive it yourself.

Or: long-term rental. They don't sell you the car, you rent it long-term. Buy option available.

I like this guess... but like everyone else I'm reallllly hoping for a larger battery too.
 
Concerning referrals, we discussed this at length last year. The problem is that you will be deputizing thousands of potentially clumsy "salesmen" who might use the very same high-pressure tactics that Tesla is trying to distance themselves from. And if the owners don't give the hard sell, then that is the "sales force" they have currently without a kickback program. Its nothing but risk for TM.
 
Ah. About that CPO program...

Tesla Motors Pre-Owned LLC. They only sell used cars. Plenty of used cars around. Come and take one for a test drive.

By the way, says the salesperson, there's a company called Tesla Motors LLC in California. Their cars are all new. A bit better than this one. If you want a new one, you can buy one from them. Let me bring up the website on the center console...
 
I think its going to have something to do with the model S being used as excess energy storage and feeding energy back into the grid when that software update rolls out I see Tesla working a deal with utilities to give credits to owners essentially having the car pay for itself.
 
I think its going to have something to do with the model S being used as excess energy storage and feeding energy back into the grid when that software update rolls out I see Tesla working a deal with utilities to give credits to owners essentially having the car pay for itself.

I don't see that as a way to create demand. It might actually lower demand as you could never count on a fully charged car if the electric utility decides to drain your car. Also people will worry about the extra cycles that the battery would get.
 
...Elon mentions a demand "secret weapon" that he plans to deploy this year...

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