Did Tesla Change this Again? (P85D - Ludicrous Offer)

Well, that's a nice price reduction if it holds, but frankly $5000 is still too much for a 0.2 second improvement in the 0-60mph range. What I and I believe most P85D owners are hoping for is additional acceleration in the 50-90mph range, and it's not clear that this upgrade provides much if anything in that range for current P85D owners.

Yep, looks like they did.

Gone is the $2500.00 labor cost.

But I agree that 5 grand is still steep for 0.2 seconds improvement in 0-60 times AND quarter mile time. If it does improve mid range performance though, it might be worth it to me.

Much, much better.

I don't know when my X will be delivered, and I feel like the Ludicrous Mode update will be good for resale value. So I think I'm gonna go for it.

I'm beginning to think that there weren't very many takers at $7,500.00.

Especially after the wording in the first description of this item changed to include the 0.2 seconds improvement in 0-60 AND quarter mile times.

It certainly appears to be a price cut. The original page in the on-line store said "Final Price: $7500", so the two prices appear to be on the same basis. Demand must have fallen off a cliff after they hedged on performance. I put my deposit down right after the offer first appeared and before they changed the specs. My $500 deposit is a sunk cost: hopefully others will have the modification done and report the how well it works before the company calls me up to spend the additional $4500. It would be nice if the company would have been a little more forthcoming throughout this whole process.

I would be very surprised if the initial motivation for Tesla was the extra $2,500 they might get out of the (maybe) 100-150 P85D owners for whom the $2,500 was *the* deciding factor *not* to upgrade. I'll speculate that it's still going to be $5,000 + labor, whatever labor turns out to be. If it's zero so be it. I feel like the main point of Ludicrous was to appease recent P85D owners who would have gone for the P90DL, had they been given the choice. IMO, the upgrade is less about revenue and more about customer satisfaction and public relations.

Strange.

So does this mean that the Ludicrous upgrade is $2500.00 and the labor is still $2500.00?

Or is Ludicrous $5,000.00 and they're just going to eat the labor?

P85DEE said:

Strange.

So does this mean that the Ludicrous upgrade is $2500.00 and the labor is still $2500.00?

Or is Ludicrous $5,000.00 and they're just going to eat the labor?

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If you ask me, (and you did, if perhaps only subconsciously) they *should* eat the labor. The early buzz was that the upgrade would be half the cost of the ludicrous option for P90DLs. Obviously adding such an option to a P90D order would not result in any additional labor charges. Thus, to fit neatly within the "half of" construct labor should be at no charge for the P85D upgrade. Then again, mechanics gotta eat too, so I'll understand if they have to charge something for labor.

If indeed it's true that the fancy new computer controlled fuse is being installed on all cars then the surcharge for Ludicrous is ludicrous.

I understand that one should pay for the increased performance but typically such an increase is due to an increase in the cost of the vehicle.

I'm already paying the "P" premium for Performance.

yo mama said:

I'll speculate that it's still going to be $5,000 + labor, whatever labor turns out to be. If it's zero so be it.

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The original offer page (which I saved) says 'Final Price: $7500'. Elsewhere they broke it down into $5k parts, $2.5k labor. The latest offer says 'Final Price: $5000' in the same place and the same font. Having put the new price in writing that way, adding back a labor charge would leave them with an even worse customer satisfaction disaster than the change in specs has caused. $5,000 had better be the final inclusive price.

yo mama said:

I feel like the main point of Ludicrous was to appease recent P85D owners who would have gone for the P90DL, had they been given the choice. IMO, the upgrade is less about revenue and more about customer satisfaction and public relations.

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That is what I would like to think and I hope you're right. If they really are trying to do right by the customer, then that raises hope the performance will be a bit better than their hedged specs imply.

This is much better. Looking forward to feedback from one of you upgraders.

Rumor has it that Tesla found a simpler way to install the new HW (fuse etc.), thus the reduction in price - mainly work hours.

Hookmaker said:

Rumor has it that Tesla found a simpler way to install the new HW (fuse etc.), thus the reduction in price - mainly work hours.

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It would really be "nice" if Tesla sent an e-mail to ALL of us that paid the $500 deposit if/when ANYTHING is changed in the terms of the agreement.

For now, I'll stick with the word "nice" though I think something stronger is really appropriate.

tstafford said:

I agree. The Ludicrous upgrade thing has been a classic case of Tesla communication. We've known about the upgrade since July, no one has been scheduled yet, we have put down a deposit, we don't really know what it will cost or what it will do. Amazing actually.

Edit: Oh and we also don't know where it will be done.

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I could add, and believe me, it's all that I can do to keep from doing so, but because there are those who would use our comments elsewhere, and for their own agendas, I'll continue to temper my own remarks about this whole matter as best I can and would ask others to do the same, if they can.

I will echo what has been said before and unanswered: how can a 10% increase in power improve the 0-60 time and not the quarter mile time? I wrote to Tesla and asked this question and got the same quote from the webpage. I am at least a little more tempted to have it done than I was before. Still haven't put down my deposit. But maybe I should live up to the license plate that I have on the car!

tstafford said:

I agree. The Ludicrous upgrade thing has been a classic case of Tesla communication. We've known about the upgrade since July, no one has been scheduled yet, we have put down a deposit, we don't really know what it will cost or what it will do. Amazing actually.

Edit: Oh and we also don't know where it will be done.

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Tesla in Dania Beach, Florida has already upgraded one of the test drive or loaner cars they have there. I as there when someone came back with it and he was down for trading in his Sig if they could find the right color.

Cyclone said:

Tesla in Dania Beach, Florida has already upgraded one of the test drive or loaner cars they have there. I as there when someone came back with it and he was down for trading in his Sig if they could find the right color.

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Seems Ludicrous, if true for more than a handful of cars. They've taken deposits from customers and are choosing to upgrade test drive / loaner cars first? Weird prioritization choice.

Perhaps they were treating the vehicle as a "guinea pig" to make sure they do the surgery properly, without risking a customer's car.

brianman said:

Seems Ludicrous, if true for more than a handful of cars. They've taken deposits from customers and are choosing to upgrade test drive / loaner cars first? Weird prioritization choice.

Perhaps they were treating the vehicle as a "guinea pig" to make sure they do the surgery properly, without risking a customer's car.

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The latter was likely. I asked because I didn't see any cars underlined out there and they said they had applied it, by didn't have the underline in stock to add it yet. So it quite likely was a training scenario. But that would mean Dania Beach is likely to be a service center that does the upgrades.