Ev-enthusiast, I have to take extreme issue with this. This is not a sad story. This is an *excellent* story. To do anything otherwise would be a horrendously bad decision by Tesla. This is the entire business model. The whole point is to offer features for a standard price, no haggling, no dealer ********, just the price is the price and that's all there is to it. If you are looking for a deal, you have the best deal available. Literally nobody will buy the same car for more than you, you are buying it for the lowest possible price to buy it, because it is impossible for anyone to buy it for anything less. This is not the "Tesla sales guys" doing this, this is the company, it's the entire strategy, it's how the thing works, it's what's allowing the company to remain in business, it's the reason the Tesla experience is better, the reason the car is better than other cars in the price range, and to do anything else would deal a massive blow to Tesla's business, to the brand, to acceptance of electric cars, to Tesla's labor costs (sales people wasting time haggling instead of talking about the cars), etc. etc. etc.
If Tesla starts pulling ******** dealer tactics I will be a very VERY angry shareholder and owner. That Tesla sales guy told you exactly what he should be telling you. The whole point is that the Tesla experience is different. In literally every poll you can find where people rank occupations by trustworthiness, or customer experiences by how pleasant they are, car dealers are at the very bottom. Every single time. Below lawyers, dentists, police officers, mechanics, bankers, marketing executives, everything. Sometimes they barely eke by politicians and lobbyists, but often they are below them. Tesla should distance themselves from that as far as possible and standard pricing is a huge component of that.
If you want a deal, go buy a salvage car. Otherwise you get the same price as everyone else. Which is perfect and exactly how it should be.
