Tesla owners lash out at Elon Musk after he slashes car prices

[dalton99a]

https://fortune.com/2023/01/13/tesla-price-cut-elon-musk-owners-resale-value-2023/

Tesla owners lash out at Elon Musk after he slashes car prices by thousands of dollars: ‘I feel like I got duped’
BY David Welch and Sean O'Kane
January 13, 2023, 4:01 PM CST

Marianne Simmons, a self-professed “Tesla fan girl,” bought her second electric vehicle from the company in September: a white, high-performance Model Y ringing in at more than $77,000. Then the company slashed prices on Thursday and she realized she could have bought the same car today at $13,000 less.

“I feel like I got duped. I feel like a got taken advantage of as a consumer,” said Simmons, 32, a web designer in Naples, Florida. “Right off the bat, I’m out $13,306. It’s such a large reduction that it’s going to affect a lot of people who just bought a vehicle.”

Jack Bradham, a cloud services developer in Charlotte, North Carolina, said he’s miffed that the black Model Y long-range edition vehicle he bought in December has been devalued.

Bradham, 46, said in a phone interview that he ordered the car late last year and said he was told he’d have to wait until January to get it. Then he got a call on Dec. 10 from Tesla sales saying he could get a car around Christmas. He said he was excited for the early delivery and agreed to buy the $69,000 EV.

Now, he said, he should have waited because he may have gotten the discount if he took delivery in January; the same car now costs $12,000 less.

...

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Oh, womp womp, Marianne-baby. You lie w/Musky you get up w/fleas. And less money.

[bullwinkle428]

2. Can we technically refer to this as a "FIRE SALE"?

[MLAA]

6. Oh my!

[Shermann]

3. This is mostly about the $55,000 MSRP limit to qualify for the 2023 clean vehicle tax credit

The Model Y was over the limit, but not by much. Musk just had to sharpen his pencil.

[tinrobot]

12. And because the Model Y is no longer classified as an "SUV"

It's basically a tall hatchback, and is now classified as such.

[NoRethugFriends]

4. cry me a River

[TheBlackAdder]

19. Oops! That's a year of car payment equity buildup flushed down the drain.

[Takket]

5. sucks for them but hardly earth shattering

if you can afford a $77000 vehicle i doubt a $12000 value reduction is going to ruin your life.

though i certainly understand why the circumstances of that reduction are upsetting. not due to some global economic downturn that can't be helped, but rather the fact that the company's owner has been exposed as a idiotic megalomaniac because of his irresponsible activities with a social media company that have tanked consumer confidence in his car company.

[dalton99a]

8. +1

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-12-28/tesla-elon-musk-twitter-conservative-environment-electric-vehicles
https://archive.ph/vRBYG

I bought a Tesla to help the environment. Now, I’m embarrassed to drive it
By John Blumenthal
Dec. 28, 2022 3:02 AM PT

...

Because of the recent revelation of Elon Musk’s political views — all of which I abhor — I’m starting to worry about what sort of political statement the car is making. Will people see me as a symbol of right-wing environmentalism, a living oxymoron?

When I bought the car, I had no real opinion on Musk’s somewhat clouded political beliefs. Now that Musk has apparently swung to the far right — banning journalists from Twitter while reinstating neo-Nazis — I’m horrified to be associated with his brand whenever I drive anywhere.

What is Musk up to with this acquisition and destruction of Twitter? Publicity? Political power? It’s certainly not a financial strategy. If there’s one demographic that is unlikely to buy a Tesla, it’s the climate change deniers and anti-science voices he’s been cozying up to.

Musk has turned Twitter into an unsupervised playground for neo-Nazis and other random hatemongers and wackadoodle QAnon followers, embraced everything Trumpian and responded tepidly to Kanye West’s outrageous flirtation with Hitler. As if all that weren’t enough, Musk’s heartless treatment of his Twitter employees — a pre-Christmas firing with no severance pay — was downright Dickensian.

...

[The Revolution]

14. Yep

If I saw a Tesla several years ago, I would think "Cool! A Tesla!"

I saw one the other day and the first unconscious thought that entered my head was "what an asshole."

[gratuitous]

7. Another Pleasant Valley Sunday here in status symbol land

Now Marianne and Jack will have to leave the overpriced sale sticker on their vehicles so that nobody mistakes them for the proles driving the cheaper models. Shame on Num Skole!

[TheBlackAdder]

20. The ones who might break even are those who lease as their residual will be higher.

.

I'm sure the disposition fee will penalize anyone who refuses to lease a subsequent vehicle.

.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

9. Musky to his fan base: F U.

[dembotoz]

10. hope you like the car because with the price cut you are gonna be upside down for a long time

and if it gets totaled your insurance company is gonna laugh at your balance to pay off the loan

[madville]

17. Definitely should add GAP insurance on their policy

So their policy will cover the difference between the value and the loan amount.

[tinrobot]

11. Anyone paying attention would know Teslas were overpriced.

Obviously, this "fan girl" was not paying attention and paid a premium for her fandom.

Thankfully, those paying attention have been moving to other, less expensive, brands. Tesla finally adjusted prices to compete.

[AkFemDem]

13. I bought a house once...

And the market dropped considerably months later. Probably could have negotiated down a good $20k if I’d waited. I should sue my realtor!

[hatrack]

16. Exactly! I bought some box wine last week for $16.95, and this week it's $11.95!!!

I'm suing Safeway as soon as, uh, as soon as my lawyer returns my voicemail.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

15. Who is surprised by this?

[Demovictory9]

18. Not me. Part of drop in value is due to musk making people.hate him