Photo: @niccruzpatane, @WholeMarsBlog via X
When Tesla sales slowed last year, one of the most successful incentives was to allow owners of older vehicles to transfer the FSD license to a new car. Although Elon Musk said this would be a one-time offer, Tesla offered free FSD transfers again in February. Now, the EV maker is again pulling the same demand lever while trying to energize end-of-quarter sales.
Tesla used to impress investors and fans with double-digit sales increases almost every quarter. However, as the company scaled its operations, such massive growth is no longer possible. Tesla appears to have reached its potential, with sales peaking under current economic and market conditions. For legacy companies, this is business as usual, and even a modest sales increase is celebrated with champagne. For Tesla, it's considered a failure, causing investors to sell stock and push the share prices down.
Tesla is still grappling with the new reality, although it doesn't stand still and tries its best to energize sales using various methods. Not advertising, God forbid, this is only appropriate to rally retail investors to vote for Elon Musk's compensation package. Price cuts have also reached their limits, proving inefficient in this regard. Instead, Tesla is trying to boost demand by convincing its user base to upgrade to a new vehicle.
One of the best incentives to achieve that was the free FSD transfer to a new vehicle. People have been reluctant to replace their older Teslas because they didn't want to pay again for the FSD capability. During the Q2 2023 earnings call, Elon Musk agreed to a one-time free FSD transfer, and owners jumped at the opportunity. Despite the one-time claim, Tesla also offered a free FSD transfer in February and is now doing it again. This makes FSD transfer a proper indicator of underwhelming deliveries.
As before, the free FSD transfer can be stacked with other incentives, including the IRA tax credit for qualifying vehicles and buyers. Existing owners would not need to trade in their old cars. As seen on social media, some people have already taken advantage of this offer. Tesla is again placing a time limit (end of August) to give a sense of urgency to those on the fence. However, it's unlikely that people would still believe this is a limited-time offer, considering it's been offered for the third time already.
Judging by the reactions posted online, some Cybertruck owners are tempted to take the offer. Tesla's electric pickup is still unable to run FSD or Autopilot, and some might want to make good use of their "lifetime FSD" offer on another car. This shows that people are fed up with Tesla's inability to launch FSD on their newest vehicle. It begs the question of how it could crack vehicle autonomy and swarm the roads with robotaxis if it's unable to offer even basic Autopilot on the Cybertruck, almost seven months after deliveries started.
Tesla is still grappling with the new reality, although it doesn't stand still and tries its best to energize sales using various methods. Not advertising, God forbid, this is only appropriate to rally retail investors to vote for Elon Musk's compensation package. Price cuts have also reached their limits, proving inefficient in this regard. Instead, Tesla is trying to boost demand by convincing its user base to upgrade to a new vehicle.
One of the best incentives to achieve that was the free FSD transfer to a new vehicle. People have been reluctant to replace their older Teslas because they didn't want to pay again for the FSD capability. During the Q2 2023 earnings call, Elon Musk agreed to a one-time free FSD transfer, and owners jumped at the opportunity. Despite the one-time claim, Tesla also offered a free FSD transfer in February and is now doing it again. This makes FSD transfer a proper indicator of underwhelming deliveries.
As before, the free FSD transfer can be stacked with other incentives, including the IRA tax credit for qualifying vehicles and buyers. Existing owners would not need to trade in their old cars. As seen on social media, some people have already taken advantage of this offer. Tesla is again placing a time limit (end of August) to give a sense of urgency to those on the fence. However, it's unlikely that people would still believe this is a limited-time offer, considering it's been offered for the third time already.
Judging by the reactions posted online, some Cybertruck owners are tempted to take the offer. Tesla's electric pickup is still unable to run FSD or Autopilot, and some might want to make good use of their "lifetime FSD" offer on another car. This shows that people are fed up with Tesla's inability to launch FSD on their newest vehicle. It begs the question of how it could crack vehicle autonomy and swarm the roads with robotaxis if it's unable to offer even basic Autopilot on the Cybertruck, almost seven months after deliveries started.
Some people are already taking advantage of it: https://t.co/QHwuMg9fln pic.twitter.com/4r3xj1Ehnn
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 25, 2024
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