The primary massive nugget of stories from as we speak’s quarterly Tesla convention name is that Tesla will lastly permit Tesla house owners who’ve a automobile with Full Self Driving (FSD) to switch that to a brand new Tesla buy — however it is a one-time supply, so act shortly! Let me clarify. …

Traditionally, in case you purchase a Tesla and purchase the Full Self Driving (FSD) software program suite, that FSD buy sticks with the automobile, not the proprietor. So, in case you promote the automobile, the brand new proprietor will get FSD with the automobile. Nonetheless, in case you then go and purchase one other Tesla, you need to pay for FSD anew.

This has little doubt dampened gross sales, particularly since FSD has gone up in value an amazing deal previously few years. I purchased our Tesla Mannequin 3 in August 2019, and I purchased the FSD bundle for $6,000. It now prices $15,000 to get FSD. Shopping for a brand new automobile with the identical software program would thus value me an additional $9,000 simply to maintain that FSD software program.

Individuals have been wanting superior Autopilot and FSD packages to stay with the proprietor for years — like, virtually a decade. For individuals who assume this ought to be a everlasting coverage, sadly, it received’t. Nonetheless, for some motive or one other, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has determined to permit house owners with FSD to commerce of their Tesla and get one other one with FSD at no extra value for one time solely — within the third quarter (present quarter) of 2023. And, to be clear, so long as you place the order within the third quarter, you’re good. (Although, I’d be cautious about making any modifications to that order after the third quarter.)

Tesla Full Self Driving in motion. Picture by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica.

However why? Why is Tesla lastly providing this? And why for simply this one time? Properly, one clue could also be in Musk calling this a form of one-time “amnesty” supply. The definition of amnesty is: “a basic pardon for offenses, particularly political offenses, in opposition to a authorities, typically granted earlier than any trial or conviction.” Is that the precise phrase right here? Properly, maybe what Musk is acknowledging is that he made a number of claims about FSD reaching robotaxi functionality a lot prior to it has (it nonetheless isn’t robotaxi succesful), and he made these claims for a number of years. After I purchased my Mannequin 3 in mid-2019, it was purported to be “characteristic full” by way of robotaxi functionality by the tip of the 12 months. It wasn’t even near characteristic full by the tip of the 12 months. Many individuals who purchased FSD anticipating eventual robotaxi functionality have already offered or crashed their automobiles. Others, like me, could have thought-about or be contemplating buying and selling of their Tesla for a brand new one, however don’t wish to take a $9,000 haircut to get the nonetheless very imperfect FSD suite once more. So, maybe this one-time supply is a form of apology and concession for years of delay on FSD targets.

One other chance, in all probability one that enhances my earlier concept, is that Tesla is searching for methods to stimulate extra gross sales. The corporate has been making value cuts loads this 12 months, and as we speculated beforehand and confirmed just some minutes in the past, Tesla stock has gone up this 12 months whereas the order backlog has shrunk. Is Tesla dealing with a requirement problem? Who is aware of, however permitting many early Tesla consumers to commerce of their Teslas and get new ones with out having to pay one other $9,000 ($15,000 minus the $6,000 or so we now have already paid) for a similar FSD software program ought to spur a number of trade-ins and new automobile purchases.

This was actually the shock of the quarterly Tesla convention name, and people are my ideas on it. Did I miss something or misunderstanding something on this matter?

(Facet be aware: Prepare for the entire Tesla house owners who traded of their automobiles with FSD previously few months to rise in uproar and never getting included on this new deal.)

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