Tesla mobilizes owners for yet another referral program

By Stephen Edelstein Published June 1, 2016

The Tesla Model 3 may have somewhere north of 300,000 reservations, but Tesla still needs to keep selling its Model S and Model X. So yesterday the company launched its third customer referral program, where buyers referred by an existing Tesla owner, as well as said owner, get a $1,000 credit toward a new Model S or Model X.

The new program runs through July 15. As with previous Tesla referral programs, owners will get a link that the buyers they refer can use when ordering cars online. These referral programs capitalize on Tesla owners’ enthusiasm for the brand, but also incentivize them to nudge friends and relatives into buying new electric cars. In addition to the $1,000 credit, owners can also get some Tesla swag if they refer enough people.

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Two vehicle referrals gets an owner a “Moab Weekender Bag” that matches the interior of their car. Three referrals earn a jacket, and four win an invitation to the opening of Tesla’s battery “Gigafactory” in Nevada July 29, transportation included. For five referrals, owners get a set of 21-inch Arachnid wheels. Each referral also enters the referrer into a drawing for a brand new Model X P90D with Ludicrous mode.

Read more: Tesla gains one million millions of self-driving data every 10 hours

Previous referral-program prizes included a $1,200 credit toward a home charging station, an invite to the Model 3 reveal, and Model X and Model S cars. The programs have worked out pretty well for Tesla so far. In the last program, there were a number of enthusiastic Tesla owners who referred dozens of new customers to the company in order to claim the various prizes.

However, the referral programs have also generated some controversy. Last year, Virginia legislators declared that Tesla had run afoul of state laws prohibiting compensation to people selling cars that aren’t licensed as car dealers. Tesla decided to cut incentives for referring owners in the Old Dominion, and give them to referred customers only.

Tesla has also been challenged over its general sales model, because it sells cars directly to customers through retail stores or its website, rather than through franchised car dealerships. That’s the flip side of doing things differently, but it doesn’t seem to have slowed the company down that much. Tesla now believes it can sell 500,000 electric cars per year by 2018, rather than by 2020 as it originally predicted.

Stephen Edelstein

Former Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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Hertz is selling used Teslas for under $20K, Chevrolet Bolt EVs under $14K

2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently nixed hopes of a regular Tesla model ever selling for $25,000.

But he was talking about new models. For car rental company Hertz, the race to sell used Teslas and other EVs at ever-lower prices is not only still on but accelerating.

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Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say

Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

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Robotaxi aside, a $25,000 EV would be pointless, Tesla CEO says

Blue Tesla Model 3 Highland on the road

Enthusiasts expecting to one day put their hands on the steering wheel of a $25,000 Tesla EV may feel like they’ve been taken for a ride.
CEO Elon Musk has just put a serious damper on those expectations, saying that outside of the driverless Robotaxi recently unveiled by Tesla, a regular $25,000 model would be “pointless” and “silly.”
During a conference call with investors, Musk was asked to clarify whether such a model was in the works.
"Basically, having a regular $25K model is pointless,” Musk said. “It would be silly. It would be completely at odds with what we believe." Tesla, Musk continued, has “been very clear that the future is autonomous.”
On October 10, Tesla unveiled its much-awaited robotaxi, called the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The company also unveiled the Robovan, a much larger autonomous vehicle expected to carry people or goods.
The automaker said the Cybercab is expected to be produced in 2026 and cost $30,000. Musk, meanwhile, said that it would be a $25,000 car without specifying if that price tag included federal tax credits.
Tesla’s ambiguity about an affordable entry-level model has been going on for years. In 2020, Musk signaled that a $25,000 Tesla would arrive within three years. It was later reported that Tesla had ditched the idea, instead favoring the development of a robotaxi.
Language within Tesla’s latest financial report still hints that new affordable Tesla models are on the way. But Musk’s latest comments are putting a floor on just how affordable these would be. So far, Tesla’s Model 3 Rear-Wheel-Drive remains the company’s cheapest model, with a base price of $38,990.
Some rival EV makers, meanwhile, are entering the affordable space more aggressively in the U.S.
General Motors has already put out its Chevy Equinox EV at a price of $27,500, including federal tax credits. Volkswagen America says it plans to release an under-$35,000 EV in the U.S. by 2027.