What is the likelihood that the first CT deliveries will be the Tri-CT with FSD option enabled?

[GnarlyDudeLive]

Being the profit margins for the FSD equipped CT are way higher being it costs Tesla the same amount to manufacture with or without the option I could see Tesla going this route. What are your thoughts? Being it's going to take some time before they can backfill the Tri CT's I would not be surprised if they do go this route. If they do, good thing I got my FSD back at the $7k price tag on initial order.

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[Blue Steel]

I will be extremely surprised if the first run of CTs are tri-motor. Dual motor has been Tesla's bread and butter. They can make dual motors vehicles in their sleep. They have yet to produce a tri-motor anything aside from a prototype Model S. I think they will stick with what they know at first.

Regarding FSD... I recently was in line to buy a Model Y. People tracking those sales did not notice any sort of bias toward people with FSD. But Tesla can certainly start doing that at any time.

 

[DarinCT]

Being the profit margins for the FSD equipped CT are way higher being it costs Tesla the same amount to manufacture with or without the option I could see Tesla going this route. What are your thoughts?

I would say that tri-motor will come first but for a different reason. I would imagine, a.k.a. pulling this idea out my butt, they would want to verify every component of the assembly line first by making the vehicle that uses all the stations. Make a bunch of those for customers and see if there are any issues, then do a new recipe with less items instead of the other way around. My two cents, which may be what it's worth.

 

[Pilot4hire]

Being the profit margins for the FSD equipped CT are way higher being it costs Tesla the same amount to manufacture with or without the option I could see Tesla going this route. What are your thoughts?

I’m ready for it. I have NO objections in Tesla making a bigger profit, I feel confident they will come up with a Jetson mobile to replace what we think it is the greatest now. I love Aviation, a Jetson fly mobile, would suit me just fine. I used to love the Jetson’s that’s the plan for Elon, and I will do my part to support his (mine also) dream.

 

[Diehard]

There Are other incentives besides financial to get Tri-Motor out as soon as possible. Not that Tesla needs more CT reservations at this point but word of mouth is how they sell cars and first impressions are important. Every car reviewer and their mama has an early reservation. The first YouTube videos that come out judging performance, towing, .... will have impact on existing reservations and new ones. It is obvious that Tri-Motor has more ”I want one of those” Impact.

Of course the extent of my knowledge of manufacturing process is less than a door knob. what I mentioned is just one aspect of potential motivations to go Tri-Motor first. If Tri-Motor uses twice as many batteries and there is shortage of Batteries and motors, Tesla can sell more Trucks going Dual-Motor.

 

[CyberOwl]

Batteries are the bottleneck. The semi hasn't come out because they can make 2-3 Model3s with the same amount of batteries. If 2 Tri's equal 3 Dual's, I would imagine Elon will want more trucks vs. stronger trucks.

 

[Crissa]

Batteries are the bottleneck.

This is the mantra we should all say when Tesla makes a choice. It guides everything they've done in the last five years, from the roll-out of the Model 3 to GigaNevada to the 4680.

-Crissa

 

[jerhenderson]

if my Tri comes later, so be it. My deposit will just be higher.

 

[ajdelange]

My first thought is "Good question!".

Beyond that it is hard to know. A starting out car company often sells the most expensive option first as it returns a premium margin on a higher selling price thus amping up the company's cash position which enables it to expand. But Rivian surprised many of us by offering its middle range trucks before the top model even though polls indicated that 2/3 of people who pre ordered wanted the top end model. The reason they did this is unknown but some think that it is simply because they didn't think they could source the batteries they'd need (the difference in the two trucks is mostly the battery pack size).

Tesla isn't a new company and their cash flow is assured. So we assume that factors like scratching the itch of the largest number of customers possible at first and battery source robustness will come into it. As its probably going to use the new cells and as production for those is ramping now I would guess they will go for the AWD first essentially for the same reason Rivian went for the middle range vehicle first.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

They have already said the Tri- will be first. It makes sense for profits, and also for prestige. If you want to create buzz, you get the most premium model out in the world first, get rappers and sports stars and Kardasians driving it, and get people extra excited that their less expensive model is still a lot like the one the rappers, sports stars and Kardasians drive.

I don't know about the FSD thing, but it's probably a good idea. Additional revenue per vehicle without any additional costs. If Elon's reading this, he's probably already sent an email to move FSD orders to the front of the line.

 

[azjohn]

The Plaid model S is scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2021 and latest speculation is by Q2 2021, so the Tri motor will be perfected by the time CT comes out

 

[Ehninger1212]

They have already said the Tri- will be first. It makes sense for profits, and also for prestige. If you want to create buzz, you get the most premium model out in the world first, get rappers and sports stars and Kardasians driving it, and get people extra excited that their less expensive model is still a lot like the one the rappers, sports stars and Kardasians drive.

I don't know about the FSD thing, but it's probably a good idea. Additional revenue per vehicle without any additional costs. If Elon's reading this, he's probably already sent an email to move FSD orders to the front of the line.

I thought they had only stated the Tri-motor would now come before the single motor? BUt not specifically dual motor or tri motor first. Either way... I cant wait.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

I thought they had only stated the Tri-motor would now come before the single motor? BUt not specifically dual motor or tri motor first. Either way... I cant wait.

I think you're right, I had it in my head they said tri- first, but that was just the headline in articles. The actual articles say tri- and dual- first.

 

[OCS12]

Testing out all the assembly stations won’t have any impact on build order. That all gets done during a production validation build long before any customer vehicles get built. Designing all the automated systems on assembly lines is what I do, so I’ve been through many new product launches.

 

[Alan]

I think you're right, I had it in my head they said tri- first, but that was just the headline in articles. The actual articles say tri- and dual- first.

The cybertruck order page says late 2021 for both dual and tri. Single 2022