Did you like the new Tesla Roadster so much that you
want one of the first ones in 2020? That’ll be US$ 250,000 up front, like right
now, thank you very much. Tesla has
opened the reservation books for both the Roadster and the Semi truck but
unlike the Model 3 pre-order scheme, the deposits are understandably larger.
Pre-order reservations for the new Tesla Semi are
available now for a US$ 5,000 deposit, with Musk saying that production will start
in less than two years.
As for the new Roadster, the deposit rises to US$ 50,000. Nothing strange here, we’ve seen a lot of sports cars and supercars
demanding a hefty deposit in order to get you in front of the line but that’s
where Tesla is going a different route.
Tesla quotes US$ 200,000 for the base version of the
new Roadster, where the US$ 50k deposit applies; if you truly want one of the
first examples on the road in 2020, you’ll have to opt for the special
‘Founder’s Edition’ version which is applied for the first 1,000 Roadsters. The
cost for that one is US$ 250,000 but securing one means paying Tesla upfront the
full price of the car right now.
Some might say that Tesla’s move to ask for the
whole US$ 250k for a car that theoretically will arrive in three years at best is
a bit of a stretch, especially since the company has made a reputation of
missing its targets consistently. Other might argue that this will be basically
a free, zero-interest loan to a company that burns cash at an alarming rate.
After all, if Tesla does sell all 1,000 Founder’s Edition Roadsters, it’ll be a US$ 250 million capital raise for the company.
With the company currently struggling to kickstart
mass production of the Model 3 -essentially the most crucial of their models-
the new cash flow coming from the deposits of their two new models could be
used towards solving some of their "production bottlenecks" while the
hype of the two new models might drive once again the value of the company up
in the stock market.
