Elon Musk's new gimmick is online-only sales: the company he founded, Tesla, has finally launched the sedan designed for the mass market, the Model 3, and the visionary manager has decided that starting now sales of the group will come carried out only online, which will allow a saving of 5-6% on costs. No physical contact with the car before the purchase, therefore, but Musk has also thought of this: customers will have a week to change their mind and return the purchased cars if they are not satisfied.
Online-only sales represent a drastic turning point for the company, which until a few months ago was still betting fully on its retail outlets. In June 2017, for example, Elon Musk pledged to increase the number of stores, and in the fourth quarter of 2018, Tesla said it recently opened 27 new stores, bringing the total number of points of sale and service centers to 378. Most of these will inevitably close now. Only a few flagship stores will remain in touristic and highly frequented places in urban centres. “There is no other way to get the expected savings,” admitted Musk who, however, does not expect an immediate impact from the move in the first quarter 2019 accounts.
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“Many things happened in the first quarter – said the founder of Tesla -, we had one-off charges and various problems on the markets of Europe and China. That's why we don't expect to be profitable in the first quarter, but we do in the second quarter." The Model 3, which will finally have to get Tesla out of a niche market, will have a starting price of 35 thousand dollars, and it comes nearly three years after the company started taking orders. To reach a wider audience, the price has been lowered for the third time: up until a few months ago, it still cost $42.900.
The new version, so to speak low cost, has a glass roof, one average distance of 220 miles (354 kilometers), a top speed of 130 miles per hour (209 km per hour) and can go from zero to 60 miles in 5,6 seconds. For $2.000 more, Tesla offers a version with a range of 240 miles (386 kilometers) and a top speed of 140 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour) and options like heated seats.
