Wen | Shan Shang, author | Jiang Shui, editor | Zhang Wen
On April 22, ten years ago, Tesla began the first batch of deliveries in China. Musk flew in from the United States and handed the keys to the first batch of Model S owners. Most of the first car owners were rich or expensive. Later, some of them began to build cars, such as Li Xiang and Lei Jun.
At that time, the penetration rate of new energy in China's automobile market was only 0.32% - this figure has become 50% in the first two weeks of April just now - most of the new car making forces that you are familiar with have not yet been established. BYD only sold 370000 cars a year, which is about the sales level of the current month.
Also in that year, Musk put forward the plan to build a Tesla factory in China. Five years later, the construction of Tesla Shanghai Super Factory began. Last year, the capacity of Shanghai's super factory accounted for more than half of Tesla's global capacity.
Li Xiang had not founded the predecessor of the ideal car, "Car and Home". He claimed to be a hybrid of the Internet and the automotive industry. When he heard that Tesla was going to enter the Chinese market, he was "thrilled" and paid a deposit at the end of 2013. After collecting the car, he wrote a long article to share his experience of driving the Model S. The conclusion is that the handling of the car is of a million levels and the interior of the car is of a hundred thousand levels.
More people feel shocked. Tesla has laid a solid foundation for what an electric vehicle should look like, with a clean dashboard, a huge screen, and a smooth car engine system - now almost all electric vehicles have not jumped out of this paradigm. A Tesla owner in 2015 said that switching from BMW 5-Series to Model S "is almost like changing from Nokia to iPhone."
At that time, being able to buy a Tesla was more worth showing off than driving the founding version of Xiaomi SU7 Max this year. Some people even bought a car for the sake of "the first owner's face".
China Economic Weekly reported a car owner in Inner Mongolia at that time. Because Tesla had given priority to ensuring car owners in Beijing and Shanghai to pick up their cars in the early days, non local car owners thought that they were discriminated by regions and that "the first batch of car owners that had been agreed were gone". He angrily followed Luo Yonghao's example and smashed the car with a hammer on the day of delivery. After smashing the car, he paid Tesla more than 9000 yuan for repair and drove the car from Beijing to Inner Mongolia.
A Beijing car owner who bought Model S in 2014 described to On the Mountain that he was driving on the road at that time, "the heat was not lower than Xiaomi SU7", and he would be asked wherever he went. Some people rent his car for activities. "That thing is so expensive. I can use it as an exhibition car. It costs 10000 yuan a day
He often wandered around Beijing and Tianjin, because the tram didn't have enough endurance in places too far away. He received a lot of strange activities, either a real estate opening, or a shampoo company rented his car to send gifts to customers, "anyway, they always contact me." For a while, he posted the car in bright red, "the kind of red with a special mirror", along with opening up the wedding market, many people rent his car as a wedding car, "there are also four or five thousand".
Model S has sold for 734000 yuan since its initial entry into China, and it will cost about one million yuan if it is fully equipped, plus VAT and insurance. Some people bought Tesla with the mentality of buying luxury cars. But actually Tesla's service is as clean as the car's interior.
An owner of both Tesla and Porsche Cayenne said that her Model S once broke down and had to be taken for after-sales maintenance. She was very angry and called to complain. Your Tesla is so cheap now, but I spent 1.2 million to buy it. How many cars can I buy now, but I still can't pick up and send them off, "I have bought a Porsche for many years, and people have a shuttle service for maintenance and repair." Tesla later provided her with a shuttle service.
Now Model S is only a fraction of Tesla's overall sales - last year Tesla sold 1.81 million cars, and the domestic Model 3/Y with a price of more than 200000 accounted for 1.74 million. From this perspective, Tesla's first car owners and current car owners are two different groups, even though the car they bought 10 years ago with a million yuan is worth only 100000 yuan.
The above-mentioned owner who bought Tesla in 2015 said that when Tesla's domestic Model 3 was just launched, he received a phone call from Tesla's official salesperson asking whether he would like to replace his Model S with Model 3. He was very angry, "You XX can't curse me, this car is getting worse and worse, right? Or your official call me to let me buy your lower level car."
On the morning of April 22, Tesla officially sent a microblog to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Tesla's entry into China, "Ten years ago today, we handed the key to the flagship car race Model S to 15 consumers who are leading the times; ten years later today, we are serving more than 1.7 million Tesla Chinese car owners." Tesla has done a good job in localization, The copywriting is quite popular in the current style of online ancient novels. "Being humble and prosperous, you have honor; when you are born at the right time, you should shoulder the heavy responsibility", which also counts as following the customs in the countryside.
But now Tesla's sales are different. Its two main models, Model 3/Y, were released five years ago at the latest, and their configuration and performance are no longer the best in the industry. At present, the most popular thing for Chinese car companies in the press conference is to compare with Model 3/Y. At the Xiaomi car press conference, Lei Jun had to fill a whole wall of PPT, and Xiaomi SU7 was significantly ahead of Model 3.
In the first three months of this year, Tesla's quarterly delivery fell for the first time in 15 quarters on a year-on-year basis. The global delivery of 386810 vehicles was far lower than analysts' expectations of 449080 vehicles, which was the first time that Tesla's quarterly delivery fell below 400000 vehicles since the third quarter of 2022.
In the 2023 annual financial report released at the beginning of the year, Tesla rarely gave sales guidance this year, only emphasizing that the growth rate of automobile sales in 2024 would be significantly reduced. "We are between two growth waves."
On April 15, Tesla announced a 10% global layoff to employees. Musk said, "In order to reduce costs and improve productivity, it is extremely important to review all aspects of the company." Two core executives of Tesla, Drew Baglio and Rohan Patel, also announced their departure on the same day. One of them has worked in Tesla for 18 years.
But don't be surprised, Tesla's layoff is as rapid as the company's car price adjustment. An employee working in Tesla China told Mountain that he arrived at the company at 8 a.m. and informed the company of layoff at 9 a.m. The communication process lasted only 10 minutes, but he arrived home at 12 a.m.
The following is the story of several Tesla Model S owners and a Tesla used car dealer.
01 The heat is not lower than that of Xiaomi SU7. Ten years ago, the daily rental income was 10000 yuan
The first batch of car owners in Beijing, male
I am one of the earliest Tesla owners in Beijing. I made the decision in March 2014 and picked up the car in June. The opportunity to buy Tesla was that I was curious. At that time, I didn't see electric cars on the road. In addition, the online publicity, including the price, was quite appropriate.
After the first batch of Internet tycoons ordered cars, I went to the exhibition hall of Qiaofu Fangcao to see the cars. By the time I delivered it, it seemed that there was no ceremony, and the first wave of delivery was over. But to be honest, I didn't know who had bought it and who hadn't. I was just interested in this car.
I bought the Model S, which is a blue brand. At the moment, I am driving it. Later, I bought many more cars. This model has depreciated a lot and I am reluctant to sell it. The first batch of Tesla Model X bought later is also a blue card, which is also the first batch in 16 years. I bought Alpha for the fuel car and XC620 for Volvo. In 2002, I bought the ideal L9. I was also the first owner of the ideal L9.
I must have been in a very good mood when I bought Tesla. At that time, the popularity of Model S was not lower than that of Xiaomi SU7. When I drive on the road, people often ask me about car washing and where to go. Then someone will do an activity and ask me to be an exhibition car for them. That thing is very expensive. I will be an exhibition car for people one day, 10000 yuan a day, and three days a day.
I did earn some money, but not much. I remember that I was contacted by a company, similar to a public relations company. Anyway, they always contact me. The low price is 7000 or 8000 yuan. I remember that many of them went there. At that time, it was mainly the activities in Beijing and Tianjin, most of which were real estate opening or office building sales. No matter how far away my tram might be, it was really inconvenient. Another time was to do activities for P&G, the one who sold shampoo. They also rented my car to deliver products to customers.
In 2015, I pasted my car in electroplated red, which is the kind of red with a special mirror. After that, many people found me wanting to rent a car as a wedding car, which cost me four or five thousand yuan at a time, and I rented it several times.
However, after Tesla released Model X in 2016, there was little enthusiasm and no one rented a car anymore.
You may also see that I often sigh on the Internet. Ten years later, my Tesla is still a 3G network, which seems to be the product of the last century. The car machine is also particularly stuck, but I can accept it because it was the most advanced car at that time when I contacted this thing 10 years ago.
The performance of the Model S is OK. It is a little better than the 10 year old fuel vehicles. There is no power decline. I changed the battery once, and it was replaced free of charge during the warranty period, so now I am even more reluctant to sell this car.
Tesla is still a benchmark enterprise in electric vehicles, just like Apple's iPhone in the mobile phone market. You can see that all the press conferences of domestic trams now compare Model 3/Y, which is easy to understand. When everyone compares it, it is the industry benchmark. Even if it charges 400V, it is not as good as the current domestic 800V. The domestic refrigerator color TV sofa, including all the confusing functions, is still the benchmark. Just like Apple, I am the industry benchmark if you like to use it or not.
02 It was agreed that it was a luxury car, but why did it become a street car?
The first batch of car owners in Jiangxi, female
I bought the first batch of Model S in 2014, 1.07 million yuan, and the total amount of tax insurance is about 1.2 million yuan. Unlike Mercedes Benz and BMW, Tesla doesn't cost much. It costs as much as it should.
I ordered the car in Beijing and picked it up in Shanghai. I waited a long time for delivery. I made a decision at the end of 2013, but I didn't say that I would have to wait for 9 months. Later, when I asked, people from Tesla told me that the car had been delivered from the United States, but it would take three or four months to go by sea. Finally, I went to Shanghai to pick up the car. The delivery ceremony was very simple, that is, I gave the key to the car and let it go after a brief explanation.
Order photos provided by respondents
I said in the little red book that I was "leek", to be honest, it was because the feeling of use was not so ideal. For example, the car is out of warranty now. If the battery breaks, it will cost a lot of money to repair it. We spent twenty-five thousand to repair it years ago, but now it's broken again, and it's estimated to cost tens of thousands more. These hidden maintenance costs are very high. Now many people say that electric vehicles can save fuel. I don't think it can save much. In addition to the battery loss and maintenance costs, it may not be much different from oil vehicles.
I thought about selling this car, but you spent more than 1 million when you bought it, and now it is estimated to be worth about 100000 yuan. It's boring. If you don't sell it, it's still a million yuan car. You'd better stay and drive it yourself. At that time, we still paid in full, no mortgage. If I bought a Cayenne at that time and put it on now, would it be more than 100000 yuan? In addition, we don't drive much. Up to now, it's only 60000 kilometers. The car condition is still very new.
It's not worth thinking about. At the beginning of Tesla's introduction to China, it was said that it was a luxury car, and the number of landing cars was 1 million. The later Model X was cheaper, and the total number was more than 1 million. At that time, I thought Tesla was a luxury car. As a result, Model 3 came out later, and it became a brand of bad street, not a luxury car at all. Sometimes I feel boring when driving.
If I could go back 10 years, I would not choose Tesla. Ten years ago, there were fewer trams, and even fewer people could spend 1 million yuan to buy a tram. Tesla just entered China at that time. This car is in single digits in our whole Jiangxi Province. It has a good turning back rate on the street. When I was driving out, many people took photos with my car on the road.
Later, when Model 3 came into China, the car was one size smaller than Model S, and the initial price was also very expensive, about 500000 yuan. But later, the domestic Model 3 was listed, and RMB 230000 was landed. When I first came out, I felt a little lost. It was very unpleasant. I said it was a luxury car, but now it's a street car?
In the future, I may not think about the Tesla brand. The sense of use is not so good, and after-sales is not so good. Like our first group of car owners, there is basically no one behind them. They manage themselves.
Last year, I drove my car to have it repaired, and after that they asked me to pick up the car myself. I'm very unhappy. I'm one of the first car owners. Why hasn't there been a shuttle service yet? I have bought Cayenne at Porsche for many years, and people who maintain and repair the car have the service of picking up and seeing off the car.
I was very angry and called the 400 after-sales service. I said that Tesla is so cheap now, but more than 10 years ago I spent 1.2 million yuan to buy a tram. How many cars do 120 Magnum buy now? My car is broken. I didn't mean to ask you to deliver it to me. Why is it not reasonable to deliver it back? And my car doesn't break down every day, or 10 times a year. Later, they solved the problem for me.
The service provided by Porsche was OK. They would give more details to the car owners. They would also call us frequently to ask what the problems were with the car and would call us when upgrading it.
03 Can't you curse me for changing the car worse and worse?
The second batch of car owners in Beijing, male
I bought the Tesla Model S in 2015, which should be the second batch. It's still early. I made a decision in July 2015 and picked up the car in October. I haven't replaced it until now. I'm still driving.
A total of 800000 yuan was bought. In 2015, when I just went to work, my family said to buy a car. Tesla had just entered China. Just in time, a friend of my mother had just bought a car and said it was good. We also had a test drive. I felt it was really good. What about this thing? Maybe you don't feel anything now, but think about the shock and acceleration of the switch when you got into this car 10 years ago and saw such a large screen.
But Tesla is not all good, because it does have some quality problems, just like you buy the first generation electronic products. What's more, Tesla's concept of making cars is how to be simple. There are more or less small bugs in the design and workmanship. After a long time, there are some small problems.
Tesla's after-sales service is even worse. I have Mercedes Benz, BMW and Lexus cars at home. Tesla's after-sales service is totally different from these brands. However, this car was sold so expensive and advertised as a luxury car brand. At first, the after-sales service couldn't keep up. This doesn't mean that it can't keep up with the world, and China alone can't, do you know?
For example, before we had a car friend whose car often had a black screen, many people went to change the screen, but it cost more than 10000 yuan to change such a screen. Later, I gradually learned that in the United States, this is a bug designed by it. To put it bluntly, the memory is full. You only need to change one memory, and it is officially free of charge. But in China, this is not the case. In China, the screen is black, and you have to change the screen yourself, which costs more than 10000 yuan. Later, we didn't like it. X, don't you treat it differently?
Everyone spends so much money to buy a car. You can't make the after-sales service in the United States different from that in China. Tesla may also be aware of this, and later gave it a free change. Previously, the money paid for the change was also refunded.
I love and hate this car. I like this car because it really saves a lot of maintenance fees and is easy to drive. However, its later maintenance costs are relatively high, and those parts are very expensive to repair. Anyway, it has some small problems. I think it's acceptable. For example, the door handle can't pop out when you use it. After a long time, the car parts city outside also has these parts, also acceptable. In addition, its after-sales service is also very ordinary, especially when compared with my Lexus. The service of my X Japanese car is very good, and Tesla is no match at all.
Their marketing also has problems. When Model 3 first came out, it might not sell for a while, and the salesperson called me. (Tesla Sales) Just ask me, sir, we have a discount on Model 3. Do you consider selling your Model S to buy Model 3?
I'm very upset about this, TMD, you can't curse me, this car is getting worse and worse, right? Then your officials called me to ask me to buy your lower level car. I had to sell the car and pay more money to buy it. I X, what's this? I really can't accept it. Later, when more people scolded, Tesla would not make such calls.
I don't think about changing to another brand of tram for the time being. We can have a look at the domestic trams, but I may say that it is either because of face or because of anything. To tell the truth, just like you used to drive a BMW 7 Series, suddenly you changed to a BMW 3 Series, and your friends around will surely feel that your family has fallen in the past two years? Or what happened at home. But now the domestic tram is really good. I have a friend who ordered Krypton. I can try it after he picks up the car.
Later, the price of the new car continued to fall. To be honest, it didn't have much impact. Maybe I felt uncomfortable. Who would like to say that the new car beep beep beep beep ground just bought was reduced by 200000 yuan? But to put it bluntly, the people who could buy this car 10 years ago were at least middle-class, right? Everyone also abides by the spirit of contract and can only laugh at themselves.
I can't say that it is getting lower and lower. Maybe Musk's focus is not on Tesla, but on his rockets. In fact, the news of brake failure is quite nonsense. Someone must have deliberately hacked it. The attitude of our old car owners is that the car itself is a good car, but this brand doesn't feel as big as it just entered the Chinese market. Just like Land Rover and Jaguar, the price of the car has been reduced since it was first brought up. It's self depreciating.
Whether Tesla is preserving its value or not, I think it's like chicken ribs. It's a pity to abandon it if it's tasteless. Now my Model S sells more than 100000 yuan. What kind of car can you buy? I can't even buy millet. I have to add more than 100000 yuan to buy it back. But if you buy a millet, it will definitely be better than the old model of Tesla. I don't think so.
However, although Lei Jun is good at marketing and imitating others, at least his company will not collapse suddenly. People with so much cash flow will not die at least for a while. Unlike Jia Yueting, he finally ran away after a row. I don't think Lei Jun can do such a thing.
Whether Weilai, Xiaopeng or Jikrypton, it is estimated that the three electric systems of these cars can not be better than Tesla. Because all domestic cars learn from Tesla, in fact, because its patents are open, but only a scratch can be learned, including the motor. Why is Tesla's front spare box large? Because its motor is very small, its motor is basically equivalent to a watermelon, normal watermelon, very small. But look at other electric vehicles, some of them may not even have a front spare box, Or the front spare box is very small, and only one backpack can be placed. Because its motor is not small, it occupies a large space in the front.
So I said that Tesla is still very powerful in terms of technology. After all, people are engaged in rockets, right? They can casually reverse study these things and put them on the car.
04 Ten years ago, Model S sold for more than 1 million yuan, and now it is used for 120000 yuan
Shenzhen used car dealer, male, sold Tesla for 4 years
I started working on Tesla used cars in 2020. Relatively speaking, Tesla is the best hedge in the tram, which is higher than the hedge rate of Weixiaoli.
I mainly work on Model S and Model X. They used to sell more than 1 million yuan, but now they sell for 3 to 4 million yuan, and the second-hand market is only 2 to 3 million yuan. The 2014 Model S is the first generation Tesla, and its configuration is relatively old. From today's perspective, its price is relatively low. At that time, it sold for 1 million yuan, but now it only sells for over 100000 yuan.
So many old generation Tesla owners haven't changed their cars. For example, in Shenzhen, blue brand Tesla Model S is very common on the road, and most of them are first generation car owners. This year, I also received several of the earliest Model S. Not long ago, I sold one, 120000 yuan, and the original owner replaced it with a Weilai.
Because it is cheap, the 2014 Model S is also easy to sell. Some young people prefer an older car like this, just like people used to play with fuel cars. Some people just like the medieval classics.
There are no problems with these cars. They are just a little outdated for the new models, but there are no problems with the mechanical performance. They can still be used, except for the software. 10 years ago, the performance of the car is still much better than that of other brands on the market, and the mechanical quality is better than that of many new cars.
For the first generation of Model S, I will select some cars that are in good condition. Model S has been sold until 2020 before the change. I just received the imported Model 3 in 2019. At that time, there was no domestic Tesla, so I had to pay purchase tax. The original owner spent 520000 yuan to buy it, but now it sells more than 150000 yuan. This owner doesn't feel particularly disadvantaged. After he sold the car, he has now ordered a new Model 3. He still feels that Tesla is worth buying, and that Tesla is the only option.
The price of Tesla's used cars is relatively volatile, and has not been stable since 2020. It is normal for Tesla to lose money. I lost a lot of money. Sometimes a Model 3 can lose 100000 yuan. This is normal. You received the imported model 3 in 2019. After half a year, the domestic model 3 will come out, and the price of imported cars will depreciate.
At that time, the business was relatively cold. It was normal that we could not find a customer for a month. When business really gets better and everyone starts to accept trams, it will start from 2021. To be more precise, since the launch of Model 3 of lithium iron phosphate battery in October 2020, it has dropped to 249900, and the market has become hot.
However, compared with the whole market, Tesla's second-hand cars are still small businesses with low profits. In addition, this is a heavy asset industry. If I collect all the money and sell it at retail, I will earn a price difference in the middle.
Compared with last year, the market situation at the beginning of this year is much worse. People have more choices. Even BYD, a mainstream brand, can't sell. The whole market is like this. Compared with previous years, new energy vehicles at all prices can't be sold.
We have sold more than 30 cars this month. Here we collect and sell together, but last month we sold more than ten cars, which is far from enough. This year's market is far from good. In previous years, for example, in 2023, I would sell more than 20 cars every month.
I have tried other brands in recent years, but finally I only made Tesla. Because other brands are more difficult to make money, it is very easy to lose money. I have been Xiaopeng, Weilai and Idealist, but it is not easy. Relatively speaking, the ideal may be better. Before the launch of the ideal L series, I made the ideal ONE. The sales volume of the ideal ONE was very good, and most of the time I made money.
Weilai and Xiaopeng have a lot to do with their new cars, and the continued decline of new car sales will also affect second-hand cars. Comparatively speaking, Tesla is more stable and its volume is very large. In fact, if you look at the volume of Ideal, Xiaopeng and Weilai in Shenzhen, it is far from Model 3/Y.
