Tesla offers lease takeover in the US
As the US portal Electrek writes, Tesla has updated its US website on end-of-lease options for the Thanksgiving weekend (see link at the end of the article). According to the new policy, since 27 November, it has been possible to take over all Tesla vehicles at the end of the lease term – except in the states of Iowa and Louisiana. It is also possible to sell them to third-party providers. However, according to Tesla, there is an additional fee of up to 350 US dollars for the buyout.
Leasing is not only popular for electric cars in the US, as many customers see it as a kind of extended test period for the new drive system. If it is not suitable after two or three years, the car can be returned without any residual value risk. However, if a customer is satisfied after the leasing period, they can take over their electric car at used car conditions – with the exception of Tesla. In the US, the car manufacturer removed the buyout option from its leasing contracts with the launch of the Model 3 in April 2019; it then applied to all models in 2022 – previously, it was still possible for the Model S and X. As a result, the lease buyout has not yet been offered at all for the Model Y and Cybertruck in the US.
Tesla explained in 2019: “Please note, customers who choose leasing over owning will not have the option to purchase their car at the end of the lease, because with full autonomy coming in the future via an over-the-air software update, we plan to use those vehicles in the Tesla ride-hailing network. This Robotaxi service has been dubbed the ‘Tesla Network.’
Electrek sees the current decision to offer leasing takeovers in the USA again as a”pullback for Tesla’s autonomous vehicle ambitions.” That is because Tesla is no longer just focussing on its existing vehicles as potential robotaxis, but also unveiled the Cybercab, a special model for such services, in October. However, Elon Musk also said at the ‘We, Robot’ event that the autonomous driving service should be possible with all other Tesla models within two years.
That is precisely where Electrek‘s criticism comes in – because it would mean that a standard three-year lease agreement concluded today would only end after Tesla offers autonomous driving (in two years). “If that’s the case, then starting a lease buyout option for cars leased today wouldn’t make a lot of sense if you’re confident that they could be used as robotaxis in less than three years,” Electrek writes. “So it’s hard to think of this news as anything but a pullback in Tesla’s self-driving plans.”
However, the portal also provides another possible explanation: Tesla wants to finalise numerous leasing deals in the fourth quarter, which should be easier with the prospect of a takeover at the end of the term.
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