SAN FRANCISCO — If you're in the market for a long-range electric car, you've got until Wednesday to take advantage of a $1,000 referral credit to buy a new Tesla.
Existing owners who referred prospective buyers to Tesla are still granted a range of thank-you gifts. But new buyers lured to the brand by a referral from a current owner have just a few days left to take advantage of a credit toward their purchase.
That $1,000 referral purchase credit is valid for anyone placing a Tesla order by day's end on Halloween. One perk to those who procrastinate and buy a Tesla after the deadline remains intact: Use of the company's roadside Superchargers for quick range-extending battery fillups for life.
The electric automaker reiterated the upcoming changes in a blog post that also outlines what's in it for referring owners.
For those referring one or two new buyers, those gifts include a Tesla wall connector for car charging or an electric toy Tesla for children. Anyone sending three customers Tesla's way gets sport wheels or one week with a Model S or X.
At the five-buyer referral level, a Tesla owner get an invite for two to Tesla's next big product unveiling.
Next on that list should be a Los Angeles demo of the company's self-driving semi truck, whose debut was pushed off to Nov. 16 after CEO Elon Musk noted that the company's priority was getting out of "production hell" on its pivotal new entry-level sedan, the Model 3.
The Model 3, which starts at the mass-market price of $35,000, is considered critical to vaulting Tesla from being a niche 100,000-unit-a-year automaker that loses money on every car into a mass-market EV player pumping out around 500,000 vehicles a year.
Beyond the production line issues, Tesla also has been dismissing employees for what it describes as performance reasons. Reports indicate that between Tesla and SolarCity, the company has let go hundreds of workers, which it says it plans to replace.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/10/27/tesla-1-000-car-purchase-credit-go-poof/807481001/
