Problem is that they've made a mockery of the reservation system. Many people have waited over 2 years, and now if you have deep pockets for a performance version, you might be able to shoot up near the front of the list and get yours sooner rather than later.
It's very offensive. I pre-ordered the Oculus Rift VR headset back in like 2016; I got an email in May that my order (from 6 months prior) was delayed until June, and that day, I read that headsets were now available for direct purchase on Amazon. So they had the nerve to make them available to the masses before they shipped out all of their pre-orders. I understand the business reasons for doing it, but it felt like a slap in the face, having put my money down half a year prior so that I could lock my place in for early delivery, and then they tell me my order is delayed, and yet I can get it shipped free in 2 days off Prime if I ordered that same day. Travesty! I ended up canceling my order & went with their competitor (HTC Vive) & have been very happy with it (especially because it turned out to be a better system, haha). Granted, with Tesla, there was no clearly-defined delivery date, but still, I can feel their pain.
It's been reported elsewhere that customers who aren't financing (i.e. paying cash) have gotten immediate gratification. This happened with one of my friends. Although he bought a RWD version (well-optioned) which isn't necessarily at the top of Tesla's production list, they got delivery within 2 weeks flat. Now perhaps he was near the top of the list anyway, but this seems a little too coincidental.
I'd imagine this is true. It would make sense from a business perspective...plenty of people out there with cash to burn who want the latest toy & are willing to fully fund it up-front.
We all understand there is geographical prioritization at hand (i.e. no exports). We understand you have no chance of getting a base model $35k delivery this calendar year. Although supposedly they are still using the reservations list to determine final delivery time, how does anyone believe them? For whatever reasons, they are clearly making a cash play now. This has been widely reported as Elon Musk's drive to hit a net profit for Q3, but it seems like it goes beyond that. This is just my un-professional opinion but it seems like they are pulling out all the stops to avoid having another round of capital raising in 2018. Throw in the fact that they laid off 11% of their workforce a month ago, and it all ties together IMO.
Yeah, they have to do what's best for the business, which means raking in cash so they can get over their production hump. One of my friends specifically put the reservation fee down on pre-order day (a couple years ago now?) for the $35k base model, and is still waiting for his car. He doesn't want FSD or AWD or the long-range battery, as he has an 80-mile EV now, he just likes the aesthetics & wants the base model as an upgrade over his current electric car. So he's stuck waiting probably until 2019 to get his base model, even though he was one of the early reservation holders.
Finally, all this is a moot point if they don't continue to ramp up production within the next few quarters anyway.
Yeah, I'd imagine they'll get to full production capacity by EOY. Personally, I want a compact Model Y SUV with FSD, but I'd imagine that's at least two years away (official announcement for the MY is in March of 2019), and I definitely don't want an early Model 3 while they're rushing to get things out the door, nor do I want to beta-test Autopilot (re: slamming into parked vehicles & guardrails & gore points, which results in hurting & killing people). Plus the smart air suspension option supposedly comes out next year for the Model 3, so I'm curious to see how goes.
Also, I'd be shocked if they released FSD (way) before Waymo does.
I'm very interested to see what they actually release in August. Musk's tweet on FSD in August ("With V9, we will begin to enable full self-driving features") can be interpreted as pretty vague, and really, FSD would be an
enormous announcement if true, and given that they've had car after car slam into parked vehicles & static road points, I don't know if they're really, truly, actually ready to release FSD yet. As much of a Tesla fanboy as I am, I'm more than happy to let other people do the beta-testing on the AP stuff, lol.