Dear Tesla Leadership,
I am writing this with real respect for everything Tesla has done. You have changed the world with electric cars and pushed hard on self-driving technology. I have been a big supporter for years. I own a 2017 Tesla Model X in Sydney, Australia, and bought the Full Self-Driving package more than six years ago for over ten thousand dollars. I also bought a Model 3 in 2021 and replaced it last year with another one. I am also a TSLA shareholder.
I still believe in the mission. That is why I need to say something important. For early buyers like me, especially on older Model X and S cars that have now ceased production in their RHD versions since 2020, the long wait for Full Self-Driving feels demeaning, devaluing, and humiliating.
Back when we paid for FSD, it was sold as the feature that would let the car handle driving on its own. We accepted the delays because we trusted the plan. Many of us on 2017 cars got the free Hardware 3 upgrade later, and we were grateful. But in Australia right now, newer cars get the full FSD version 14 experience with all the latest improvements first. Older cars are still waiting or getting lighter versions that do not match up. After six or seven years on my Model X, it still does not feel like the complete capability we paid a big premium for. Switching to a Model 3 or Y feels like a downgrade from what the original X offered.
This feels unfair. The flagship Model X and S that many early adopters chose are no longer made the same way. New cars come with better hardware built in and get the newest features first. Early buyers who helped fund the early days are left watching from the side while our discontinued vehicles lag behind. The FSD transfer option has ended. It adds to the sense that we are now seen as legacy owners.
It feels demeaning because early supporters took the biggest risk. We put real money behind the vision when it was new. Now it can seem like our loyalty is not valued the same as new customers who get the latest from day one.
It feels devaluing because the extra money we paid has not given the full benefit we expected. These cars lose value on the used market when buyers know the FSD experience is limited or delayed on older hardware.
It feels humiliating after years of waiting and hearing updates that mostly benefit newer cars. We watch the big progress celebrated while our older vehicles stay behind. Many of us feel overlooked despite being there from the start and sticking with Tesla through multiple purchases and as shareholders.
I am not asking for the impossible. I just ask for fairness:
Give clear and fair upgrade paths for those of us who bought FSD early, with prices that recognize we already paid once.
Offer good ways to move the full value of our FSD to a new Tesla purchase.
Keep pushing improvements for older cars in Australia and be straight about timelines.
Think about some goodwill for the people who have waited the longest.
Tesla has achieved so much. Treating early customers right would show real loyalty back to the people who believed first. I still want Tesla to succeed, including by making good on what brought us in years ago.
Thank you for reading this. I hope you will consider it.
Sincerely,
Adam M.
A Concerned Early Adopter and TSLA Shareholder
Owner of a 2017 Tesla Model X (and multiple Model 3s)
Sydney, Australia
@TeslaAUNZ@Tesla@Tesla_AI@elonmusk@robyndenholm@kimbal@KathleeWT@jgebbia@tomzhu_nz@IraEhrenpreis
@alanhoward@13arm13arm@AusTeslaOwners People who paid to do marketing for free for years and in the end will be left behind. π
Ask anyone from "the originals" about that feeling and experience.
@13arm13arm@techAU@TeslaAUNZ It is a thing we'll never discover, but the best guess as to what they say about us is, "They'll be fine..." and guess what... we are π€¬ fine...