Tesla Pretended To “Break the Wheel” By Selling Direct, But Instead Stole Legacy Dealers’ Playbook

Tesla's latest advertisement sent to my inbox was an eye-opener. I’ve been writing for a decade about how Tesla’s direct retail model is not all it’s cracked up to be, but this one advertisement from Tesla neatly sums up how Tesla’s sales tactics mimic the same old dealer playbook. 

The latest sales promotions that Tesla is advertising are as follows:

• $0 Due at Delivery
• Low Promotional APRs
• Promotional Prices That “Expire” on the Last Day of the Selling Quarter
• Special Pricing That Requires Financing
• Four-figure discounts on New Vehicles (with miles as low as 12)

Let’s unpack what this is all about. As we have reported in prior stories, Tesla abandoned its principles and began offering new vehicle discounts long ago. I myself have been offered discounts on new Tesla vehicles (not demos), and you can see discounts of many thousands of dollars on new Teslas if you view the Tesla inventory page. For example, a Model S with 12 miles on the odometer with a $6,029 discount off the sticker price. This is not an obscure Tesla model in an odd location. Rather, it is available as this story is written at the Tesla dealer nearest me in Dedham Mass.

Discounts are now coupled with “zero down” deals and special low financing rates. So, to summarize, cash on the dash, nothing due at signing, and a low, low finance rate. What are we forgetting that the legacy dealers use to bring in the buyers? Oh, yes, the deal must be done by the end of the business quarter to help pump the numbers up. We’ll worry about next quarter when it comes, right?

We’ve also noticed that in some states, Tesla’s retail locations are called “dealers” by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. So far as giving them special plates with DEALER written right on them. In Massachusetts, Tesla even benefits from the sales tax carve-out for official car dealers. 

We’ve compared the ratings of legacy brands’ dealers to Tesla on many occasions, and we were not surprised to find that Tesla ranked lower or about the same on consumer reviews. Tesla’s new sales tactics, developed by legacy car dealers long ago, seem to indicate that Tesla is fine with being counted among them as a peer. 

Image of Tesla dealer and Tesla Model Y with dealer plate by John Goreham. 

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John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work at our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.