Once price to rule them all. Or, um, something like that.
Tesla today detailed a desire to make a car’s purchase price all-inclusive. For buyers, this means bundled insurance and maintenance as long as you own the car. It’s an outside-the-box plan, but one Tesla is already working on with its Asian customers. Customers in Asia are now offered a pricing package that covers common expenses of car ownership. And the plan is to start offering the same package across all markets in the future.
Tesla VP of Global Investor Relations Jeff Evanson explains:
We’ve been doing it quietly, but in Asia in particular where we started this, now the majority of Tesla cars are sold with an insurance product that is customized to Tesla, that takes into account not only the Autopilot safety features but also the maintenance costs of the car. It’s our vision in the future that we’ll be able to offer a single price for the car, maintenance and insurance in a really compelling offering for the consumer. And we’re currently doing that today.
The insurance, Evanson notes, isn’t an attempt to exclude insurance providers. Although the company has looked into underwriting policies in-house, it intends to leave the heavy lifting to insurance companies, at least for now.
Tesla believes the safety record of its vehicles leaves the company uniquely positioned to offer this type of pricing package. Time will tell whether others follow suit, but I think it’s safe to say we’re all rooting for the program’s success.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.