Report: Tesla sold leased vehicles for more money as robotaxi network never materialized
Back in 2019, Tesla enacted a strange policy: you could lease a Tesla, but at the end of the lease you couldn’t buy it like you could with most other cars. The reason CEO Elon Musk gave was that the electric vehicle company needed those cars to serve as robotaxis.
“You don’t have the option of buying it at the end of the lease. We want them back,” Musk said at the time, saying the robotaxi network would have more than a million vehicles in operation the following year, in 2020.
Of course, six years later, Tesla has yet to offer a single paid robotaxi ride to the public. It’s unclear if the company will finally launch next month as promised, since it’s also not clear if it’s begun testing the service without someone in the driver’s seat.
In the meantime, Reuters reports the company has been flipping the leased cars it took back, adding software upgrades and selling them for more money than it would have made from the original lessees. Amid a slow rollout of 10 to 20 vehicles slated for Austin next month and slowing demand, the company began letting lessees buy their cars last November, like every other automaker.
Of course, six years later, Tesla has yet to offer a single paid robotaxi ride to the public. It’s unclear if the company will finally launch next month as promised, since it’s also not clear if it’s begun testing the service without someone in the driver’s seat.
In the meantime, Reuters reports the company has been flipping the leased cars it took back, adding software upgrades and selling them for more money than it would have made from the original lessees. Amid a slow rollout of 10 to 20 vehicles slated for Austin next month and slowing demand, the company began letting lessees buy their cars last November, like every other automaker.
