[AndroidKitKat]

These cars exist purely to be a rung in the price ladder to get you to spend $5,000 more on a car with actual features. They did the same thing with the RWD Cybertruck and I don't actually believe they ever shipped any before cancelling it.

If people do end up buying these I really hope they know what they are giving up. Something as simple as "seat controls" were deemed too costly and are now driven by software on the touch screen. I used to give the "software defined car" a bit of leeway on some of the omissions / transition to screen, but these cars are the extreme and I wonder if legislators are going to allow this. For example, I checked on the Tesla Japan and Tesla Europe websites and it doesn't look like these are for sale.

[resfirestar]

I don't expect most drivers will miss the seat controls. Tesla syncs your seat settings to your profile, so the main drivers never touch the controls, just the passenger. But that's easy for me to say when I already know what driving one is like, this is yet another thing that makes Teslas and EVs intimidating to someone driving one for the first time. Otherwise it doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice for $5k. I like the glass roof but not that much.

[supportengineer]

>> "intimidating"

Seat controls should be on the seat. That's just logical.

[mikestew]

this is yet another thing that makes Teslas and EVs intimidating to someone driving one for the first time

No, it’s just Teslas. Being an EV does not mean it has to have idiotic control schemes. The Ioniq 5 has sane seat controls, as one counter-example.

[marssaxman]

That's interesting. The other removed features all sound like things I would prefer not to pay for anyway: from the article on The Verge, "front and rear light bars, panoramic glass roof, power mirror folding, the second row display, and puddle lamps" - what even are "puddle lamps," I've never heard of such a thing? But moving even more ordinary, everyday functions into their already-annoying touchscreen would really irritate me.

It's not likely that I would want to buy a Tesla anyway, though; the design ethos is not for me.

[moogly]

Puddle lamps shine light from the bottom of the side mirrors or bottom of the doors to (if they are useful) light up where you put your feet when getting out of the car or (if they are less useful) project your car brand's logo at a much worse position in front of the open door.

[dzhiurgis]

So which of those features you’d pay 5k for? I’m not gonna drop 5k on a radio.

[guywithahat]

They definitely shipped some RWD cybertrucks, there was one on the lot when I bought my Y. Frankly I would have got a cybertruck if I could afford it, and the RWD version had more range and was cheaper, making it desirable in my eyes. I see no reason why moving the seat controls to a screen would deter buyers