Tesla is considering giving away Full Self-Driving for free as part of the referral program

Elon Musk says that he is considering giving away Tesla’s Full Self-Driving upgrade package for free as part of the owner’s referral program.

Tesla and Musk have often noted that the referral program is one of the company’s biggest tools for demand generation.

However, Tesla ended the original referral program back in February citing concerns with the cost.

As we previously reported, it resulted in Tesla having to give away over 80 new Roadsters for free and give discounts on many more.

In March, Tesla brought back the referral program to win a Model Y or a Roadster signed by Musk, but under a different structure.

Instead of giving rewards based on how many referrals an owner accumulates, Tesla is now giving 1,000 miles of free Supercharging to both the owner giving the referral and the new buyer receiving the referral.

The referrer also gets a chance (two if you already have unlimited Supercharging) to win cars that Tesla will give out monthly (Model Y) and quarterly (Roadster).

While the program has been ongoing for months now, Tesla hasn’t announced any winners yet.

Now Musk is considering adding a new incentive for owners to refer people: the full self-driving package.

The CEO made the comment on Twitter following the suggestion from an owner:

Will consider

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2019

Tesla recently changed the pricing of the Full Self-Driving package (again) and it is now $6,000 whether owners order it before or after delivery.

At 10 referrals, it would make the referral incentive much more valuable than 10,000 miles of free Supercharging.

Electrek’s Take

The current program has flaws. For the many owners who already have free Supercharging, the incentives are not clear.

All they get is a chance to win a Model Y or Roadster, but Tesla doesn’t seem to be promoting that or announcing any winners. A different incentive could make a difference.

However, I think that would go against Tesla’s goal to reduce the cost of the referral program – though the cost would still likely be much lower than the previous version of the program.

Also, it has the same problem as Supercharging since many owners have already paid for the Full Self-Driving package and Tesla would have to find an alternative.

What do you think? Are you for Tesla adding free Full Self-Driving as a referral award? Let us know in the comment section below.

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