PS in addition to the $7500 federal tax credit, see what your state’s incentives are: https://www.teslamotors.com/support/incentives
I was going to page the happy X owner, but he came on his own! 
It is a bummer that it is a tax credit. We no longer itemize, so that $7,500 matters zip to us.
Note the difference betwen a tax credit and a (schedule A) tax deduction.
UCB, the key operating word is “may” = N/A
Anyway, sorry for going off the thread’s topic. Back to the SUV/Van for OP!
BunsenBurner, it is worth $7500 as long as you file a return. You don’t need income, you don’t need a tax liability, it’s like $7500 in your hand. What makes you think it’s NA?
It’s not a deduction. It’s a credit. It’s not a refundable credit, but as long as your tax liability is at least that, you’ll get it. You do, however, need a tax liability and an income that produces that. That’s why we will probably get it in my son’s name. We can keep out income really low this year so wouldn’t have that much liability.
Thanks so much for that @IxnayBob . If I can’t wait for the X, I will definitely look at the Volvo.
@3bm103, right you are; in order to get the full credit, you need a tax liability of $7500.
Any car company that would name a speed option after a joke in the Spaceballs movie is my kind of car company :).
There’s no way I could talk my husband into letting me get Ludicrous Speed; I get into enough trouble with my twin turbos, and I’ve been told never to touch a reciprocating saw again. I have power issues :D.
I think the doors on the Tesla are what I love the most. Next to Ludicrous Speed…
The next enhancement to acceleration will be called “Plaid.”
All kidding aside, the cabin air during a recent trip through the Holland Tunnel (NYC), behind a stinky bus, was wonderful. This car should sell like hot cakes in China and other places with dangerous air quality.
Okay. Now you’re making me want one really badly. Assuming I put a deposit down today, when could I have it.
Also, apparently something is happening Monday:
http://www.modernreaders.com/tesla-launch-model-x-configurator-monday/43701/mark-kesler
@3bm103, what’s happening Monday is that you’ll be able to configure (i.e., select options) a Model X without putting down a deposit. By contrast, I put down my $5k and waited more than 2 years before being able to configure. :))
My guess, if you put a deposit down today, you’d have a car in August/September. A lot depends on particular options (eg, the parts for 5 seat configuration, an afterthought, are later arriving than 6 or 7 seat configuration).
They are saying that with this model is that it likely won’t be available until late next year. Tesla has had problems producing in quality and delays have been pretty common.
@musicprnt , you won’t find a bigger fan of Elon Musk anywhere, but even I’ll admit that his schedules tend to slip. But, once he gets production rolling, it moves along nicely. That’s been the record with Models S and X, and if it weren’t for the spectacular success of the Model 3 deposits, I’d say it would happen with that also. Tesla has 2 production lines now, and a battery factory being built. 325,000 orders for the Model 3 is more than even optimistic Elon would have predicted, so who knows?
I think that the robots for Models S and X are pretty well calibrated now, and I expect them to work through the backlog pretty quickly.
" Tesla has had problems producing in quality and delays have been pretty common."
Respectfully disagree about your statement about lack of quality. That statement sounds like a YSMB post by an individual who lives under the Aurora bridge, because it is misstates the facts. Tesla cares about quality, much more so than other luxury car makers, because a shoddy car design would mean death to a newcomer car maker. Yes, there were delays in getting the X to the market, but I would much rather wait another year than get something that is half-baked. Some of it was not completely within Tesla’s control. The German sub who was supposed to produce the wing door design apparently did not deliver and was dumped by Tesla when it realized that they needed an alternative. The sub is now trying to sue Tesla for not paying it for the “work” - looks like a classic breach of contract case.
And here is my personal anecdotal experience I test-drove both the S (twice) and the X. The cars are ultimate driving machines with top-notch options and are solidly built.
@IxnayBob , thanks, I will try to play and plug the tax credit into my return when I do it next week and see what happens; maybe it is not phased out at a certain AGI like some other tax credits of the past. I would have preferred it structured as a rebate like some states’ incentives and not tied to the income.
My original post had a typo in it, it should have read “producing in quantity”, “not producing in quality” (which kind of is obvious, producing in quality makes no sense in the context). Tesla has had quality problems in production with their early models, but they were not shipped like that, but it was one of the reasons they were delayed, they found problems with batteries, with battery controllers, with suspension components in their early builds and it delayed shipping, and they had trouble, like any car company, with ramping up to volume build as well. It happens with all cars, but unlike the US industry back in the day, they didn’t say “ship them and let the dealers take care of it”. Unlike GM and the rest back then they aren’t working out the bugs as they go and foist them on the poor early buyers.
This new model has a lot of pressure on it, and if they have a backlog of 350,000 orders, it likely is going to be hard for them to produce them that quickly. New cars even with all the technology in the world take a while to ramp up, and this is a brand new model. Plus I suspect that they may have a hard time meeting the price target they are setting, that is another challenge, often when they produce the car, serialize production, they find out that the cost isn’t what they expected, so that may take some work, too.
Realistically, all the trade journals and the auto analysts have said that the new model likely won’t show up until next year in any kind of quantity, so people should be aware this isn’t like order it, and it will be ready to ship in a month or two, it likely won’t. Doesn’t mean it isn’t a great car, I have driven earlier Tesla models and they are beasts, they are fast as hell but also have the suspension, steering and overall handling to handle it (as opposed to the Shelby Cobra 427 I was able to drive many years ago, that thing was just pure scary, no brakes, no suspension, loud, like riding a dragon on acid or something).
@musicprnt, the Model 3 probably won’t show up at all until late 2017, and more likely 2018. The Model X is being delivered, but while I see many Model S around, my X hasn’t seen another X except at the Service Center, where they were being prepped.
Re Shelby Cobra: if it had as large a percentage of its body weight on the floor, who knows how it would have handled?
Re backlog of 350,000 orders: it remains to be seen how many people decide to back out because of any number of factors, and how that number relates to new deposits. Some number of Model X depositors canceled for a variety of reasons (for some reason, folding second row seats, which were announced at the reveal but not a production feature, were a big deal).
" (which kind of is obvious, producing in quality makes no sense in the context)."
Of course it makes no sense grammatically, but since we are all at the mercy of autocorrect and tiny phone screens, I figured that your sentence must have been Siri-cised. 
So using the canons of message board post interpretations, I applied the “plain language” approach. Sure, the quantity of production lagged, but that is a better problem to have than dealing with quality issues. When the new battery factory is complete, things should get back on track.
Re: Model 3 cancellations, I expect the % of cancellations of X preorders to be higher simply because of some controversial features like the door design.
Would some Model 3 preorders cancel while they wait as they see their neighbors buying Chevrolet Bolts? (200 mile range EV due late this year, not the same as the Volt)
^^It might depend on how badly someone will need the tax breaks, too. Tesla is on track to sell its 200,000 cars before the bulk of Model 3 preorders will be shipped, so the credits might evaporate faster than most folks expect.
Exactly. A $7,500 credit isn’t as big a deal to someone buying an $80,000-$120,000 car than it would be to someone buying a $35,000 car…
We were discussing this at dinner tonight. Where do you get service for a Tesla if the nearest dealer is 6 hours away?