Tesla plans to deploy fully-loaded P100Ds as loaner vehicles in all service centers

When asked by analysts why the company’s inventory of finished vehicles increased last quarter, Tesla President of Global Sales and Service Jon McNeil said yesterday that it could be explained by adding ~1,000 Model X test drive vehicles to the company’s fleet.

Furthermore, CEO Elon Musk added that Tesla is also growing its fleet of loaner vehicles and owners will be happy to learn that they will all be Tesla’s top-of-the-line P100D vehicles.

It’s still a program that they are deploying and as owners know, Tesla’s loaners are not always available when bringing their car in for service.

But Musk says it should be in place in “a few months”:

“Yes. And in fact, this will take us a few months to fully deploy, but our policy for service loaners is that the service loaner fleet will be the very best version of a Tesla that is available. So if you have a Model X that comes in for service, the service loaner you will get will be the absolute fully loaded state-of-the-art P100D Ludicrous, best Model X that we have. The same for the Model S. So it will be the kind of thing where you hope that service takes a long time because you have the absolute top-of-the-line Tesla as a service loaner.”

While it should make the service experience better for owners, it’s also an excellent sale tactic for Tesla since it will give them an opportunity to promote an upgrade to their latest models.

The Model S P100D and Model X P100D are significantly more expensive than their “non-performance” (P) counterparts, but they offer supercar-like acceleration – 0 to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds for the Model S.

McNeill also added that Tesla plans to increase the service loaner fleet proportionally with the increase in quarterly deliveries.

The 1,000 new Model X test vehicles were a one-time addition to the company’s inventory and Tesla generally cycles those vehicles with new ones, but the loaners fleet will keep growing with the global fleet.

Additionally, Tesla is adding over 100 retail, delivery and service locations around the world by the end of the year. Those new locations will also need new inventory for both test drives and loaners.