Tesla's cheapest car just became a lot more difficult to buy
- Tesla has made big changes to its Model 3 offerings, the company announced Thursday night.
- The standard range version, the cheapest car Tesla sells, will only be available to purchase in-person at retail stores or by phone.
- Last month, Tesla said it was shifting all sales to online-only and closing many stores.
Tesla is closing many of its retail stores, but if you want to buy the cheapest car the company offers, you'll have to find one that's still open - or hop on the phone.
In a blog post Thursday evening, the electric car maker said it's removing the standard range option for the Model 3, which was announced in February, from its website ordering options.
Despite some high profile store closings in Texas, Washington D.C. and New York, hundreds of Tesla retail locations are still open, according to the company's website.
Tesla is also making big changes to its autopilot program, it said in the blog post. Autopilot, the company's semi-autonomous-driving technology, will become a standard feature as part of an effort to make it less cost-prohibitive.
"We think including Autopilot is very important because our data strongly indicates that the chance of an accident is much lower when Autopilot is enabled," Tesla said
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- Tesla told some $35,000 Model 3 customers they were days away from getting their cars. Now, those customers don't know when their orders will arrive.
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