Believe it or not, it costs nearly $2,000 for Tesla->ke1842 to sell a 2015 Tesla Model S out of any one of its showrooms. Online sales inevitably come at a much lower price, so Tesla has decided to pass on the savings from online sales on to its customers through an experimental referral program. Current Model S->ke3329 owners can hand out a referral link to any of their friends. If a sale is generated through the link, the current owner and new customer get a $1,000 credit toward a new Model S. If the current owner isn’t looking to purchase a new Model S, he can use the credit toward service or accessories for the one he already owns. So, what if you have more than one friend interested in buying a Tesla? Well, if you have five or 10, the incentives get even better.

Any Model S owner who generates five online sales through his referral link gets a tour of Tesla’s Gigafactory, and 10 referrals gets him a $20,000 credit toward a Founder’s Series Model X.->ke4202 The program doesn’t stop there either. The first owner in each region to hit 10 successful referrals gets a brand new, fully-loaded 2016 Tesla Model X for free. Currently, the referral program is set to expire on October 31, 2015, but if it is successful, Musk may continue the program and potentially extend it to used models as well.

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Why it matters

Back in March of 2015 we published a review of the Model X concept. In that review, we suggested that the X might be priced similarly to the Model S. If our estimates are correct, that means the regional incentive is worth somewhere around $115,000. That’s a pretty big incentive assuming you own a Tesla and have 10 friends with the desire to roll on battery power. There is no telling how well the program will work out for Tesla, but a similar experiment worked well for Paypal prior to the turn of the millennium.

In my opinion, Musk has the right Idea. I tend to rely on the word of those I trust over what a salesman tells me any day. Tesla might be a rather small company now, but I don’t think it will be forever. The upcoming 2017 Tesla Model 3 should be priced at less than $40,000, and if it has the same range as the Model S, it will be a viable alternative to vehicles like the Honda Civic->ke236 or Toyota Camry.->ke246 If Tesla hurries up, they can even combat the 2016 Toyota Mirai or Honda->ke34 FCV, considering the current price and availability of hydrogen.

2016 Tesla Model X

You can check our speculative review here.