Tesla Roadster reservations are back — with a big deposit

Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian details how pre-orders for the Tesla Roadster are back online, competition in the EV space, and the inflation outlook on EV prices.

Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: Welcome back to "Yahoo Finance Live" everyone. Tesla is reopening reservations for its roadster, the same car model that Tesla CEO Elon Musk allowed to be sent into space. And the price for the deposit alone can exceed the full cost of the mass market Model 3, depending upon what types of upgrades you're getting.

Joining us now with more is Yahoo Finance's automotive and mobility reporter, Pras Subramanian. Pras, help us break this down. Eye popping deposit figure alone.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, Brad. You know, this sort of got new light here after the Giga Texas Rodeo, where Elon confirmed that that new Roadster-- new, I say new, it actually was debuted in 2017. It's actually going to come out in 2023. People noticing on the site that now you can actually go back and reserve this car that, at the time when it came out, cost $200,000, plus $3,000 deposit. And then there's also a $250,000 Founders edition that's no longer available.

So now you can actually come back here, put down that 50K for that car-- I'm sorry, put down $5,000, which is a refundable credit card deposit-- and then on top of that, within 10 days wire $45,000 over to them for a total $50,000. Want to note that we don't really actually know what the actual MSRP for this car is. It's not said on the site. You've just got to put that deposit down and when your time comes up, order that car.

Now you know, this car, like I said, debuted five years ago, right. And it had some pretty cool features. It had air thrusters that allow it to kind of a turbo boost. It could go to zero to 60 in less than two seconds. So a number of really cool things. But at this point in time, it has to be the case that if you're going to actually put money down for this, you kind of have to buy into Elon's vision of the company. And maybe five years ago, you thought about, that company is sort of on thin ice here and there, but now they've exploded in value. Is this car actually going to come out? The Cybertruck was announced in 2019. That hasn't come out yet.

So it's more of a, do you have faith in this company that they're actually going to do this by 2023? It remains to be seen. But if you're betting now on Tesla versus five years ago, I think you have a better case for this car actually coming out.

BRAD SMITH: Yeah. I'm not even booking on the Hotels Tonight deal of the day without seeing where I'm staying, let alone putting down the deposit and not knowing the full MSRP.

So when we think about this more broadly, can the Tesla Roadster retain the title it has amassed previously of most luxurious sports car electric vehicle on the market, now that other competitors have begun unveiling and producing their high cost, high value EV plays?

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: You know, Brad, on paper it's pretty compelling looking product for that potential $200,000-plus price and what you get for it. But you have cars, like we saw the Polestar Precept concept. That's an electric roadster. That looks really compelling. It looks really cool. And also has that, remember the deployable drone that flies out of it. So I'm thinking that it's going to cost around that, if not a little less.

And on the highest end, Brad, you have like the Pininfarina Battista, which is a million dollar-plus EV. You have the Lotus Evija, which is also a million dollar-plus EV. So you have some really high end EVs out there that are going to compete with that Roadster when it actually comes out.

So it's a pretty exciting space to be in. And right now, you don't really have that many sports cars that are EVs. That's really, I think, an exciting space that might actually generate more enthusiasm for EVs in the future.

BRAD SMITH: Pras, want to ask you quickly about the decent news inside the inflation CPI numbers, up dramatically. But cars and trucks down 3.8% in the most recent month. Are we getting close to return to normalization, or is this just a one-off?

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: You know, Brad, I've been watching this figure a lot, the CPI figure on used cars and new cars. And as you mentioned, right, used cars actually dipped. This month, they dipped. The prior month, too, slightly. But year over year, used cars are up 35%, 35.3%. New cars up around 12.5%. So year over year, it's sort of not a good trend, but in the last few months, it has been sort of declining.

We also just saw CarMax put out earnings today. They missed Wall Street estimates. Are we seeing that the values of cars are trying to kind of dip down as Americans sort of balk at wanting to buy these really high priced used cars? Are we seeing a return of supply in that used car market? It's potentially true as people unload what they think are really good investments, saying, hey, this is a good time for me to sell my used car. Do it now. Are we going to see that-- are we finally seeing that surplus of cars come to the market? I think it's still a little too early to say. But the last couple months have been promising, especially in this March CPI report, where we saw prices, what, jump 8%. It's crazy.

BRAD SMITH: Yeah, absolutely. We're going to continue to watch this automotive space very closely. Big week, as well, especially here in New York, where we know the Auto Show is taking place. Pras Subramanian going to be there. Pras, we appreciate the time here this afternoon. Yahoo Finance's own automotive and mobility reporter. Appreciate it.