Passionate motorist, Thierry Meurgues thought he had fully embraced electromobility in 2020 by adopting a Model 3 Performance. Disappointed by Tesla’s lack of loyalty and concerned about market instability, he returned to a gasoline sports car that he knows will hold its value over the years.
Ford Mustang V8 > Tesla Model 3 > Ford Mustang V8
We should never have to write such an article. Mainly because it does not initially align with sustainable mobility. However, it seems important to share the negative experience of Thierry Meurgues, whom we interviewed in May 2023. At that time, this motorist, exposed to electric vehicles for the first time in 1996, was thrilled to have traded in a Ford Mustang V8 with a 5-liter engine for a Tesla Model 3 Performance, which he had a real soft spot for.
His enthusiasm was truly contagious at the time. A year later, it’s a whole different story. By then, the four-year warranty provided by the manufacturer had expired, forcing a decision. A difficult choice that should have been considered and supported at least to some extent by the brand’s network.
This episode, Thierry is not the only one to have experienced it. Many of our electric vehicle enthusiast readers have faced similar doubts and have had to make equally confusing decisions. That’s why we address the case of Thierry Meurgues, one of the most extreme cases we know of. Hoping that electric vehicle manufacturers, not just Tesla, will take responsibility for their actions.
The problem is not the car
First, let’s dispel a potential cloud that may overshadow the vehicle itself: “I have nothing to blame on the Tesla Model 3 Performance that I used for four years. I have had absolutely no problems with it. Electric power has not diminished my love for American cars.”
Thierry Meurgues did not make his radical decision on a whim or lightly. It required a period of reflection that is evident in his well-thought-out and articulate speech that we listened to for over an hour: “I have been pondering this issue from all angles for the past six months. My decision is the result of a combination of elements and reflections that began at the beginning of this year 2024. It comes at a crossroads created by the end of the four-year warranty.”
Our reader then saw only three possibilities in order to remain an electric car enthusiast: “Either continue driving my out-of-warranty Model 3, extend the warranty, or switch to a Tesla Model Y Performance.” At no point did he consider not driving an electric vehicle from the brand in the early months of contemplation.
Two options to keep the Model 3
The first question that came to Thierry Meurgues’ mind was: “Do I part ways with my Model 3 because the manufacturer’s warranty is expiring? One thing was clear to me, I did not want to drive without a warranty and risk having to replace an expensive part on the vehicle. Logically, I thought about extending the warranty, which is offered through a Swiss company.”
A choice must then be made: two or four years: “It is not renewable. You cannot say I’ll take two years and then continue with two more. I expected to find the detailed overall price online according to the models. But no, you have to enter the vehicle’s VIN number. Which I did not really like. Already because with it, the company will have information about me before I accept an offer.”
Our reader then wondered why he had to comply with this request: “By entering the VIN, the insurer can then make an offer on my specific copy. Potentially taking into account information about the vehicle’s history, such as accidents or breakdowns. To find out, I would have had to do simulations with several identical Model 3s. I played along. I received a proposal of 3,300 or 3,400 euros for four years, strictly divided by two to get the price for two years.”
A nightmare in the used car market
The lack of transparency for warranty extension prompted Thierry Meurgues to seek to replace his Model 3 with a Model Y: “While keeping the range, performance, and the not-so-useful FSD in our region, but which I had taken to encourage Tesla to develop it. I thought to myself, ‘If I go back to this configuration, how does that look?’.”
The response he received turned out to be dramatically upsetting for him: “I wasn’t naive, I knew that with the steep price drop overnight on new models, the 2019, 2020, and 2021 Model 3s became difficult to sell? It’s maybe the game, but in the meantime, it’s the customer who pays in the end. Today, a similar Highland configuration to my car, with additional features like a heat pump, double glazing, and many other things, costs 10,000 euros less than what I paid in 2020.”
Furthermore, the buyback offer made by Tesla was bordering on indecency compared to the original purchase price and the new project: “The manufacturer is offering me precisely 30,700 euros for a car I bought for 73,200 euros in July 2020, still in perfect condition inside and out, with a mileage of 65,000 km.”
“You have a deadweight”
With such a low proposal, Thierry Meurgues tried to go through foreign companies specializing in vehicle buybacks: “There’s a list online. I requested quotes from six of them last April. Three simply didn’t respond. The Danish company EV Marketing, which supplies the Nordic market, offered me 29,000 euros. Another platform was willing to take my car on consignment for a commission if I brought it to them.”
The last response from a Norwegian intermediary abruptly changed our reader’s perspective: “Your Tesla Model 3 is from 2020, without a Ryzen processor or double glazing. It’s obsolete, we don’t want it anymore, you have a deadweight.”
He paused: “This is the situation I found myself in last May. I therefore did not follow up on any proposal.” However, Tesla contacted him again, asking if his plan to purchase a Model Y Performance was still valid: “With the end of the second quarter approaching, and sales plummeting for this car in the previous quarter, Tesla got nervous.”
“I don’t want to invest in this again”
His declined offer: “I told Tesla that the used car market did not encourage me to buy another car from them. I am willing to contribute to financing their R&D, but with limits. I don’t want to invest in this again. If I buy a Model Y today, it will be obsolete next year due to the facelift. The cars are good, but the issue lies in the commercial policy. They are unable to make any effort to retain customers.”
Despite his willingness to be convinced: “What could have convinced me would have been to extend the FSD for free on the Model Y. It didn’t serve me much. It was costless for them, but it didn’t occur to them. They don’t look into the customer history to take the extra step to retain them.”
Another possible gesture: “Retrofit the entertainment unit, with a hardware migration from 2.5 to 3.0. That could have kept me in the brand for another four years. Today, there are no real competitors to models like the Model 3 and Model Y. But what about tomorrow?“
The joy of having a Tesla
How does he define the joy of owning a Tesla? “For me, it’s also about enjoying technical upgrades. How can Tesla refuse it to its customers? Instead, they themselves talk to me about the technical obsolescence of my car. It’s very surprising coming from them. Is their priority elsewhere? Is a customer just a credit card number to them?“
Thierry Meurgues has since received an open questionnaire from Tesla France: “They understood that I would not buy another car from them and asked me about my overall impression of the experience. I replied that labelling a high-tech product as obsolete is dramatic. Tesla doesn’t care about sending its customers to a desert island. It is fundamental in a relationship to give back to those who trusted early on for the launch of a product.”
He compares: “I have been a customer of different American car brands. For example, at Jeep, they know how to show some flexibility based on loyalty with them. But no, at Tesla it’s: ‘You want to leave, then leave!’“
An unstable market
This misadventure at Tesla even leads Thierry Meurgues to not buy a new electric car from another manufacturer: “The story could repeat elsewhere. Take Ford, for example, and the Mustang Mach-E. They are visible in Norway, but almost nonexistent here. The positioning is simply ludicrous in France. Anyone buying a new one today is not protected against subsequent price drops of 10,000, 12,000, or 15,000 euros, with a worsening used car market“
For our reader, his experience reflects “a market in search of stabilization. Various factors can affect prices, such as battery advancements, the entry of Chinese brands, the new offers from European manufacturers increasingly entering the market, etc.“
All this also brutally affects the used car market: “I tried to sell my Model 3 to individuals. But potential buyers who are aware of the context play the competition card to negotiate prices to the lowest. It’s a real bloodbath. I had priced mine at 35,500 euros. Simply put, I didn’t receive a single call.”
Which way to go?
After all this reflection, Thierry Meurgues reached a deadlock: “Where could I go while still preserving my love for cars in general and American ones in particular? I simply went back to where I started, to the gasoline Ford Mustangs. I left the Tesla Owners Club France.”
An interesting offer was made to him: “In the end, the American car importer American Car City took back my Model 3 offering the best deal I had received to date. They only kept it for a week.” Today, a V8 Ford Mustang like the one he sold four years ago is still being exchanged at the same price.
He envisions the same outcome for the 5-liter 2019 convertible he just bought: “It came from Germany. Buying it new in France is impossible: at around 60,000 euros, the eco-tax almost doubles the purchase price. In the used market, an annual degression is applied. I only had to pay 4,200 euros for this. The eco-tax effect has created scarcity in France for this model, which could see its value rise in the market in the coming years.”
Returning to electric later
Last year, while talking about his passion for muscular American cars, Thierry Meurgues had said: “I indulged myself selfishly with these cars. At some point, I felt that all of this was not really reasonable. Not reasonable to foot a 1,800 euros registration bill. Not reasonable to keep feeding a car that consumes 12 to 13 liters of gasoline while driving gently. Not reasonable to have to face significant maintenance costs.”
He does not deny this today: “I still say the same thing.”
Our reader, still very active on social media, does not reject electric cars. He rejects a situation resulting from both manufacturers’ behavior and a market that is engulfed in confusion, being overwhelmed by models that are more or less outdated in a few years and have remained too long at a high price level. Thierry Meurgues will eventually return to electric when he no longer fears losing out.
Automobile Propre and I sincerely thank Thierry Meurgues for his latest testimony, which we requested, and for always warmly welcoming us.