Do you want a brand new Model X SUV? Convince ten of your friends to buy a Model S and you could just get one free of charge via the Tesla Referral Program. In what is their first incentive program, Tesla is supposedly looking to boost sales by word-of-mouth.
"Anyone who orders a new Model S before October 31st using the referral link of a current owner will get $1,000 off the purchase price," Tesla said in a statement.
For recruiting another buyer, the current owner will be eligible for a $1,000 incentive which can be applied towards a service center visit, an accessory or even a new Model S. Five successful referrals will net an invitation for the referee and a guest to attend the grand opening of Tesla's Gigafactory in Reno, Nev.
Those who make ten referrals will be eligible to purchase a fully-loaded Founder Series Model X, not available to the public, for the same price as the all-electric SUV's base model which reportedly amounts to a $25,000 savings.
To get a fully-loaded Model X for free, you'll have to be the first person to make ten referrals in one of Tesla's sales regions, namely North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe.
The motivation behind the Tesla Referral Program?
"We're trying to figure out if we can reduce the cost of selling the car and pass it onto customers," CEO Elon Musk said as reported by Bloomberg.
The tech entrepreneur noted how his company has "quite a bit of word-of-mouth sales" and wanted to see if they could boost them in "an experiment with a finite time."
But as The Motley Fool pointed out, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based EV maker has "repeatedly boasted" strong demand for the Model S sedan. Could it be that Tesla is in trouble?
The website thinks the EV maker could just be preparing Model X sales to exceed the Model S'. Due out in Q3 2015, the former's reservations have already exceeded the latter's, as Franchise Herald reported last month.
The referral program could also be a way for Tesla to sell its cars where its direct sales are banned, according to the website.
TMF also thinks the program could also mean "Model S production is catching up to demand." In that case, Tesla may have to offer more discounts and incentives in the future to keep moving stocks.
Whether the Tesla Referral Program will boost sales or not remains to be seen.
