Tesla launches new two-year lease programme for Model S and X vehicles

Tesla has launched a new two-year lease programme for all of its Model S and X vehicles, which would apply to all orders for the company's vehicles from now until 12 September.

Tesla had already offered a three-year lease programme, but said it received numerous requests from potential customers calling for a shorter lease period.

The monthly payment would start at $593, but that was only half the story, it would require a significant down payment, with buyers putting down $7,288 for a Model S 60 kWh car, or $7,425 for the Model X at 10,000 miles a year. As against this, a 36-month lease would call for a $3,862 and $3,983 payment, respectively as down payment.

There was no word on whether or not Tesla would opt to extend the option after September. Meanwhile, InsideEVs noted, the timing lined up so that any vehicles ordered by that deadline would be delivered before the Q3 earnings report. Tesla, which failed to reach its Q2 goals, said in July that it intended to deliver more than of 2,200 vehicles a week, this quarter.

According to commentators, Tesla's announcement of its new lease programme comes at a time when the company was fighting criticism of its Autopilot feature which had been linked to accidents.

The company yesterday tried to address the controversy in an indirect way on its official Twitter account to share Wired's video report on how Autopilot really worked.

In the video, the functions of the radars and the camera system of a Tesla Model S are reviewed to prove that Tesla's electric cars were not designed to be fully driverless, so users needed to be vigilant while driving.