Tesla has announced a couple of small improvements to the financing program that it introduced in April. It is raising the Model S resale value guarantee to make it the highest of any premium sedan (excluding rare, low volume or limited edition vehicles). Buying a Model S through the Tesla financing offering now comes with a guarantee that the resale value will be higher than that of BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Lexus or Jaguar.

To protect people that have already purchased a Model S via the program, the guarantee will extend retroactively to anyone that made use of the Tesla financing.

“We appreciate the feedback from a number of journalists and customers that the first version of our financing product wasn’t quite right,” said CEO Elon Musk. “They were right, so we are fixing it and, moreover, upping the ante by providing the best resale value guarantee in the automotive industry. The Model S is rated by Motor Trend, Automobile Magazine and many others as the best car of 2013, so it should naturally therefore have the highest resale value.”

Also, financing partners US Bank and Wells Fargo have agreed to offer longer term loans – up to 72 months – that can considerably reduce the monthly payment.

A couple of media outlets were shocked at the “financial calculator” on Tesla’s web site that employed highly fanciful math to make the financing deal sound better than it is (including not only the savings on gas at $5 a gallon, but the opportunity cost of time spent pumping said gas at $100 an hour), so the company has toned down the hype a bit. Maybe folks expect a little more straight talk from Silicon Valley’s knight in chrome armor, but considering the misleading and downright fraudulent figures that many auto dealers use in their ads every day, we’re a bit surprised that anyone was surprised.

Source: Tesla
Image: jurvetson (flickr)