Model S supercharging for new vehicles is free only "with referral" - if the owner induces someone else to buy a vehicle too (tracked via a referral code). They didn't add back free supercharging as part of the original purchase.

This only strengthens your main point.

It seems like it'd be pretty easy to find a referral, however.

I believe most Tesla YouTube videos include referral links as owners get a monetary kickback for the referral. It wouldn't surprise me if enthusiasts that haven't bought a Model S yet are going to go through one of those links as opposed to an outright purchase from the website, especially if the supercharging limits are known.

You can only do five referrals per code.

I wonder. It depends how they do it. If each owner only has one referral to give, it would be harder.

Yeah. This quarter and next quarter are going to have abysmal sales. I think they are desperately trying to make their earnings reports look better to prevent a sell off.