I don't understand why Tesla gets so much flack for this. It's smart manufacturing to group together vehicle build packages. It's smart business to target the better profit margins.
Look at how Chevrolet it's handling the new Corvette. They basically reach out to the dealers, who only get so many vettes based on last year's sales, and say "the next production run is trim level X , with Y rims, and painted Z color. You get [1-3] of them. If you have a preorder customer who wants that then collect your down payment." Ultimately, you may not even get the Vette you originally wanted because you're a part of some weird dealer lottery plus Chevy trying to predict desires.
I believe that Tesla thought it's best value per dollar truck was the $40k rear drive model. The Tesla rear drive truck would handle better than rear drive ICE trucks because of the distribution of the battery weight. So they might well have thought that this would be the most popular model.
However when the pre-orders came in the rear drive model was much less popular than the other two models and so they rearranged their production schedule. This just makes sense given the market reaction.
I bet 1 year after Tesla has Model Ys coming out of Giga Berlin Tesla's prices will really start to drop for base models. At this point they will finally not be so supply constrained.
Look at how Chevrolet it's handling the new Corvette. They basically reach out to the dealers, who only get so many vettes based on last year's sales, and say "the next production run is trim level X , with Y rims, and painted Z color. You get [1-3] of them. If you have a preorder customer who wants that then collect your down payment." Ultimately, you may not even get the Vette you originally wanted because you're a part of some weird dealer lottery plus Chevy trying to predict desires.