Tesla is basically selling a "CAAS" (Car As A Service). More and more (Tech) companies try to lock down their products and protect the customer from himself. It's a worrying pattern. How can that be the ideal system?
If you leased the car for 8 years and then returned it, that wouldn't be so bad, but most people wouldn't want to pay the full retail price of a car only to have it potentially become a paperweight after 8 years.