Quote:
Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
Sales of $100,000 cars are not a large part of the market regardless of architecture. There are just not that many rich people who can afford $100K for basic transportation. $100,000 EVs are not going to saturate the market and make it convert to electric. For most people in the automotive market, the EV use case does not make economic sense. Any equivalent car to the Tesla Model 3 (mid-sized 4-door sedan) costs $20K to $30K less. The payback is 20 years and 250,000 total accumulated miles, which 95% of 1st-owners never reach.
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There is a market precedent for a premium attached to RWD sedans and Tesla benefits from that. We are starting there, at a minimum, when talking about an equivalent vehicle. Among those RWD sedans on the market, the $46K-starting-MSRP Tesla Model 3 is nowhere near the low mark in questionable value. There are all manner of low end Lexus IS or GS, BMW 3 or 5 Series, Mercedes C or E Class, Infiniti Q50 or Q70, Jaguar XE or XF, and probably others that either meet or eclipse the Tesla in price while offering questionable content for their privilege of ownership.
You are letting the hoards of people out there who don't blink while buying these as-marketed "premium" vehicles, often starting at $50k or sometimes $60k or more, slip past your bullshit radar while turning around and calling them out on the spot for peaking in at a Tesla store. Time to recalibrate.
The buying public is full of people willing to pay a dear price for a vehicle just because it is a fancy RWD sport sedan with a European or Japanese badge. Heck, in some cases they are paying through the nose for these cars and they are not RWD nor even particularly sporty - the Camry-based Lexus ES should jump to mind. Now, some of them are noticing they can get a Model 3 at those prices, and it just happens to offer a more engaging drive than most of those others I mention. Plus, yeah, its electric too, so for those that fall into the win column on what that offers, they actually walk away with the better purchase.
This *is* the market we are in. Tesla *is* selling a non-insignificant volume of vehicles to this crowd. True story.