Raccoonman wrote:
IMHO one of the Tesla's failing points is that it's a high-end luxury car, at least from where I sit. Unfortunate, because it's also one, if not the ONLY, relatively "normal" looking electric cars out there. ALL of the recent hybrid/electrics seem to try to distance themselves VISUALLY from the rest of the pack; most of them are strikingly ugly IMHO. If Tesla built a -buy in- version without all the requisite gadgetry so vital to modern drivers, perhaps they could double sales and halve their repairs? (I left out the electric Ford Ranger because, for some reason, it failed also, but was visually undetectable from a normal -gasoline- version). Harry and Marge Homeowner don't always WANT to pay a second mortgage in order to drive a new car....
Tesla simply CANNOT sell a basic affordable version.
They depend on those "Upmarket" features to break even or make a small technical profit per car.
Last article I read stated that most of the new Model 3's will have $30K in "Options" over the base price!
And that the first "Option" will be enough range to make them semi-practical.
Seems the base model, which they have no intention of actually selling, really is just another glorified golf-cart.
They do not have the production capacity to sell the Base Model in large quantities even if it were popular (Unlikely as that is) and it would deplete their Fed. subsidy that much faster!
They are still dependent on the subsidies and transferable "Green" credits.
Oh, and they are the most "Shorted" stock in America.
Elon made a promise to be profitable in the next two quarters and the stock rose 11%.
Any guess what happens when that promise is broken?
I expect some chicanery to hide their actual earnings in order to claim a profit, just like the Fed. cannot seem to get a strait answer to exactly how many cars have been produced to date.
Fed. needs real numbers to adjust the subsidy, Tesla claims to not know (But they can access and modify every car remotely) so the subsidy has not yet been reduced.
I predict Tesla will never earn an award for ethics.