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> The low end luxury market are engineers, doctors, etc. and they will seriously consider buying a minivan or a SUV or whatever instead. I would say this is a

> The low end luxury market are engineers, doctors, etc. and they will seriously consider buying a minivan or a SUV or whatever instead. I would say this is a big "it depends". I think I'm in that low-end luxury market. I paid 36k for my car, when all is said and done. I absolutely did not consider minivans or SUVs, and for one really big reason: I don't have kids. Kids aren't even on the horizon. When I look at minivans and SUVs, I think of mobiles that, while great people movers are, generally, not very fun cars to drive (there are some amazing Mazdas and Acuras in this collection, though). I bought a Subaru WRX, because I like the way it feels; but, I am VERY excited about this new Tesla, and I completely believe that the next car I purchase, bar getting a huge amount of money that I can choose to not be practical with, is going to be an electric card, and is also probably going to be a Tesla. I have a friend who owns a 90k Infiniti. He prefers luxury more than I do; but, he's 100% on the Tesla bandwagon and is very excited at the prospect of owning one. He'll be one of the first in line when they announce the price. I have another friend, similar market. He owns an Audi ... A5? S5? Barring my infiniti-owning friend, we are people that like cars and want a little extra. We definitely do exist, and I suspect many of us will be looking very intently at that Tesla.

fweespee_ch 11y ago
> Barring my infiniti-owning friend, we are people that like cars and want a little extra. We definitely do exist, and I suspect many of us will be looking very intently at that Tesla. Yes but is there 175k every year such as the article implies? I'm skeptical. I can believe there is going to be 100k in sales but that isn't a market dominating product. I could even see it hitting 200k that first year due to pent up demand but it won't sustain it.
- mytochar 11y ago
  I don't know. I wrote up a longer comment; but, when I was typing it up, I realized that I don't know, I don't even have the beginning of an idea. I think the BMW 3-series will hold it's buyers pretty well, though. There's just something, especially in the tech community, about owning a BMW 3-series. They might as well be the Toyota Corolla of some parking lots I've seen.
  - fweespee_ch 11y ago
    > I don't know. I wrote up a longer comment; but, when I was typing it up, I realized that I don't know, I don't even have the beginning of an idea. That is all I was trying to say really. The article doesn't know either and you can't extrapolate markets like that.
ghaff 11y ago
>I absolutely did not consider minivans or SUVs, and for one really big reason Minivans and SUVs are also handy if you do outdoor activities involving a lot of gear--including boats, etc. that go on the roof. A number of paddling friends I know actually consider minivans more practical than SUVs for this purpose. Of course, said activities also often involve going to places where electric cars aren't practical--even if they didn't have gull-wing doors that preclude roofracks. That said, I also have a small second vehicle. But then I paid $18K for it in 1998 or so and it's still going strong at 170K miles. (Honda Del Sol.)
- FireBeyond 11y ago
  Let's face it - most _garages_ these day preclude gull wing doors.
- Grishnakh 11y ago
  Putting a boat on the roof of a vehicle is dumb: it really kills your fuel efficiency. You can get a small trailer to put the boat on instead, and then you can get a small car with a trailer hitch to pull it (if the boat is light enough to put on the roof of a minivan, it's probably a kayak and weighs very little), which means you don't need a big, ugly, gas-guzzling minivan or SUV at all. Any small car can pull a 500-pound utility trailer.
  - ghaff 11y ago
    To each his own. I do know people who use trailers for sea kayaks and it can be quite a pain getting into tight quarters. So putting boats on the roof may be dumb but it's what 98% of the people I know with boats do.

fweespee_ch 11y ago

> Barring my infiniti-owning friend, we are people that like cars and want a little extra. We definitely do exist, and I suspect many of us will be looking very intently at that Tesla. Yes but is there 175k every year such as the article implies? I'm skeptical. I can believe there is going to be 100k in sales but that isn't a market dominating product. I could even see it hitting 200k that first year due to pent up demand but it won't sustain it.

mytochar 11y ago
I don't know. I wrote up a longer comment; but, when I was typing it up, I realized that I don't know, I don't even have the beginning of an idea. I think the BMW 3-series will hold it's buyers pretty well, though. There's just something, especially in the tech community, about owning a BMW 3-series. They might as well be the Toyota Corolla of some parking lots I've seen.
- fweespee_ch 11y ago
  > I don't know. I wrote up a longer comment; but, when I was typing it up, I realized that I don't know, I don't even have the beginning of an idea. That is all I was trying to say really. The article doesn't know either and you can't extrapolate markets like that.

ghaff 11y ago

>I absolutely did not consider minivans or SUVs, and for one really big reason Minivans and SUVs are also handy if you do outdoor activities involving a lot of gear--including boats, etc. that go on the roof. A number of paddling friends I know actually consider minivans more practical than SUVs for this purpose. Of course, said activities also often involve going to places where electric cars aren't practical--even if they didn't have gull-wing doors that preclude roofracks. That said, I also have a small second vehicle. But then I paid $18K for it in 1998 or so and it's still going strong at 170K miles. (Honda Del Sol.)

FireBeyond 11y ago
Let's face it - most _garages_ these day preclude gull wing doors.
Grishnakh 11y ago
Putting a boat on the roof of a vehicle is dumb: it really kills your fuel efficiency. You can get a small trailer to put the boat on instead, and then you can get a small car with a trailer hitch to pull it (if the boat is light enough to put on the roof of a minivan, it's probably a kayak and weighs very little), which means you don't need a big, ugly, gas-guzzling minivan or SUV at all. Any small car can pull a 500-pound utility trailer.
- ghaff 11y ago
  To each his own. I do know people who use trailers for sea kayaks and it can be quite a pain getting into tight quarters. So putting boats on the roof may be dumb but it's what 98% of the people I know with boats do.