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You do understand that Tesla's gross margin that you are arguing around don't include R&D, and I'm not sure if covers SG&A too. While the numbers you cited inc

• toomuchtodo 8y ago
  “So how does Tesla actually do on a per-vehicle basis? To that, we turn to the quarterly reports. Before Model 3 production became significant — aka, just S and X sales — Tesla was earning a 25% non-GAAP margin / 27,9% GAAP margin in their automotive division. These are very healthy margins. As Model 3 production ramped up — and famously encountered difficulty — Tesla’s gross margins fell, bottoming out at 13,8% non-GAAP and 18,3% GAAP, before rising back to 18,8% non-GAAP and 19,7% margin.” https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/29/1767826/-The-War-on-Tesla-Musk-and-the-Fight-for-the-Future https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/29/1767826/-The-War-on...
  • greglindahl 8y ago
    And you can't compare these numbers to other car makers, because they include all the lifecycle costs for each car model, including the design, production line spin-up, etc. If you're an auto startup, computing numbers the Tesla way makes sense: Tesla is growing rapidly and will outgrow its current high fixed costs. If you're an established automaker that's not growing, adding in everything makes sense.