22 ms·

Tesla Model 3 is the #1 Best Selling Car in the US by Revenue

39 points by myroon5 8y ago

montenegrohugo 8y ago
> Tesla’s average selling price for the Model 3 surged past $55,759 That's a lot of money. > In August, Tesla’s Model 3 became a top 5 best selling car in the US by units [and #1 by revenue] It's honestly a bit suprising to see this. Keep in mind that it is only data for August, so it might not be representative for the future. But if Tesla continues on this track, they could very well become the Apple of the car industry. Selling a product with clearly defined and differentiated aesthetic design, with a loyal customer base, at a premium price. I know they have quite a few problems in other areas, but I wish them the best. This entire electric car revolution wouldn't have happened for another 10-20 years if not for Tesla and Elon.
- reacharavindh 8y ago
  That's what I was wondering about when I read the article as well. $55K is a lot of money. You could get a well kitted Mercedes C class or an Audi A5 at this price. Is the model 3 really that worth? Thinking about: Charging anxiety, resale value, relative inexperience in car building from Tesla(compared to Audi and Merc). The $30K Model 3 I would think is radical and would turn several heads from the Accord, Camry etc..
  - stephengillie 8y ago
    About a year ago, I was driving a 1990s S-10 that died in the hot summer, so I was suddenly in the market for a car. I rented an Altima and went to buy one, but was looking at the Model 3 also. But buying a Model 3 means waiting on the list like a liver transplant recipient, which I couldn't do without some ride. Had Model 3s been more widely available, I would currently own one. And the $35k option was looking both less appealing and less likely to be produced. After an issue at the Nissan dealership, I got a Camry Hybrid from the Toyota dealership. From the Model 3 reviews I've watched, the cars seem comparable in trim and features, once the panel gap issue was resolved. The Camry has more range (500+ mi), but a slower (6 second) 0-60. This range means spending about $750-$1100 per 10,000 miles. Including the extended warranty, the TCO for the first 100k miles should be under $40,000. The Model 3 is for the person who is happy to spend an extra $23,000 in car, to save $12,000 in fuel.
    - sh87 8y ago
      > The Model 3 is for the person who is happy to spend an extra $23,000 in car, to save $12,000 in fuel. Oh boy! I'm going to use this so often. Thanks.
- wilsonnb3 8y ago
  > This entire electric car revolution wouldn't have happened for another 10-20 years if not for Tesla and Elon. I don't buy this. There hasn't even been an electric car revolution yet in my opinion, and when there is it will be because of plug in hybrids slowly extending their all electric range over time as electric car charging infrastructure improves. Toyota and Chevy deserve far more credit for the Prius and the Volt than Tesla does for their cars, although I will admit that the Tesla roadster was part of what motivated Chevy to make the Volt.
  - dagw 8y ago
    Tesla roadster was part of what motivated Chevy to make the Volt. Having spoken to a couple of people working R&D at traditional car companies they tell exactly the same story. Tesla 'forced' them to dust off all those proof of concept tests their labs had done years ago and try to get them into production. Without Tesla those concepts would probably still be in a filing cabinet in their labs.
  - jillesvangurp 8y ago
    That may very well happen a lot faster than you think thanks to Tesla. Certainly manufacturers seem to be in a hurry to announce stuff they can't quite ship yet to make it seem they are not doing nothing. But I agree volumes need to go up more. We're talking about 1% of overall cars sold. It will take a while for that to get to double digit numbers. Certainly nobody else than Tesla seems ready to produce at any substantial volume. Tesla may double or quadruple their production in the next years and it won't be enough to get there. However, them doing that would be very disruptive to manufacturers trying to currently trying to sell cars at the same price points.
sgillen 8y ago
I'm def getting Apple vibes too, less sales but more profits, they took in 65% of the revenue in the EV category according to the article.
browsercoin 8y ago
what does this mean for people who are short TSLA?
- jasonvorhe 8y ago
  Let's hope they all lose a shitload of money.
  - pvaldes 8y ago
    Ok, I will bite the bait... Why?
    - esarbe 8y ago
      https://evannex.com/blogs/news/are-the-short-sellers-behind-the-anti-tesla-media-crusade-or-is-it-someone-more-sinister https://evannex.com/blogs/news/are-the-short-sellers-behind-... Some of these short sellers /seem/ to behave like someone taking out a fire insurance on your house and then soaking the front lawn of it with gasoline. It's easier to sabotage than to build.
    - nugga 8y ago
      When there are hundreds of millions of dollars on the line betting for Tesla to fail someone might be incentivized to take action to spread fud and attack Tesla any chance they get. It is doubly weird in this case because Tesla's mission and success will be for the benefit of humanity and not just lining up the pockets of shareholders.
      - talltimtom 8y ago
        You don’t see you own bias. Taking the counter point. Tesla has a hugely inflated valuation based primarily on speculation, and even if they manage to become a successful profitable company they might not be worth as much as the current stock prize puts them at. The shorts are essentially bets saying “All you investors should have put you money into other more productive investments” And while we can debate whether this is true or not. The shorts might have had it. And if they “win” it just means that a lot of investors wasted a lot of money in Tesla building up a brand and inferior product when they could have instead just backed other companies with similar products like the Nissan Leaf, which by the way out-performs the Tesla model 3 in test scores but doesn’t have the same levels of internet hype. You can’t unelaterally state that anyone who’s “building something” is in the right and all shorters are working against sociaty. Look at Theranos, the doubters and naysayers had it right. It was a huge waste of time, money and talented people. Even if they did have incredible levels of hype at the peak. All that said. I hope Tesla succeeds, but I won’t hold it against the shorts if they don’t. Tesla is a huge gamble and overvalued even by Musks own admission.
senthilnayagam 8y ago
good signs, about a billion dollars per month on model3, and production rampup would continue.

39 points by myroon5 8y ago

> Tesla’s average selling price for the Model 3 surged past $55,759 That's a lot of money. > In August, Tesla’s Model 3 became a top 5 best selling car in the US by units [and #1 by revenue] It's honestly a bit suprising to see this. Keep in mind that it is only data for August, so it might not be representative for the future. But if Tesla continues on this track, they could very well become the Apple of the car industry. Selling a product with clearly defined and differentiated aesthetic design, with a loyal customer base, at a premium price. I know they have quite a few problems in other areas, but I wish them the best. This entire electric car revolution wouldn't have happened for another 10-20 years if not for Tesla and Elon.

reacharavindh 8y ago
That's what I was wondering about when I read the article as well. $55K is a lot of money. You could get a well kitted Mercedes C class or an Audi A5 at this price. Is the model 3 really that worth? Thinking about: Charging anxiety, resale value, relative inexperience in car building from Tesla(compared to Audi and Merc). The $30K Model 3 I would think is radical and would turn several heads from the Accord, Camry etc..
- stephengillie 8y ago
  About a year ago, I was driving a 1990s S-10 that died in the hot summer, so I was suddenly in the market for a car. I rented an Altima and went to buy one, but was looking at the Model 3 also. But buying a Model 3 means waiting on the list like a liver transplant recipient, which I couldn't do without some ride. Had Model 3s been more widely available, I would currently own one. And the $35k option was looking both less appealing and less likely to be produced. After an issue at the Nissan dealership, I got a Camry Hybrid from the Toyota dealership. From the Model 3 reviews I've watched, the cars seem comparable in trim and features, once the panel gap issue was resolved. The Camry has more range (500+ mi), but a slower (6 second) 0-60. This range means spending about $750-$1100 per 10,000 miles. Including the extended warranty, the TCO for the first 100k miles should be under $40,000. The Model 3 is for the person who is happy to spend an extra $23,000 in car, to save $12,000 in fuel.
  - sh87 8y ago
    > The Model 3 is for the person who is happy to spend an extra $23,000 in car, to save $12,000 in fuel. Oh boy! I'm going to use this so often. Thanks.
wilsonnb3 8y ago
> This entire electric car revolution wouldn't have happened for another 10-20 years if not for Tesla and Elon. I don't buy this. There hasn't even been an electric car revolution yet in my opinion, and when there is it will be because of plug in hybrids slowly extending their all electric range over time as electric car charging infrastructure improves. Toyota and Chevy deserve far more credit for the Prius and the Volt than Tesla does for their cars, although I will admit that the Tesla roadster was part of what motivated Chevy to make the Volt.
- dagw 8y ago
  Tesla roadster was part of what motivated Chevy to make the Volt. Having spoken to a couple of people working R&D at traditional car companies they tell exactly the same story. Tesla 'forced' them to dust off all those proof of concept tests their labs had done years ago and try to get them into production. Without Tesla those concepts would probably still be in a filing cabinet in their labs.
- jillesvangurp 8y ago
  That may very well happen a lot faster than you think thanks to Tesla. Certainly manufacturers seem to be in a hurry to announce stuff they can't quite ship yet to make it seem they are not doing nothing. But I agree volumes need to go up more. We're talking about 1% of overall cars sold. It will take a while for that to get to double digit numbers. Certainly nobody else than Tesla seems ready to produce at any substantial volume. Tesla may double or quadruple their production in the next years and it won't be enough to get there. However, them doing that would be very disruptive to manufacturers trying to currently trying to sell cars at the same price points.

sgillen 8y ago

I'm def getting Apple vibes too, less sales but more profits, they took in 65% of the revenue in the EV category according to the article.

browsercoin 8y ago

what does this mean for people who are short TSLA?

jasonvorhe 8y ago
Let's hope they all lose a shitload of money.
- pvaldes 8y ago
  Ok, I will bite the bait... Why?
  - esarbe 8y ago
    https://evannex.com/blogs/news/are-the-short-sellers-behind-the-anti-tesla-media-crusade-or-is-it-someone-more-sinister https://evannex.com/blogs/news/are-the-short-sellers-behind-... Some of these short sellers /seem/ to behave like someone taking out a fire insurance on your house and then soaking the front lawn of it with gasoline. It's easier to sabotage than to build.
  - nugga 8y ago
    When there are hundreds of millions of dollars on the line betting for Tesla to fail someone might be incentivized to take action to spread fud and attack Tesla any chance they get. It is doubly weird in this case because Tesla's mission and success will be for the benefit of humanity and not just lining up the pockets of shareholders.
    - talltimtom 8y ago
      You don’t see you own bias. Taking the counter point. Tesla has a hugely inflated valuation based primarily on speculation, and even if they manage to become a successful profitable company they might not be worth as much as the current stock prize puts them at. The shorts are essentially bets saying “All you investors should have put you money into other more productive investments” And while we can debate whether this is true or not. The shorts might have had it. And if they “win” it just means that a lot of investors wasted a lot of money in Tesla building up a brand and inferior product when they could have instead just backed other companies with similar products like the Nissan Leaf, which by the way out-performs the Tesla model 3 in test scores but doesn’t have the same levels of internet hype. You can’t unelaterally state that anyone who’s “building something” is in the right and all shorters are working against sociaty. Look at Theranos, the doubters and naysayers had it right. It was a huge waste of time, money and talented people. Even if they did have incredible levels of hype at the peak. All that said. I hope Tesla succeeds, but I won’t hold it against the shorts if they don’t. Tesla is a huge gamble and overvalued even by Musks own admission.

senthilnayagam 8y ago

good signs, about a billion dollars per month on model3, and production rampup would continue.