3 ms·
A Model 3 costs 53000€ in Germany. A VW e-Golf with half the range of a model 3 starts at 35000€. VW (+Toyota and others) are late, but are investing billions t
by zapnuk 8y ago
A Model 3 costs 53000€ in Germany. A VW e-Golf with half the range of a model 3 starts at 35000€. VW (+Toyota and others) are late, but are investing billions to make electric cars available to the mass.
Unless Tesla is able to cut the Model 3 price by about 50% they won't be of much relevance in the grand scheme. They will remain a luxury brand similar to Apple in the customer electronics market.
However, they won't be as successful. Apple's products are still cheap enough that many low-income customers who realistically don't have the money to afford an iphone still buy one. I don't think this will happen with cars. For most people cars will always be a tool first and an accessory second.
- TheTruth1234 8y agoApart from meeting publicly stated goals (e.g. the $35k Model 3), why would you even think twice about trying to compete with VW on price, when demand for your current products, at the current price, outstrips supply?
- mprev 8y agoHow about because your company's valuation demands that it become more than a niche player?
- TheTruth1234 8y agoIf you can't supply enough product to satisfy the demand at lower price levels, you keep the price high for the current demand. Especially if you're in Tesla's position where they're seeking economies of scale and efficiency over time. That is the path to becoming more than a niche player, in this case.
- felipelemos 8y ago> Unless Tesla is able to cut the Model 3 price by about 50% they won't be of much relevance in the grand scheme. They are already relevant. And the fact that they are pricer but still have demand shows that they are successful right now, and probably in the future.
- elisharobinson 8y agothere are many factors preventing traditional ICE car manufactures other than the once mentioned. > they can't make cars which work as efficiently as Tesla. since traditional car manufacturers share parts with ICE cars, they don't make the best parts for a given model but more what meets the need to call it a car a Frankenstein of different parts, in traditional ice engines this wasn't a big deal since most of the energy from petrol is wasted only 20% makes it to the ground as work.so the delta in performance between a ground-up designed car and a Frankenstein car isn't that great. >But when it comes to all-electric you have to make a ground-up redesigned car to make it efficient, else you would have to increase weight by adding more batteries hence more weight hence more batteries. the delta in performance is very large or becomes a chasm. > Tesla only builds 200+ mile cars not to market it as a long drive car but more to reduce the number of times the battery needs to be recharged. A good rule of thumb is If you reduce the range by half you reduce the life of the battery by half.