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Tesla relies on high volume to make money; the other automakers are pricing EVs based more on margin. An economic slow down hurts volume much more than it hurts
by kenhwang 6y ago
Tesla relies on high volume to make money; the other automakers are pricing EVs based more on margin. An economic slow down hurts volume much more than it hurts margins.
Tesla also relies heavily on first-mover advantage to grow. With the virus stalling everything, all the more cash rich automakers get time to catch up on R&D, while Tesla is stalled from being unable to physically expand. Tesla also becomes more cash starved from falling stock prices than other automakers.
Then there's the drop in gasoline prices which naturally makes Tesla much less cost competitive vs ICE vehicles in its major markets (US/China). Added bonus of traditional automakers benefiting from low gasoline prices because historically consumers buy higher margin vehicles (truck/SUVs) when gas prices are low.
So it's multiple various disadvantages hitting Tesla all at once that's likely to continue for a couple of years.
- michaelyoshika 6y agoIsn't China restricting the sale of new gasoline cars like what EU is doing? I agree US market could be hit badly as CA is still under lockdown and tech companies are laying off.
- tigershark 6y agoI don’t really think that any other automaker has a 25.5% margin on their mass produced electric vehicles.
- clouddrover 6y agoMaybe the Porsche Taycan. The Porsche 911 was the most profitable car in 2019 with a 47% margin: https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/porsche-911-most-profitable-car-2019 https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/porsche-911-most-prof... Porsche is Volkswagen's most profitable brand.
- alasdair_ 6y ago>Porsche is Volkswagen's most profitable brand. Which is pretty ironic, given the whole mess involved with Porsche trying to buy Volkswagen a few years ago.
- jlbnjmn 6y agoTesla relies on high margins, other automakers rely on volume. Ford is in a much worse position than Tesla.
- kenhwang 6y agoFord for their current ICE lineup does rely heavily on volume and does appear to be in a hard spot. Ford doesn't sell EVs yet. They have the Mach-E starting at $44k for 230mi launching in 2021. That does seem to have higher margins than a $40k Model 3.
- nickik 6y ago> Tesla relies on high volume to make money; the other automakers are pricing EVs based more on margin. This is just wrong. Tesla relies on margin. The other automakers don't make money with their EVs for the most part. They make money with their ICE vehicles. > all the more cash rich automakers get time to catch up on R&D Actually all the other automakers are stripping their R&D programs and dropping new EV vehicles to survive.
- xkjkls 6y agoTesla was stripping its R&D even before this pandemic though. They've cut R&D YoY from 2018 to 2019 which is basically unthinkable as a growth company.
- nickik 6y agoI think R&D budget are a bit BS. The old companies still spend huge amounts on improving their ICE technology. Tesla is doing innovative stuff in production vehicles. For every other company half the tech in a Cybertruck would be R&D for most companies. Tesla just sees it as product development.
- xkjkls 6y agoCan you name another growth company slashing its R&D budget?