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It does though. They would not be eligible for credits if they didn't sell electric cars. And why would we discredit them for being out ahead of sound governmen
by Dumblydorr 6y ago
It does though. They would not be eligible for credits if they didn't sell electric cars. And why would we discredit them for being out ahead of sound government policy, unlike other makers who lagged tremendously behind? That's somehow a negative, that they're working to solve an important issue quickly?
- usrusr 6y agoYes it's just regulation working as intended. But it also means that once incumbent carmakers sell enough electrics to consume the bulk of their cross-subsidies themselves Tesla will eventually have to consider a new angle on the old "lose money on every sale but make it up in volume" joke. Sure, there are economies of scale to tap, but those tend to resemble log curves at best and given the massive number of identical cells per single car scale might be quite far into the flat already.
- bryanlarsen 6y agoGAAP gross margin of 20.6%, so they make a lot of money per car, each marginal sale adds considerably to their bottom line, even without regulatory credits. It's the fixed expenses, like R&D and Elon's stock options that turn the profit per car into a near loss.