there is too much risk to just jumping into the mass-market price range, so Tesla is using these high-end vehicles as an infrastructure/know-how/money launchpad

there is too much risk to just jumping into the mass-market price range, so Tesla is using these high-end vehicles as an infrastructure/know-how/money launchpad for broader mass-market cars. in other words, from a strategic point of view the Model S is a way to get investment dollars toward the pursuit of an affordable electric car. this isn't my analysis. Elon has mentioned it in various places: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/156959-elon-musk-discusses-30k-tesla-car-mars-warp-drives-and-his-la-to-sf-railgun-train http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/156959-elon-musk-discusse...