Posted on 12/02/2016 4:14:07 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
In order to sell the Model 3 at as low a price as $35,000 and still make a profit, Tesla would have to cut its production costs by more than half....
Where will Tesla find all those savings? The company hasn’t said specifically, but Spiegel estimates that it can cut about $6,000 off the $81,000-per-car cost by using its new batteries produced at its so-called gigafactory (which also cost $5 billion to build), another $5,000 by using cheaper parts for the Model 3—substituting steel for aluminum, for example—and $5,000 on top of that by finding ways to make its manufacturing more efficient (perhaps with greater automation). ...
Yet with the “mass-market” Model 3, selling the car for more could be just as fatal a sentence for Tesla as selling it at a loss. If Tesla raised the base price of the car to $50,000 or more, as Spiegel expects, the Model 3 would no longer be competitive with the many other electric cars that will be on the market by then—as the Model 3 won’t start shipping to customers until the end of next year, and likely not before the end of 2018 for most orders, analysts predict.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
How do you stay in business selling at a loss? We make up for it with the volume!
Not to mention his exploding rockets, where he is lead designer.
Move production to China. Kandi would be an obvious partner. ;)
Move production to China. Kandi would be an obvious partner. ;)
Sorry for posting that twice, but I have a lot of their stock.
The bare-bones, low-cost versions of a model are very rare. Instead, they load up dealerships with option packages. It's kind of like basic cable vs. the expensive package that has the channels everyone wants.
Tesla charges for an option that is enabled with a battery swap that allows higher maximum current. They call it "ludicrous mode" (yes, after Spaceballs).
On the Model S, "ludicrous mode" is another $10,000.
SpaceX’s next launch is in two weeks. Their success rate is in line with other rocket builders, while being much more innovative and with much lower costs. A couple of months ago they test fired an engine that will power a booster with over three and a half times the thrust of the Saturn V. I’d love to be known as the lead designer of SpaceX.
NASA told them putting the helium tank inside the O2 tank was dumb but they did anyway and it has caused two rockets to explode so far.
Make up for it by volume? No WAY! Make up for it by government handouts and accounting slight of hand.
>NASA told them putting the helium tank inside the O2 tank was dumb but they did anyway and it has caused two rockets to explode so far.
I know. It’s like telling a blasting company you can save them 80% in material costs by using 100% Nitro Glycerin for shots.
“Where will Tesla find all those savings?”
Need to mine more fairy dust.
They will make up for losses with taxpayer subsidies. Gotta help fight glo-bull warming, don’t ya know.
The helium tank is staying where it is. The first explosion was caused by a bad strut, which they corrected. The second explosion was caused by the way they loaded the superchilled propellant which is one of their innovations. That’s been corrected, too.
Their success rate is in line with other rocket makers, while being more innovative and doing it at much lower cost.
No mater the cost, it's for the children!
Read the latest GAAP financials.
Tesla makes 26% gross profit per car.
Said “hedge fund manager” manages less than $5M.
Elon wipes his $#@ with $5M.
American Co that manufactures completely in the USA.
Americans who root for Tesla’s failure are retards at best.
That's purely old-school business thinking. These days, it's "We'll make up for it with MORE GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES!
Cut off gubbmint subsidies.
Watch cost explode.
Enron II.
Pls show a source for that bit of info???
What a bunch of nonsense. This guy has no idea what it actually costs to build the Model 3. He is taking the cost of the Model S and making wild assumptions about how much differences between the Model S and the Model 3 might cost.
A more rational analysis would be bottom up. Figure what the major components cost and go from there. The Model S “cost” is still amortizing R & D and tooling costs. $30K per vehicle ! The actual components and labor cost nowhere near $81K to build each new unit. The 50KWH battery pack in Tesla vehicles is a $12K item. The electric motor is a $4000 item. The high voltage controller is a $3000 item.
Figure the non drive-train components for a Tesla Model 3 is similar to other cars somewhere in the $8K ballpark and add the electric specific components and you have a $27K max cost to build a steel Model 3. R&D costs are not only already paid for by the Model S, but the Model 3 has huge numbers of pre-orders which means that any small additional R&D and tooling costs will be amortized over many more vehicles than they were for the Model S or X.
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