Let's assume that the original marketing plan was something like a bell curve, with significant 40KWh and 85KWh sales but a majority of buyers choosing 60KWh. Actual sales have been more like the majority of sales are 85KWh with significant 60KWh and almost no 40KWh--skewed towards the high end. So they misread the market demand for large capacity. Doesn't it make sense for them to offer a >85KWh (say 100 or 110KWh) pack so they aren't truncating demand at 85KWh? That gets them back into a pattern where the middle pack size represents the majority of sales and they are extracting maximum profits from those who have very high willingness to pay for large batteries. Or are they physically size-constrained at 85KWh?
But that's the point--doesn't the current pattern of sales indicate that there is an exploitable market for a higher-capacity car priced accordingly (let's pick $130K out of the air).
No, that may actually hurt sales. A lot of people (most?) want the top of the line model. If they can't afford the top of the line model, they're not necessarily going to settle for the middle one, but may instead decide to look elsewhere.
don't underestimate the value of offering a 40K pack that no one ends up ordering, I would suggest it has in fact fulfilled it's purpose in the marketing model as the first stepping stone, an invaluable bridge to the 60 and 85kW models. the question is, how many folks would never have looked at the 60 and 85 kW S if they had not been able to begin with the more easy to stomach idea of the 40kW price... it takes a while to see that the value is in the bigger batteries. Personally, I think the marketing approach is genius and that dropping the 40kW option may be a big mistake for the market from a psychological perspective. When people ask me how much the car is, I will no longer be able to say "it starts at $50K", a number that is surprisingly palatable to even people who can't afford it. the idea of a $100K+ car is offensive to a lot of folks.
Let's not assume that at all; I don't believe that was the plan. I think the plan was to encourage people to get the biggest pack, or at least to hope that they sold more of those than anything. That's what sigs were, that's what performance are, that's the firs thing they were making for many months was, and that's the one with the most range and thus looks best to people who're like "OMG electric can only go 10 miles, I won't buy one." Etc. I don't believe the top battery is 85 because they figured no one would want a larger one or were making some kind of artificial bell curve and picked 60 as the middle at random. For some, buying a car that doesn't have "unlimited" range like an ICE is a compromise to start with (not me) (and I put "unlimited" in quotes for a reason), and they knew that going in, I'm sure. So I believe they made the largest that was feasible given physical, cost, safety, etc. constraints. I think, in short, that if everyone bought 85 packs they'd be quite happy. ;-)