Below is a link to an article from WSJ. Damn this guy can write.
Tesla Model X: Electric Meets Extravagant
Tesla Model X: Electric Meets Extravagant
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The comments are brutal though. Everyone seems to HATE the idea of building an expensive EV. i think they're missing the part about how the RICH people buying these with TAX CREDITS are actually doing the subsidization for the non-rich people to buy the Model 3 and start putting A LOT of these non-ICE cars on the road.
pvogel
Member
hockeythug
Active Member
I stopped reading and responding to comments about Tesla a while ago. Only can try so many times to correct people that think the thing starts at $135k among other FUD.
That is so funny that people actually believe that line.
It is assuming that the rich wouldn't buy the X without the tax credits.
It is also assuming that the X would have recouped all the research and development costs in the first 2 years of sale (assuming the 3 is coming out at the end of this year). How is the X subsidizing the 3 if it isn't anywhere close to breakeven???
The 3 is on a different platform and not even built off the S platform - engineer made it sound like it was ground up.
So financially, not doing the X and spending all that development money on the 3 would have done far more to promote mass market EV adoption than building a vanity car like the X.
Dan Neil's the best auto writer around, in my opinion. His writing can be both barbed and poetic (sometimes in the same sentence), and he gets his facts right. He's a long-time Tesla follower and has always had a nicely balanced opinion of Tesla - he had the bet with Elon that the Model S wouldn't be the car that was promised, and he gladly paid up when he was proved wrong. He certainly knows how to turn a phrase. He said that Tesla operates on "island time" when it comes to deadlines. I love that. I also think this might be the best description of the ludicrous mode upgrade ever: "... the famous “Ludicrous” Drive Mode ($10,000), which essentially permits the battery to violently eject electrons in pursuit of maximum acceleration. "
cclaygo
Member
Clearly this comment comes from someone that is not an accountant. Unfortunately I am an accountant and I must reply. I can tell you that if Tesla decided against going mass production they would be profitable now by pandering only to the rich. So much of their business has gone into growing the other aspects of their business model to become more profitable with a mass market vehicle. Obviously the long term gains are found in the mass market vehicle (see recent reservations). And all the things they learn with these early vehicles help them develop a more efficient and cost effective mass market vehicle later. Whether it is on the same platform or not is irrelevant. The costs are found in the motor, battery, and charging stations. All of which are financed by us early buyers.
Also, they're not building a GIGAFACTORY so they can make enough batteries for the Model X. They need cash flow to operate and Model S and Model X provide that cash flow.
Also, if you assume that NO Model 3 buyers even get the full $7500 rebate because they're all taken by the S and X because 3 gets delayed, that's only $1.5B which is < .04% of 1 year's budget for the US government and that $1.5B would be split over several years making it the tiniest of dots on the tiniest of line items.
Simmuh down now about rich people getting tax credits. Rich people pay a *sugar* LOAD of taxes! The sales tax they pay on these vehicles outweighs the fed tax credit in most of the states too (Texas is only 6.25%).
Also, if you assume that NO Model 3 buyers even get the full $7500 rebate because they're all taken by the S and X because 3 gets delayed, that's only $1.5B which is < .04% of 1 year's budget for the US government and that $1.5B would be split over several years making it the tiniest of dots on the tiniest of line items.
Simmuh down now about rich people getting tax credits. Rich people pay a *sugar* LOAD of taxes! The sales tax they pay on these vehicles outweighs the fed tax credit in most of the states too (Texas is only 6.25%).
cclaygo
Member
Agreed! As I'm paying my tax bill, I have very little sympathy for the MANY tax returns I prepare for people getting very large tax refunds!! Don't whine about my drop in the bucket tax credit!!
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
It's amazing how short sighted or flat out wrong many of the comments are. I often feel compelled to respond to such comments out of fear someone might read their otherwise unchallenged drivel and take them seriously.
Talk about spin. You see free market capitalists bitching about rich people buying Teslas. You see subsidy haters bitching about Tesla operating at a loss because they are building their own infrastructure from product sales instead of expecting the government to do it. You see lower-my-taxes conservatives bitching about Tesla buyers getting tax credits. It's absurd.
Talk about spin. You see free market capitalists bitching about rich people buying Teslas. You see subsidy haters bitching about Tesla operating at a loss because they are building their own infrastructure from product sales instead of expecting the government to do it. You see lower-my-taxes conservatives bitching about Tesla buyers getting tax credits. It's absurd.
jeffro01
Active Member
The comments section on that article is so full of BS I had to take a shower after reading some of it... The article itself was good though... I just get constantly disappointed in humanity when I read comments sections these days...
Jeff
Jeff
