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How many 80-100k cars are sold in the US each year? The great majority of car sales are 50k and below. We shall see. I hope I'm wrong. I hope Tesla takes off like a bat out of hell. I just think it's tough to sell luxury cars in volume. There are few companies that do. BMW, Mercedes (in the US at least), Porche, Audi, Land Rover, Volvo. If you look at their sales, the great majority are below 80k.
So it's a very expensive car. You need to have a range of vehicles at different price ranges to be a major player. Being from silicon valley doesn't change that equation.
ZestyChicken: According to the WSJ (Source motorintelligence.com) During the month of January 2013 Luxury cars were 14% of total North American auto sales. Mid-sized cars made up 48% and Small cars 38%. There were about 534,000 cars sold in January. This means that about 75,000 luxury class cars were sold in one month.
A $40,000 BMW is considered a luxury car. A 325. How many of those are sold versus the 80,000 740i? How many of those customers are willing to switch to a radically different type of car?
I actually read that same article. I was looking for some information re that specific cost bracket. If you can find that info, it would be more germaine. I couldn't locate it.
A $40,000 BMW is considered a luxury car. A 325. How many of those are sold versus the 80,000 740i? How many of those customers are willing to switch to a radically different type of car?
I actually read that same article. I was looking for some information re that specific cost bracket. If you can find that info, it would be more germaine. I couldn't locate it.
We should probably get back on topic but I can't help throw out one more comment. I fully agree with you about the size of the market and the difficulty selling $100k cars. Yes a base Tesla can be had for $60k but it's usefulness is limited for many drivers. However, as I mentioned earlier about their choice to do a Model S at the given price point and follow up with the X, there was never any other choice. There was never any way for anyone to produce a $40k all electric with sufficient range for 2012 - 2016. Doing the simple math on the cost of battery makes that apparent. Nissan and Chevy are selling cars at cost and they barely hit that number with significantly less range (and remember Tesla would need margins unlike GM/Nissan). The only way to sell mass quantity will be to wait until 2016/17 at the earliest but if Tesla waited that long they wouldn't exist and would have a hard time penetrating then because by then every manufacturer will have electric cars. The only way to produce an electric car today with a margin and have a worthwhile range is to do high end luxury. The issue is if they can sell enough cars. Whether they do or don't again it was the only choice. Now hopefully they've done enough on design/quality that they can move enough cars to keep them operating, expand base operations, and develop the brand to take advantage of the market in a few years when the economics are more favorable.
Thank you Doogue! It definitely is a milestone and I am now anxiously waiting for this week to go by.This thread veered way off topic, but let's get it back on by saying, "Congrats, Desai" on the milestone. Very cool. I hope I'm not far behind.
Some of us no longer have a reservation sequence number showing up on the My Tesla page. Did it vanish off everyone else's My Tesla page as well? If it has, then it's either a glitch, or the wait between reserving and finalizing is no more than a few days, so there's no longer a reason to show it! (At least, in the U.S.)
This page still mentions the sequence number:
Buying a Tesla, Our Approach | Tesla Motors
So maybe this is good news for those of us whose sequence numbers have disappeared? Or not. :\
RLPM - same thing happened on my My Tesla Page. It disappeared on Wednesday (I was hopping it was a birthday present) - but I don't know the cause.
Maybe the reservation numbers were causing too much trouble with people comparing numbers and expecting them not to be delivered out of order.
Flux emac, how. Long did PenFed take?
Alan