Precisely correct.
And here we go with the cavalcade of
'IFs'... Have the courage of your convictions. Either you believe the Tesla Model ≡ will be a success, or you do not. The point of the entire exercise is for it to sell well, at or above a 10:1 ratio compared to the Model S. That is the intention of bringing out the car. The BMW 3-Series outsold the 7-Series 11:1 last year. It was supposed to do that. It is placed on the market for that specific intention. Would BMW prefer to sell 15,000 more 7-Series and lose 40,000 sales of the 3-Series in trade? Of course not. Tesla Motors is built different from traditional automobile manufacturers. Its high end vehicles exist to enable and support their Development and Production of their low end vehicles. Everyone else does it the other way around. BMW, AUDI, Mercedes-Benz, and others look down on having to sell
'affordable' cars to pay the bills. Each of them would rather just build
'Toys... for the RICH!' instead. Further, every single traditional automobile manufacturer, regardless of the price point of their vehicles, routinely uses
'luxury' as a marketing and selling point for their cars. ALL of them want to be perceived as a
'luxury' manufacturer. Here's my
'IFs' for you:
- If Tesla Motors can help move the world to a place where every home driveway or garage houses an electric vehicle as primary transportation, they will be happy.
- If the demand is so high for Model ≡ that they are too busy building them to satisfy requests for Model S and Model X, Tesla Motors will be happy.
The Model S has outsold the 7-Series three calendar years straight (along with A8 and Panamera). It has outsold the S-Class in 2013 and again in 2015, never dropping below second place, and well ahead of other competition. Sales of the Model S have steadily grown, in the US and worldwide, year-over-year, while its competitors have steadily gone downward. Yet, many here insist that it will be the Model ≡ that brings down its sales. No. Even the introduction of the Model X, another car that I believe will eventually outsell the Model S, has resulted in higher sales of the Model S. What will happen is that the Model ≡ will end up devastating sales for its direct competitors the same way the Model S did.
Dude. Really? Have you actually looked at competition from AUDI, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz for the past... 40 years? The Family 'Look and Feel' of their vehicles has always been different scaled versions of the exact same car design. At a glance or in passing, you literally cannot tell the difference between an A4, A6, or A8 on the road. All you see is
'an AUDI'. Acura cars have become even worse since they appeared in the first MARVEL
'THOR' movie -- I no longer bother even attempting to learn what they sell. They are ALL alike. BMW 3-Series, 5-Series, 7-Series...? More of the same. The exact same profile, stance, grille, and nature across the entire product line. Literally
'NO DIFFERENCE' for decades. That is, no difference beyond what we have stated all along: People buy what they want, need, or can afford. You may want to purchase a
'luxury' vehicle, but I sure as [HECK] don't. Even if I were to purchase an EXPENSIVE vehicle, the point of doing so would have NOTHING to do with LUXURY. It's not about having a better LUXURY EXPERIENCE at all. It's about buying and driving a better CAR. And the Tesla Model ≡ will be the absolute best car in class. Period.