There are only so many cars you can garage and drive. Yes, they need to be driven so that, as per Elon, they collect the data for every mile and therefore improve FSD, making robotaxi closer to reality. Who better than teenagers to drive the cars to rack up self driving data miles. Just storing them doesn't do it. I am offering you an opportunity for at least one more car you can make money on than you can manage to drive yourself. By saying no, you're turning down up to $200K per car, in just 2 years.
Because, according to Elon, the prices are going up fast. Teslas are appreciating assets, which cannot happen if people can buy a new version for less. So, the only way they stay appreciating assets is if Tesla keeps rising their prices, with target being up to $250K. Imagine what bitcoin price would be if you could still buy it today at the original price. If we assume linear appreciation, Model 3 will cost ~150K next year.
- Buying TSLA doesn't bring in FSD data miles, so it doesn't help bring robotaxis closer
- The money actually doesn't even go direct to Tesla, but instead to those who are selling it to you, so you're not really helping Tesla reach their FSD goals.
- As Teslas are appreciating, and Model 3 prices start moving north towards the forecast $250K, The demand will shrink. $250K is above the price of Model S and X, so maybe look at number of predicted Roadster sales (same price). This means that Tesla revenue will not actually increase 5x as the price does. There will be additional revenue or losses from other businesses, batteries, solar, insurance, vehicles for Boring Tunnels, etc, etc. All those add to uncertainty of the TSLA price. With the car guaranteed to hit $250K in value, you have a low risk 5x return in 2 years (the only risk is whether Elon was right on this one thing).
Does that answer you questions? Keep in mind, all this is assuming Elon is correct. IMHO if he believed his own story, he'd spend majority of his personal billions buying Model 3's and giving them to people to drive, then make 5x the money in 2 years. If would sure help Tesla financial if Elon bought a few billions worth of Model 3's - they might not need to raise money with all the profit they'd make from the sale of Model 3's to Elon. Win-win all around - Tesla gets a sales number boost, Elon more than quadruples his fortune (even more considering that his TSLA sticks will be worth more by some amount).