I'm going to bring up the issue of advertising again (with the understanding of the it's been done many times before and people generally have strong feelings about it). But hear me out.
I think we can all agree that as of now, Tesla doesn't need to advertise in the traditional sense to sell cars. They will sell every car they make, at least for a good long while. But in light of the price reductions in China, I do think it's worth asking whether advertising would allow Tesla to sell those same cars without the need to lower the price. As their business ramps, a $1000 price cut to help sell the next 1 million cars (I'm making up numbers) would remove $1 billion from the bottom line. It would seem that some degree of limited advertising could help move those cars without the need to drop the price, and would cost a lot less than $1 billion.
Now I understand that undercutting the "competition" has value. And that the IRA will have some impacts on price/cost in the US. So the dynamics are complicated. But this could be another lever that could cost much less than a price reduction, and will have the added benefit of educating people about EVs in general, and Tesla in particular. I'm still stunned by the ignorance out there. But I view those as buyers who just haven't been educated yet.
