You know who always compliments my car? It's young drive thru workers. They spend all day serving car after car. So they naturally think about which cars they like.
I've lost count of the number of times they tell me how much they love my Tesla and they wish they could get one. It happened again yesterday. Some day, many of them will get that Tesla dream car for their very own.
At the moment I am in Rio de Janeiro, where there are a few gray market Teslae but not many.
Each time I happen to wear a Tesla t-shirt I end out being asked if I have a Tesla by adolescents or young adults. There is not much Tesla discussion here, since they aren't sold here, but there is major interest anyway.
My suspicion is that that sort of interest is common around the world. There is no question in my mind that Tesla will have a warm welcome almost everywhere.
As an aside, all the notional arguments about price competition are pretty much repudiation of Marketing 101. The cheapest product almost never si the best selling one, in any category, anywhere. The discussions here about price elasticity of demand are similarly logical but wrong.
Price competition is real only when comparing price of an identical product from different vendors. Then it is a tactic that has been trained by vendors, including car dealers.
Price competition is generally irrelevant when comparing product choices that are not identical. Examples abound: generic pharmaceuticals vs name brands; base model cars vs high trim levels; virtually every product category has examples: Kleenex vs generic tissues.
I raise that now because almost every demand analysis for Tesla says more or less: "Tesla can raise prices and still sell, if they need more demand they can just cut prices. That has NEVER been Tesla's way. However, among actual purchasers price can and does effect changes in timing and/or thoughts of 'good deals'. Timing levers such as additional features with time limits (e.g.'free' Supercharging, or including optional colors, etc.) do absolutely change timing of purchases. Tax incentives, however, trigger purchasing choices that invariably overstate the value, and encourage sales.
The reality is that pricing itself is not and never has been a primary purchasing lever, but it is a major force in psychological justification. Tesla always shows a 'savings' line and displays both price and probable cost. That is wise, because it encourages elimination of objections.
Just to look at the question quantitatively just compare, for examples:
-AAPL gross margin to any other company with a similar product line;
-Tesla vs anybody else...ah yes, everyone here knows that one;
-Paccar vs Navistar
Please, all of us, understand that demand issues have no relevance to Tesla now, and will not until they are sold and accessible almost everywhere. Timing issues and 'The Wave' are real.
Having to wait months or years to take delivery is a real impediment. That is not a demand problem. It is a supply problem.
Finally, tomorrow we will all see how all the above is true. The people who forecast demand-based profit reductions are really clueless, including one of the people here that we usually respect because he does usually count deliveries fairly well.
