Agreed that the number is fairly arbitrary, but neither is the total population all that informative on its own. Not all of the population can drive, nor are all interested in a sedan. IMO if you are trying to estimate markets it is more instructive to consider the existing market size. While this is not perfect either it at least gives a reasonable estimate to scale. For sedans, the top four are all fairly close and the M3 trails well behind. If you believe that the M3 is competitive against them it could grow to four times the sales volume without claiming every sale (and that is only considering the top four, not the tail). The main limiting factor (other than scaling output) is the sale price. But even if an M3 SR can't really compete with a Camry on price it may not have to -- all it really needs to do is compete on the price accounting for time of ownership. Market action? I think the addressable market is significant to the future valuation of $TSLA. In the end game, an entry model for $25k (in today's dollars) would I think allow Tesla to own the entire new sedan market. And, naturally, they are aiming for the CUV and pickup markets. If they can scale before real competition emerges they will definitely be the 800-pound gorilla. Current stock price would then look like an incredible bargain.
I echo the thankfulness for the awesome Tesla Daily Podcast with Jimmy_d, it really was great. Hope they do a part 2. After the Q3 conference call and listening to Jimmy_d I've been thinking about AP 3.0 hardware. AP 2.0 began shipping in Q4 2016 and based on my estimates Tesla will have shipped ~500k Model S/X/3 with AP 2.x hardware by the end of Q1 '19. As they transition into AP 3.0 and the new larger neural net it's going to cause a development fork between AP 2.x cars and 3.0 cars for the base visual neural net. If you combine that with Tesla removing the $3k FSD software enabler from their ordering pages it got me wondering what Tesla is going to about the 2.x cars. I suspect they will be highly motivated to get all customers to 3.0+ AP hardware asap. I wonder if Tesla is going to offer up some kind of one time upgrade option to 3.0 hardware for existing customers. Could be a big boost to Q2 cashflow and earnings if they do so. With ~500k cars if they offer a one time $3000 upgrade to the 3.0 hardware suite with software FSD entitlement. That could equate to up to $1.5b upside over their normal business cash flow. It's important Tesla gets everyone to 3.x hardware for the future of the autonomous network and software development efficiency. I also think they will repackage Autopilot into a single software title that includes both AP and FSD once they get some FSD working in Q2 next year when they release the 3.0 hardware suite.
I don't believe anyone is going to pay for FSD until its fully activated, the law has past, and it's fully working. By that time if Tesla is the first to get this thing enabled, it doesn't even matter if they can make an extra x amount of money. SP will shoot straight to 4k.
Up to 300,000 manual upgrades in service centers is quite some workload though, plus their HW3 lines might not have the capacity, at least initially.
While a lot of cars, it's less cars/effort than some recalls. Worst case, they can use one (or more) of the third party rework firms.
Many already have. Both my model3s were bought with it without any regret. Have blind spot detection and significant discount with no cost cpu update
No I'm saying those who skipped out on FSD to begin with like myself. It may be free upgrade just to help Tesla train with a software lock. In that case then I'm game.
You just load up a Model X with as many HW3 modules as fits and have the Nav on AP drive it from one Tesla to the next and install them in the field. At ~45 minutes a piece a person could only do about 11 in a normal 8 hour day. That would be 225,000 man hours, or 28,125 man days, to complete the retrofits. So if you wanted it complete in one month you would need ~1,300 people working full time, M-F, on the retrofits. You could probably speed the process up a little by setting up a retrofit "clinic" at Superchargers and allowing people to set an appointment.
Between their mobile units, 300+ services centers and a upgrade taking 30 minutes it doesn't seem like a challenge. Agreed on the note that capacity of the new computer could be a limiting factor. Why not capture $1b+ in revenue as they prepare for Model Y and Semi Launch. This would compliment the reservation cash for the Model Y and help offset the debt payment in Q1.
It's not bottom line revenue until the FSD SW is done. Until then, it's increased cash offset by deferred revenue.
Note, I said EV. Not necessarily 3. I also didn't say they can all do so immediately. The households with 2 or more cars come from Transportation department (?) surveys. It's been a few years, so I'll lookup to refresh my memory.
And then they replace the other one with an EV too. Like my wife and I will do when the 3 comes to EU.
You know you got under a bear's skin when he quintuple posts in response to you I don't feel bad. These guys should feel bad.
$60,000 is the average household income in the United States. It's a big stretch between a Civic that's been paid off for 10 years versus the 3MR.