Ah...it looks like a midsized car...so it's a small crossover. None of the top 25 were small crossovers...Teslag said:Ag with kids said:Another thing they'll have to do is add some other types of vehicles...hph6203 said:
Poor people can't buy new EVs, they can't buy new hybrids, they can't buy new diesel, they can't buy new gas. Poor people do not and will never buy new cars. They can't afford used EVs, because there isn't a robust enough market for them, because the EVs even remotely worth owning are almost all less than 5 years old, and the vast majority of them are not even through their 3-year lease terms. There is very little used EV inventory and what is there is being gobbled up by individuals that want a new EV, but don't want to wait.
EVs, up until recently, have all been built to be higher trim models with additional features, which drive up the price of the car in an effort to boost margins so that companies can recoup their investment into new production facilities that are markedly different in manufacturing processes than their gas counterparts. They're investing billions in new manufacturing plants, they have to get their higher-margin vehicles out first in order to offset those costs. Eventually, companies will start making the low-trim Toyota Corollas, Rangers and XLTs etc., but it won't be the first models they make. You are not making a like-for-like comparison when you compare a Tesla to something like a low-trim Camry.
Know how you know an EV is cheaper to own/operate than a comparable combustion vehicle? Hertz recently acknowledged that fact after building out their fleet of Tesla rentals, stating that the operating and maintenance costs are 50-60% lower than their combustion counterparts, and by virtue of those cost savings they actually reported higher earnings.
Again, in markets that have lower average incomes EVs are selling for lower average prices. In China, BYD is selling a boatload of their Seal model that starts at $33,000 and has a 340 mile range. EVs are not expensive because the base technology is expensive, they're expensive because companies are trying to build as much profitability into them as they can because they cannot produce them at mass scales like they can with combustion vehicles currently. There is not enough battery production presently to meet EV demand, so they have to triage their production to the higher margin models.
If Tesla were selling their base Model 3 at industry average margins they'd be selling it for ~$35,000.
Of the top 25 selling vehicles in the US, only 5 are cars. The others are trucks, SUVs, and crossovers. Because that's what the public in general wants...
And not that godawful truck thing that Tesla put out...
But, again...EVs are cool. I don't want one but whatever. I don't like cars. Especially smaller cars.
The Y is a 7 seat crossover. The X is even bigger.
I'm sure they'll make something in that market though...