I get the feeling people are expecting Model S quality for $35,000.
That's like saying someone expects Lexus LS
'quality' in a Lexus ES. The thing is...? You really do get pretty much the same quality in a Toyota Avalon, or Camry XLE. The more money you spend, the more sound deadening goes in their cars.
I guess that really, we need to know what exact
'quality' you are speaking of... Craftsmanship? Engineering? Materials? Feature sets? Sales and service experience?
I don't see how that could be possible.
OK. Tell us what makes this so hard for you to believe, and we can counter with ideas or insight as to why someone else might think otherwise.
Plainly, though for the nearly three years I've been frequenting Tesla Forums people have repeatedly claimed the Model S didn't have the
'quality' of cars that cost under $40,000... And some have gone so far as to complain the Model S, at any trim level, still lacked the sorts of features they felt were
'industry standard' on cars costing between $15,000 and $25,000... It remains rather surprising to me that anyone who is referring to such things as creature comforts or options must think that somehow building more cars makes prices go UP, and thereby more expensive to offer. My feeling is that if Tesla can provide a
'$40,000 interior' on an up to $150,000 car that is built at 50,000 units per year -- then they should be able to do so on a car that costs around forty grand and will be built at 500,000 units per annum. Economies of scale
WORK. There must be some reason why you discount or dismiss that notion.
Maybe Tesla is just counting on people optioning out their Model 3s so heavily, that they can lose money on the base model, and still turn a profit.
That seems more like an expectation that you have instead. I very much doubt that Tesla Motors will be
'losing money' on any version of the Model ☰ at all. They employ extremely smart people who are certainly aware that any manufacturer that manages less than 5% profit margin goes out of business. Elon Musk has been saying for over three years that he expected the profit margin on Tesla Generation III vehicles to be in the 10% to 15% range. He noted it might be more like 12%, and it has been reported that their financials are expecting no less than 11% for Model ☰. If that is true, that means their $35,000 base version of the Model ☰ can cost as much as $31,150 to build and they will still be on target.
For reference, the $33,450 BMW 320i is hardly as well equipped or capable as the $23,070 Toyota Camry LE. The $10,000 premium for the BMW seems to buy you not much more than a badge, rear wheel drive, a smaller cabin and trunk, and much worse fuel economy. Thus, if the base version of the Model ☰ can just match their feature sets, it will not be substandard or
'stripped' by any means. The Camry sold over 750,000 units worldwide in both 2014 and 2015. The BMW 3-Series sold over 330,000 units worldwide in 2015, and nearly 370,000 in 2014.
I won't be surprised if the fully loaded Model 3 exceeds $100,000.
Some others have expressed a similar sentiment. They tend to point to race prepped BMW M3s or M5s as evidence. I disagree. Because I look at the prices of Model S Performance and Model X Performance vehicles as compared to Alpina, AMG, and Turbo S competitors. And in each case, the Performance oriented vehicles that Tesla offers are an absolute bargain compared to Mercedes-AMG, BMW M/Alpina, and Porsche Turbo S cars. I expect that to remain the case with Model ☰ versus its direct competitors. Cars like Jaguar XE S, Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, Cadillac ATS-V, Infiniti Q50 RED Sport, Lexus IS F-Sport, BMW M3, and Mercedes-AMG C63 will mostly be far more expensive than say, a
Model ☰ P100D.
It's not going to be cheap owning the fastest production car ever. If it's lighter and more aerodynamic than the S it will probably be faster, but as we've seen, Tesla doesn't sell supercar speed to the budget minded.
It will be quick before it gets fast. I expect the full Performance oriented version of Model ☰ will at first deliver 0-60 MPH times under 3.0 seconds, but
'only' reach a 155 MPH top speed. Within 18-24 months, there will be a version under 2.5 seconds 0-60 MPH, with a 186 MPH
(300 KPH) top speed. I expect that Nürburgring runs will be under 7:30 with showroom stock vehicles, and much lower when race prepped before 2020.
BMW M3 and M4 best lap times there are with race prepped cars, not stock.
