OK the $4,000 loss per car I agree is misleading.
.
You agree it's misleading, yet you keep doubling down. Fact is, tesla has already cracked the market to the extent it needs to crack it. It's has continued to ramp up sales despite having no traditional marketing efforts. It has far more model x orders than it can hope to fulfill anytime soon.
Tesla's problem isn't demand, it's supply, and building that supply capability requires massive capital expenditures. Anyone who follows the company even half-assed understands this. If all tesla wanted was to be a luxury car manufacturer, then mission accomplished, it could pretty much be profitable today. But it has larger ambitions.
Let the the competition come! Not sure why that would be bad for Tesla. Infinity didn't put MB out of business, and Acura didn't put BMW out of business. In a car market as large as this world's, there is plenty of space for multiple players. The idea of a "Tesla killer" is patently absurd.
but my point is that much of the upcoming competition already have profitable car businesses with history, reputations and engineers that know how to make cars.
And yet it is Tesla that is turning the automotive industry on its head. Why? Because all the engineers in the world don't get you far if you are stuck in a rut. I mean, the idea of over-the-air updates is a no-brainier in the tech world. Yet here we have Germany and Detroit completely blindsided by the concept. In fact, all the big automakers are rushing to open up Silicon Valley outposts because that's where (generally speaking) the most innovative companies in the world and their armies of engineers reside.
No way would I buy a Panamera over a Tesla S these days. The Panamera is an ugly dog compared - I know - it's what I drive whilst I wait for the Tesla X vapourware.
"Vapor" is a hyped product that doesn't exist. Are you claiming that the Model X doesn't exist?
I just think Tesla should start getting worried about the competition and stop dicking about with stuff like pointless gullwing doors until they have cracked the market. It's clear for example that 90% of people would prefer 2nd row seats that go flat compared to daft rear doors (that are useless because the front doors are standard).
Do you have a source for that 90% stat, or are you just making stuff up? Seriously, Tesla has lots of challenges ahead of it, competition isn't one of them. And if competition really was one of those challenges, then the gulf-wing doors are precisely the kind of differentiator that would set it apart from that competition.
It it is precisely Musk's level of audacious risk-taking at has allowed Tesla to get to where it is today, and has left rival carmakers scrambling for a response.