Here's the thing. What you guys said and what I said are perfectly compatible.
Tesla's strategy with regards to the demand curve is nothing new. Starbucks pretty much did the same thing with a twist. When their product first came out, it was a premium product and targeted the high end of the coffee drinker market. Over time, as competitors entered the market and as people got used to paying 5 bucks for a cup of coffee, Starbucks' target market became the average customer.
Here's the question: when does Tesla move down the demand curve, aka, 'drive down market'? Two conditions need to be met. Production cost needs to go down through scale, and the top portion of the demand curve needs to have been fully utilized to capture profit. If production becomes cheaper but there is still significant enough of a market at the prevailing price, Tesla, or any other company, would NOT reduce prices. Think about it. If at hypothetical $60k a piece, a Model Y still has 2 million buyers a year, why would Tesla want to cut prices? The logical thing to do is to cut prices once production volume exceeds demand at the current price levels.
Whether you believe Tesla prioritizes making a profit or saving the Earth, the company should not and will not cut prices if demand exceeds supply, regardless of how much they're able to reduce production costs. Doing so would only create too many orders that they cannot fulfill and put too much economic surplus on the table.
The reason I think Tesla should put money into marketing is my belief that Tesla had not fully utilized the top portion of the demand curve yet. There are relatively well-off car buyers out there that don't know how affordable and reliable Teslas are; they don't even think of purchasing an EV or a Tesla because they assume these cars are too expensive and are still unfinished products.
It's cool to think Tesla is a charity whose sole mission is to make the world a better place, but this doesn't exempt them from the laws of economics and from market forces.
