Riding In Tesla’s New Model Y Suv

[RSchneider]

I heard BMW was making a baseball version with special graphics. It'll be the Ball SAC.

Then since they are MADE IN AMERICA they were going to make them look like a B52 that was in SAC.

 

[Ty]

Then since they are MADE IN AMERICA they were going to make them look like a B52 that was in SAC.

BUFF, BABY!
I used to load those back in the day!

 

[Rickb]

BMW makes two SAC's. I posted the X4. The X6 is more like the X. It does look like the SAC will be the future. Then you have the 3 series GT which would be like a Model 3. Looks like to me that Tesla is just using the BMW playbook.

I think it’s BMW using Tesla’s playbook. Many long time BMW enthusiasts that I talk with aren’t that excited about the SAC styling. I like it and appreciate they copied the Model X styling. I’d never buy a SAC because of............,but hope to buy a Tesla Model X or Y. Why you ask? Because of........................

 

[W. WIllie]

OK does that mean they are targeting all the "Soccer Moms" to buy BMW'S, SAC, PDC ?

 

[Ty]

Is it possible Tesla will stop selling cars to the public once they get autonomous driving without human intervention figured out?
Think about this:
Elon Musk said that a Tesla, working as a Taxi could earn $330,000 over it's expected lifetime. Tesla earns MUCH less than that if they sell the car to you or me. Why would they NOT just become a huge taxi service? Would you sell a vehicle with, say $5,000 profit when you could put it to earning you $330,000?

Sell 3 cars for $15,000 profit, or earn $1,000,000 off those same three cars? I'm not that good at the maths but one million seems like a lot more.

Any way, just something to ponder.

The end as we know it. <---- That's a link!

 

[Maurtis]

Is it possible Tesla will stop selling cars to the public once they get autonomous driving without human intervention figured out?
Think about this:
Elon Musk said that a Tesla, working as a Taxi could earn $330,000 over it's expected lifetime. Tesla earns MUCH less than that if they sell the car to you or me. Why would they NOT just become a huge taxi service? Would you sell a vehicle with, say $5,000 profit when you could put it to earning you $330,000?

Sell 3 cars for $15,000 profit, or earn $1,000,000 off those same three cars? I'm not that good at the maths but one million seems like a lot more.

Any way, just something to ponder.

The end as we know it. <---- That's a link!

Why not do both? Make the taxi money AND retail. Plus the retail profit is immediate vs over the life of the car, so it helps with the development and improvement of the technology.

 

[Ty]

Why not do both? Make the taxi money AND retail. Plus the retail profit is immediate vs over the life of the car, so it helps with the development and improvement of the technology.

If you could only produce 10 widgets and someone offered you $10 each and I offered you $1,000 each, how many widgets would I have?

Tesla is limited by how many vehicles they can manufacture each year. If they cut supply to regular buyers to build for their own taxi service, demand will skyrocket and be followed promptly by price. Elon Musk seems to think that prices will skyrocket as soon as true autonomous driving is achieved. I just don't see Tesla accepting a $10k - $30k profit right now when each car could be earning ($330,000 / 20 years) $16,500 per year. I just don't. You said retail profit (actually, I just looked this up and Tesla does very well for the extended range versions and earns about 30% profit per vehicle though not so much for the under $55k vehicles) is immediate but the taxi service would also start paying out immediately.

Heck, the cars could almost roll themselves right off the line and drive themselves to their taxi home base...

 

[RSchneider]

Please take a few trips to Europe. It’ll blow your mind because Tesla has the Taxi market cornered. So in some areas they are already doing driverless cars (still with driver backup). You can do this in Amsterdam and Zürich right now.

 

[Maurtis]

If you could only produce 10 widgets and someone offered you $10 each and I offered you $1,000 each, how many widgets would I have?

Tesla is limited by how many vehicles they can manufacture each year. If they cut supply to regular buyers to build for their own taxi service, demand will skyrocket and be followed promptly by price. Elon Musk seems to think that prices will skyrocket as soon as true autonomous driving is achieved. I just don't see Tesla accepting a $10k - $30k profit right now when each car could be earning ($330,000 / 20 years) $16,500 per year. I just don't. You said retail profit (actually, I just looked this up and Tesla does very well for the extended range versions and earns about 30% profit per vehicle though not so much for the under $55k vehicles) is immediate but the taxi service would also start paying out immediately.

Heck, the cars could almost roll themselves right off the line and drive themselves to their taxi home base...

Are you paying $0 up front and maybe, possibly, best case scenario $1,000 over 20 years? When is the first payment due? Say you are paying me monthly, then at $1,000 over 20 years that is $50 per year so I cover my potential profit after less than three months you would definitely get all of the widgets. Does Tesla cover their profit back over 3 months as a taxi?

I get what you are saying, but it is not that simple. In the case you are proposing, Tesla takes a 100% loss on every vehicle and you are assuming there is enough capacity in the taxi market to take on and fully utilize 100% of the Teslas produced. I have not done the research so cannot say that is or is not the case. But I feel that the shareholders might not be crazy about taking a 100% loss on every vehicle off the line.

My point is they should do both, go for the cash in hand of retail sales to keep the company afloat and also invest in taxis, which as RSchneider said they already seem to be doing.

 

[Ty]

Are you paying $0 up front and maybe, possibly, best case scenario $1,000 over 20 years? When is the first payment due? Say you are paying me monthly, then at $1,000 over 20 years that is $50 per year so I cover my potential profit after less than three months you would definitely get all of the widgets. Does Tesla cover their profit back over 3 months as a taxi?

I get what you are saying, but it is not that simple. In the case you are proposing, Tesla takes a 100% loss on every vehicle and you are assuming there is enough capacity in the taxi market to take on and fully utilize 100% of the Teslas produced. I have not done the research so cannot say that is or is not the case. But I feel that the shareholders might not be crazy about taking a 100% loss on every vehicle off the line.

My point is they should do both, go for the cash in hand of retail sales to keep the company afloat and also invest in taxis, which as RSchneider said they already seem to be doing.

I would be willing to bet the Elon will start another company which purchases (for now) the Lease-Returned Teslas. It wouldn't take long to operate these new Tesla Taxis to supplant Uber and Lyft. It wouldn't take long to generate enough cash to start purchasing "Taxi Special" Model 3s which Tesla could sell at a premium.

There are probably a bunch of people who would take a Tesla Taxi just for the novelty of having a car pick you up. There are more than 600k Lyft/Uber drivers in the US. It wouldn't be hard to undercut their fees. Maybe a bunch of those drivers would find work as Tesla Taxi Checker/Chargers. They could vacuum, charge, and check over the Tesla Taxis every 300 miles or so.