CA sales numbers show a huge uptick in new car registrations for 1Q YoY at +8.3% and a huge hit for Tesla with the 6th straight quarterly drop and a -15.1% 1Q YoY.
CA peeps getting their economic and political vibes out there on trying to beat tariffs and voting on issues with how they spend their money.
Tesla is front page news for car dealers too. Unsurprising that the state auto dealers association puts this on the front page.
I think the consumer figured out you can get a lot more in your EV for the same monthly payment in other brands.
They need to introduce a bare bones model and slim down their overall product line-up. I would suggest a bare bones variant in their M3. They’re not going to win in the luxury ring.
How much more barebones can you do in model 3? I guess they can to with cloth seats, manual seats and roll your window 
Performance cloth, strip all technology except for 4 speakers and a Bluetooth receiver that connects to any device to use 4 speakers. Cut the battery size to provide about 150-175 miles. That would be a healthy start in that direction.
Good write ups here:
It’s the American Trabi.
But you would still be able to get an Ionic 5 with more features for less money. Speculating.
My initial reaction was that its pretty cool BUT after pondering, who would this be for? low range, can’t tow, who is buying a truck and using a JBL speaker in it? buying pool for the 20k version would probably be small and with all the add-ons it’ll surpass a maverick. Don’t see the point of this.
That’s the point though. No one’s actually buying the cheap model.
The money’s in the add-ons most people will opt for.
The Model 3 and Y can go cheaper. Get rid of most of the cameras. Strip out the autopilot BS. Smaller screen. No wireless phone charging. No seat heaters. Narrow steel wheels and tires. More steel suspension parts. Smaller battery. Weaker motor. Cloth and plastic instead of fake leather and wood.
That’s just the low hanging fruit.
Tesla → Tata motors ?
Your all too typical LHer now - cheap payments over all else with no real thought as to what they are actually leasing or buying.
Believe it or not, diversifying the production line to accommodate a budget variant can actually wind up more expensive than just putting options behind a paywall whether sub or one time add-on cost.
Unless it results in massive scale, but very fair point. My gut tells me Tesla needs to make sure low cost EV start-ups become very unattractive to start.
There’s a reason even Apple sells very low cost variants of its popular products. $599 iPhone, $499 Mac Mini, etc.
No, that’s Jaguar.
Not when your focus is on mass production. Musk set up Tesla to be all about volume. The company needs volume more than anything. That’s only going to happen at lower prices.
There are two related reasons the average vehicle price graph looks like this (see below). Americans don’t want basic models. If we did auto automakers would give them to us. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Mexico and OEMs seem to have no problem manufacturing/importing much more basic models in North America. We keep buying expansive full size trucks and large SUVs despite saying we want cheaper vehicles. So why go through the effort to make cheap cars, which have much lower profit margins.
For EVs there is also another factor and that is ability to charge. People who need affordable vehicles are much more likely to live in apartments without the ability to charge an EV where they live. I own 1.5 EVs and love them but they don’t don’t yet make any sense, either financially or practically, if you can’t charge for market electric rates at home or work.
Does txn price mean selling price or msrp? Could easily see EVs with their massive MSRP and then significant incentives skewing this. Subsidized residuals and overall higher amounts of leases could also contribute
