Tesla Model 3
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jan 2018
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From: California
You have to base the interior on 35K, not 50K. In the same way you can get a 22K camry vs 35K. The interior is the same. Back when I purchased my RX450h, the RX350 started at around 38K, and mine had a sticker price of 63K. For 35K, the interior is fine. The only thing that bothers me is the way the steering wheel looks.
That's only one way of looking it at it. I base my judgement on the interior of a vehicle based on the most popular packaged price. IE: Whatever majority of the people package it at and the price. While 50K for a Model S is skewed to the higher end, I can expect the Model 3 to cost in the mid-40s with majority of the people getting the long-range battery pack and auto-pilot. So, in my opinion, a mid 40 thousand dollar car with that interior is awful, bloody awful.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Sep 2012
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From: SoFlo
CR updated their results to recommended after the brake update.
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-...raking-update/
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-...raking-update/
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jan 2018
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From: California
Tesla Model 3 cost only $28,000 to make
According to German engineers, who work are working on behalf of German car companies, the Tesla Model 3 only cost $28,000 to make.
https://qz.com/1294282/the-tesla-mod...be-profitable/
German car engineers tore apart the Tesla Model 3 to see how much it costs to make the upstart electric vehicle threatening German dominance on the road. The engineers, working on behalf of German car makers, reportedly broke down four vehicles, according to the German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche (link in German). Musk called it the “best analysis of Model 3 to date.”
Test engineers came away impressed. Panasonic, the Japanese firm collaborating on Tesla’s battery factory in Nevada, brought down the share of cobalt in its Tesla battery cells from 8% to 2.8%. That’s an important line item in the cost of the car, as the cost of cobalt has been soaring.
The engineers estimate a total of $28,000 in costs to build the Model 3: $18,000 for materials and $10,000 for labor and production. “If Tesla manages to build the planned 10,000 pieces a week, the Model 3 will deliver a significant positive contribution to earnings,” said one test engineer. For a car eventually supposed to retail for $35,000, that sounds like a pretty profit for Tesla.
Test engineers came away impressed. Panasonic, the Japanese firm collaborating on Tesla’s battery factory in Nevada, brought down the share of cobalt in its Tesla battery cells from 8% to 2.8%. That’s an important line item in the cost of the car, as the cost of cobalt has been soaring.
The engineers estimate a total of $28,000 in costs to build the Model 3: $18,000 for materials and $10,000 for labor and production. “If Tesla manages to build the planned 10,000 pieces a week, the Model 3 will deliver a significant positive contribution to earnings,” said one test engineer. For a car eventually supposed to retail for $35,000, that sounds like a pretty profit for Tesla.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 42,474
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From: California
No surprise. Look how plain and generic the interior is again. All expansive horizontal surfaces with little need to change or alter the material.
Compare to the Mercedes
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
By the time they get done repairing the defects on all the new Model 3's (at company expense, under warranty), that will probably add substantially to what it cost Tesla to produce each car.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 1,419
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From: California
But, yes, the Model 3 costing 28K to make isn't surprising, given the interior. I wonder how much the Model S cost to make.
Good point. Their quality assurance is horrible. Tesla ranks near the highest with issues per car. A YouTuber named Mike, who owns a GT-R but bought a Model X P100D, had 13 flaws with his Model X within 2 weeks of ownership. He said it took Tesla 2 months to fix his car.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 12,269
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From: ------
I am surprised it costs 28K to make after looking at the interior. Shows they are making a killing over the expensive option models that get it to be in the 50K range and not the promised 35K price..
$28,000??? in US dollars? that's way too expensive and look at how cheap it looks. no wonder they're burning through so much cash. there's no way Tesla is staying afloat if this BOM cost were true.on top of that, the programmers are busy sustaining rolling out OTA updates and tending to the manufacturing line 
Lexus Champion
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From: Canuckistan
Lexus Fanatic
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From: Alberta
$28,000??? in US dollars? that's way too expensive and look at how cheap it looks. no wonder they're burning through so much cash. there's no way Tesla is staying afloat if this BOM cost were true.on top of that, the programmers are busy sustaining rolling out OTA updates and tending to the manufacturing line
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 42,474
Likes: 320
From: California
Nothing to do with what the car compares to. The point was how much more 'sculpting', curving, processing of the materials in the Benz vs the long plain expanses in the Tesla.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Jan 2005
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According to German engineers, who work are working on behalf of German car companies, the Tesla Model 3 only cost $28,000 to make.
https://qz.com/1294282/the-tesla-mod...be-profitable/
https://qz.com/1294282/the-tesla-mod...be-profitable/
But it won’t be, argues Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. The margins on the Model 3 must still pay for a cost structure that legacy carmakers don’t have, including planned factory expansions, new automation investments, and its own dealership network. While Tesla has its own advantages, like integrated solar and energy storage products and no costly pension liabilities, the company is counting on fat gross margins of 25% to stay in the black. (Ford by contrast has 10% margins.)
The $28,000 estimate for building the Model 3 “shows there’s some possibility of making money at the low end,” said Gordon. “But it actually doesn’t leave very much [money] per car for all the other expenses. If they’re selling it for less than $50,000, I don’t think it’s a good business.”
The $28,000 estimate for building the Model 3 “shows there’s some possibility of making money at the low end,” said Gordon. “But it actually doesn’t leave very much [money] per car for all the other expenses. If they’re selling it for less than $50,000, I don’t think it’s a good business.”
Also, with Tesla changing their factory to do less automation and increase number of vehicles produced, their cost of assembly will increase (according to the article.