Hacker News Reader

Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

What seems to be happening is that the price of the Model 3 is creeping up. The base model is supposedly $35K, but you get an undersized battery, no self-driving sensors, and probably give up some other things. The typical model is currently expected to be around $50K. This is not unusual in automotive; the profits are in the overpriced upgrades. (There is now a $60,000 Ford F-150 pickup. The base price of that line is $27,110.)

View on HN

>What seems to be happening is that the price of the Model 3 is creeping up.

Of course it is, and it will surprise no one but the eternal bulls.

Tesla has nailed the tech, but auto manufacturing is big and they're new at it (despite how many robots they've bought). You can see the prices at which the other manufacturers are having to subsidize their small EVs and still lose money. Tesla threw out the $35,000 years ago and have stuck with it.

So, it's really no surprise that the price will creep up; the real question is: how big is the market for a $50k EV? Is it as large as people are assuming? Can they make money on 250k cars annually?

No self-driving sensors? Really? Got a source for that?

I can't remember where source, but the model 3 will have sensors, unfortunately you need to pay extra for autopilot software to be enabled. Not sure if the pricing will be higher that the other models.

The self driving sensors are optional extras on both the model S and the model X. Cost is $8,000.

The sensors are not optional, they are included, but the software for autopilot and full autonomy is optional.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com