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Comment by parkingrift | Hacker News Reader

I doubt that Tesla can continue to grow 50% YoY as soon as 2023. The Model S, X, and Y are extremely expensive compared to the competition.

I’m in the market for an electric SUV right now. The Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 both seem legitimately better than the Model Y, and they are substantially less expensive.

The Model Y AWD Long Range is $68,000. The Ioniq 5 SEL is $52,000. Tesla has historically never had to compete on price, but those days are ending. Either Tesla will lower their prices and their margins, or they will suffer lower sales. Competing on price is the future Tesla desperately wanted to avoid, but Tesla has not been able to scale fast enough to avoid it.

Good luck to Tesla shareholders. It’s a car company that the market is valuing as if it were a high growth tech startup.

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Tesla is still making poor quality cars. No other car I've seen spends as much time in repairs as Teslas do.

You've never owned a BMW then.

Modern BMWs are actually quite reliable - just expensive to repair.

That's a pretty low bar.

Source?

If you are taking the model S and X sure. model 3 and Y, negative.

The one model 3 I've driven had the left rear door not aligning with the car's body when closed. It's hard to trust Tesla's manufacturing when you see that.

I did find the fit and finish of the S class decidedly poorer compared to the Mercedes EQS. Tesla simply does not have the craftsmanship capability to build something truly luxurious like Mercedes.

Tesla has a 20% margin and are still bringing online many measures to drastically reduce their costs. The complexity reduction in the upcoming Model Y's with dual gigacasts and batteries is massive. If they have to compete on price, they will. They know price competition is coming and are planning for it. Mass market was in their long term plan from day one. But they won't lower their price until they're forced too. Too soon would just leave money on the table like Hyundai is.

But for now they are competing quite well against the Ioniq 5. Dealerships are now taking reservations for 2025 models of the Ioniq 5. Many people would rather pay an extra $16,000 than wait over 2 years.

I don't think Tesla is overvalued. Some (but not all) of the traditional manufacturers are undervalued. Which ones, though, that's the hard question.

>Tesla has a 20% margin and are still bringing online many measures to drastically reduce their costs.

Hard to take this seriously when Tesla has raised their prices multiple times over the past 18 months. Their margins aren't increasing, just their prices.

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