You are missing the point of Tesla and how they build cars. They build cars like no other company, focusing on how the factory operates in order to reduce costs of building cars.
They have huge profit margins, and can continue dropping prices to market a $25,000 EV. The traditional ICE producers like GM and Ford lose money on every EV they sell, while Tesla can make up to $20,000 on each one - they plow the profits into expanding their factories.
Tesla is employing parallel building, while other companies use hundred-year-old assembly line practices. The old way is to have cars move on a single assembly line where parts are assembled, then later disassembled, while paint and other operations are done, then reassembled with a lot of wasted effort and idle employees. In parallel building, multiple assembly lines concentrate on different areas like front, sides, rear, bottom and top with little wasted effort and then all are integrated at the end. For instance, the floor is built as a single unit with battery pack, carpeting and seats, and then raised into the body at the end. The rear and front are built from single castings and have motors, electronics and drive train installed. The body is built separately, assembled and painted. All of it merges at the end. No other ICE company is doing this.
All while Tesla reduces weight, increases efficiency, and reduces costs. Not only of the car components, but reduces labor and materials and robots. Their factories are efficiently built.
Whatever the economies for building Teslas, they will always be expensive to own. We were promised $35,000 to $40,000 per vehicle for Teslas about 8-10 years ago, and those vehicles ended up costing around $70,000-$75,000. So no, won’t believe a $$25,000 or $30,000 Tesla until it hits the market at those prices. I believe the promise last week was for $25,000 but now, it’s $30,000. I have no doubt that that price will jump to $50,000 or more by the time it hits the market.
“Tesla is employing parallel building, while other companies use hundred-year-old assembly line practices.“
What companies specifically are using 100 yr old assembly line practices? Anything I’ve heard from any company since the robots started in indicates that the straight assembly line is long gone. Parallel/robot is being used by other companies than Tesla. Who’s not using it?