The withering dream of a cheap American electric car

> The cheapest car Tesla currently sells in the U.S. starts at around $43,000—or $35,500 with a federal tax credit of $7,500.

Curious if anyone knows — do people actually drive off the lot with a Tesla for $35,500?

There is no lot. You click order online and it shows up. Honestly one of the best things Tesla has done for the car industry.

I see a Model 3 Long Range rear wheel drive listed for $42,490 in their new vehicle configurator: https://www.tesla.com/model3/design#overview

Teslas are one of the few vehicles where you can actually get the model at the lowest price they advertise because they are all delivery. Almost every other make and model will show you a price in their advertisements that you can’t find anywhere and make you wait forever to order one. I’ve often thought it was deceptive advertising because the price they show in their TV ad is one almost nobody actually gets or likely could. I’m pretty sure Lexus has a version of the RX with cloth seats and no touchscreenthat they only make one of just so they can use the price in their ads.

I don’t know how many people actually opt for the lowest end version of Teslas but I believe you can get them with essentially no more difficulty than any other version.

true. I wasted over a year waiting to get a base model Toyota Sienna, and eventually realized they might as well not exist.

The soon-to-be-dismantled federal tax credit of $7500.

The cheapest Teslas are also best selling Teslas. With Teslas the base model is really good and more expensive models offer either longer range or performance of a Porsche for half the price.