Tesla reports steep drop in profits despite US rush to buy electric vehicles

Just guessing, but wouldn't surprise me if most luxury brands are struggling at the moment. I don't think this is the right time to buy a brand new, luxury car for most people. Considering the inflation, unemployment and uncertainty.

Is Tesla a luxury brand?

They don’t sell a car over 62000€ in Europe.

Tesla is not a luxury brand, but they ask for premium prices, compared to the value (worst in ADAC statistics on repairs)

“ In 1974, a new car cost an average of 5320 euros. The average income was 13,928 euros per year, so a buyer had to work for an average of 4.6 months for a new car. 20 years later, it was already 7.4 months per new car. Until 2019, this number remained stable, but then it skyrocketed. Today, a buyer has to spend all his income from 9.6 months of employment to buy a new car. For more expensive e-cars, it is even 11.4 months. The reason is stagnant incomes, but also high profit margins of the manufacturers.” https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/verbraucher/kosten-auto...

From my personal perspective, as an employed software engineer, all cars over 50k are luxury.

I think insurance considers Teslas to be luxury vehicles?

and they dont sell one under $40k in the US, that buys you two toyota corollas

The value derived and average usage of a car has increased too... Also the financing around cars have made it smoother to buy one. Also Electric can demand a premium because they save on gas costs.

Extremely relative. I escaped part of the US where any car that started reliably was luxury. New, or brand selection, was absolutely out of the question.

62k Euros gets a lifetime of used vehicles. I'll say the quiet thing: buying a new car and taking the depreciation is a form of luxury. More about status than getting to the destination.

Dan has a point. I could pay for half of a house right now, committing seems silly until things cool down. Two articles away from being relocated again, despite working remotely.

Which will outlive Tesla cars at least by decade.

They also haven’t released a vehicle that is particularly relevant in like 6 years.

Yes, the Cybertruck that nobody really wants, and a Model Y with an extended wheelbase. Yay.

Why do things have to change constantly? Like the Model Y was insanely different to any other car I’d ever driven not long ago, and Tesla was first to market on actually good electric cars. Why do they have to operate using the same strategy as legacy auto makers? Like a design refresh every 3 years to drive excitement feels manipulative to me, not like something that is absolutely necessary. Are you saying that competitor electric cars are outcompeting them by a wide margin now? I’m not really aware of which ones if so, at least in the American market. AFAIK the electric car program for all of the legacy auto makers is still a money pit for them, is it not?

The Model Y has been iteratively improved since its introduction like any other product, and remains the best selling car in its class in most western markets.

This argument makes about as much sense as saying Apple hasn’t released a new phone since 2007.

What does particularly relevant mean?

[lets set aside the CT, agree)

They lost a lot of the advantage they had on hardware, but if you want a non-chinese EV with really good software and well-thought and working UX they're still a perfectly valid all-rounder with a very good charging network, and they also refine their hardware over time.

They refreshed the M3 and MY looks recently and changed the shapes a bit, but I always understood their looks to be function over form for efficiency reasons, and they don't look bad at all if you ask me. Simple, effective, efficient and timeless designs.

I agree with the other comments here that changing shapes for the sake of changing shapes it's just marketing.

EDIT: to be honest, the only thing that really annoys me is they didn't release an EU A/B/C segment ~4m car with all the features of a standard Model 3/Y. Instead they took the existing models and made them cheaper.