The Orange Man didn’t just kill an Iranian general last week. He may also have killed Tesla.
And not just Tesla.
This runs counter to the reports of Tesla selling more cars in the last quarter of 2019 than it ever sold before – which it did. But only because the federal government has been paying people to buy them.
Not anymore.
The president kiboshed a much-lobbied-for “extension” of the $7,500 kickback to electric car buyers that – up to the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve – has been perpetuating the fiction that there is a market for electric cars.
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The kickback transformed a $40,000 Tesla Model 3 into a $32,500 Model 3.
Which made it seem cost-competitive with an otherwise similar non-electric compact luxury-sport sedan, such as an Audi A3 ($33,500) and a deal compared with a $40k A4. Discount any car by almost $8k – and let’s not forget the tax-free (and often just free electricity) that electric car owners enjoy at the expense of the rest of us – and it’s no wonder they “sell.”
But without the $7,500 five-fingered discount – which expired along with 2019, courtesy of the Orange Man – the Tesla3 becomes the equivalent of spending three dollars for six ounces of warm Coke that takes five hours to chill. As opposed to 75 cents for 12 ice-cold ounces right now.
And that’s why so many “buyers” made off with a $32,500 Tesla 3 . . . before it turned into a $40,000 Model 3.
Which is actually more like a $50,000 Model 3.
That’s what most of these things actually “sell” for . . . when equipped with a battery that can propel them for more than 220 miles, the best-case range of the $40k model with the standard battery.
Similarly the Nissan Leaf – the most “affordable” electric car you can buy. It’s only $30k – without the five fingered discount. But it only goes 150 miles. If you want more range – 226 miles – the Leaf’s price rises to $36,550.
Without the five-fingered discount.
