quote:
It's a tech company, not a luxury car maker. They focus on the big screen, the tech they pack in it (full self driving) and the fact they are very quick vehicles in general.

That being said Tesla is releasing a new Model 3 stateside soon they already have overseas (highland model). Much improved overall on fit/finish and quality of materials.

Also they are quite a good bargain on the 3/Y especially considering they still qualify for the full tax credit. You can get into a Model 3 for $31.5k after tax credit or a Y for $37.5k, these are significantly cheaper than the competition. Heck, you can get a Model Y performance (top trim) for less than the price of the base single motor Lyriq.

Also another thing to remember is Tesla has the charger game figured out while everything else is a disaster. You will almost always get your rated speed with a Tesla at a supercharger station where anything else on other charging networks is always a huge roll of the dice, which to me only makes Teslas viable for road trips unless you are a VERY patient person and willing to fail a lot of times at charging stations before finding a decent one. This is why NACS (Tesla's charging standard) is winning out among manufacturers now. Manufacturers trusted 3rd parties to flesh out the charging network and they have failed miserably where as Tesla has that done pat.

Keep in mind this is gen1 EVs for al these manufacturers which will have their kinks to get worked out where as Tesla has been working out their kinks for over a decade now introducing improved/refreshed models over time. Almost every 1st gen EV from other manufacturers have been major headaches for people for multiple reasons.

The question is whether they can improve margins back to beyond car company levels now that there are higher rates and more competition.

If they can't increase car sales margins significantly then the current valuation will have to be justified by future licensing of FSD tech or robots or some other revenue stream that's large enough with high enough margin to offset the relatively low margin car sales.

If you think that's possible then the current valuation may be worth an investment but all of this has made Tesla a riskier and more speculative investment at the current price and means there could very well be more pain to the downside.