I kind of get it though.
People with Bay Area tech salaries could often afford $40-$60 or more for a car. Up until a few years ago, Teslas were kind of the most practical thing if you could afford an EV with good range. There were not a lot of other long range / faster charging EVs on the market.
These says I’m not seeing as many Teslas with dealer plates. There are other long range / fast charge options out there. People are often buying other stuff if they’re buying their first EV. Kias, Fords, Rivians, Polestars. Telsa isn’t the only game in town anymore.
Tesla isn’t the only game in town
And unlike tesla, those other companies haven’t horrific build quality issues. Or stuck accelerator pedals
I mean do people buy teslas to express “style?”
It’s oddly common vehicle even where I live and they all look the same, just different color. At a quick glance it’s hard to even tell Model S, 3 and Y from eachother.
At least camrys were good cars.
There’s a Tesla plant that employed many people and they used to get a good discount. The infrastructure is also much better for owning an electric car in the bay area so people bought early when there were fewer options and less complaints.
This also makes it way more affordable as there is a really robust inventory of used Tesla cars as well so it’s more like $10k instead of $40k in many instances.
My brother in-law worked at that factory. It’s the old NUMMI plant in Fremont. Elon probably calls it gigadouche factory 69 or something now. They absolutely did not get a discount. If you bought one at full price, they did gave you FSD free in later years. He was there for like 8 years until last year.
