Supposed to, yes.  Do?  Oh, F$#@ no...

It’s like the third obstacle on Run Yourself Ragged...

Welcome to the world where winning an election, no matter how slim, still gets politicians to claim a “clear mandate”.

Hell, Donald Trump is doing that to us every day. He lost a majority of the popular vote, but thanks to the electoral college won the election. The total popular vote for the senate has overwhelmingly…

Wait - are you implying that politicians in the US put constituents ahead of their party?  If so, we need to have a talk...

Ugh. That’s just ugly, inside and out.

Money talks.

Auto plants invariably go to the state offering the highest bribe incentive.

Depending on what your credit score was already, 20 points might just be noise.

Over the last 6 months, my credit score has gone +13, +5, -13, +0, -10, -3. In the same timeframe, I’ve paid off probably $8,500 in total debt (mortgages) and have taken on no new loans. All accounts are in order, no late payments,…

Hell, in the US you could get rejected for a job because of a low credit score.

And because of our regulations, the pain might not even end there. Many moons ago when mortgage rates were well over 10%, my parents were trying to buy a house, but bank after bank rejected them because they didn’t have enough of a credit…

Most get a kickback of some sort. Good dealerships will explain that clearly with you and also clearly explain how all the manufacturer incentives are working.

For example, my parents recently bought an Escape. They wanted to pay cash, but the dealer carefully (and honestly) explained how the financing incentives were…

Oh, I can beat that EASILY.

A friend was buying a Nissan Leaf and the local dealer wanted a few hundred more than the Nissan dealer 20 miles or so down the road... in justifying their higher price, they gave this gem:

“Oh, but you’ll save money with us in a year or two easy because you’ll get free oil changes with us.”

I’m sure that’s what they hope for.

And they might get it.

And while I think iPhone prices are absurd (as well as many Samsungs), they do sell well. But there’s also a big difference between a $50k+ Model 3 and a $22k Fusion SE hybrid. It’s not $10 a month more for a couple years, its more than double the cost.

I still…

EVERYTHING was dirt cheap in 2008/2009. You could get a brand new Focus off the lot for under $9k, easy. I picked up a brand new 2010 Mazda6 for barely over $17k well equipped.

If buyers switch from trucks (most aren’t buying $70k trucks, fwiw) back to cars because of a recession, they won’t be switching from a $35k…

I have no doubt the other makers could easily build their own factories if demand warrants, nor do I doubt they would easily be able to match Tesla’s efficiency.

Hell, GM is barely any higher in cost for Tesla for batteries already, and that’s without investing in a gigafactory.

Except Tesla’s cells are made by Panasonic. Nothing is preventing GM/Ford/Toyota/Honda from striking a similar deal with Panasonic / Toshiba /etc.

Not only that, but there is potential risk for Tesla in the gigafactory at this point. Say Toyota’s claims for their solid state battery are accurate and they get into…

Especially when incomes across the UK drop from shooting themselves in the foot.

The counter to that “biggest strength” is that Tesla has no other vehicles other than EVs to turn to during downturns. When demand for $55k+ vehicles fades, they have to significantly cut prices. GM / Ford / Toyota are much less dependent on large EV packs, generally utilizing 1.3 to 9 kWh batteries in plugins or…

Considering that inventory was building on the Model 3, they were offering up until dec 31 to sell people vehicles they had on lots (ie, they weren’t building to order anymore), and they’ve talked about exporting a large percentage of their current production when they expand sales to Europe here, I’m not so sure…

Well, you can get in the low 6s 0-60 times (far more than adequate), leather seats, better looks, and still save $10-20k.

The Model 3 is simply not priced as a vehicle “for the masses”

No need for a GPS tracker. Simply require people to submit odometer readings when renewing their plates, and pay the tax then. That’s annual in most states anyway.

You can even go on the honor system with a penalty for underreporting when you sell/total the vehicle.

For example, if you tried claiming 8k miles per year…

I don’t pay for electricity - so how would they tax me then?

An alternative solution is an odometer tax - a fee per mile, based on vehicle weight.  They don’t need to track your vehicle movement, but just get annual odometer readings.  You could simply rely on people to be honest until they sold their vehicle - at…