If you’re wondering what the best selling car in the United States is purely by revenue (units sold x sales price) it’s the Tesla Model 3.
If you’re looking to make a $1 Billion in a month, simply make an electric car that sells for an average price of about $55,000 and sell 20,000 of those. That’s what Tesla did in August making it the best selling passenger car BY REVENUE. According to Clean Technica on their report on Tesla Model 3 sales numbers earlier today (Sept. 9,2018) although the Tesla Model 3 wasn’t the best selling car by numbers, a high average selling price drove revenue higher than competitors.
Thanks to stats geniuses on the internet like @TroyTeslike, Teslike worked out that the average sale price of a Tesla Model 3 for pretty much all three quarters of 2018 so far was $55,759 (+- a couple hundred dollars.) Here’s the tweet with a handy graph showing exactly what’s driving such a high price on what’s billed as a $35,000 electric car.
The biggest drivers of that base price above and beyond the regular $35,000 standard cost is long range battery, performance upgrades, enhanced autopilot, and premium upgrades.
The average sale price of the #Tesla #Model3 is $55,759. This will increase when AWD deliveries start in the next few weeks. See the ‘Options & more’ tab here:https://t.co/pk4u9r7qWo@Teslarati @ElectrekCo @Jalopnik @cleantechnica @InsideEVs @GreenCarReports @HyperChangeTV pic.twitter.com/YKEkrkwnRO
— Teslike (@TroyTeslike) July 17, 2018
And as per Teslarati, last month Tesla moved a little over 20,000 Model 3’s making this pokey Tesla the fifth best selling car in the nation behind top-selling stalwarts like the Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Honda Accord, and, Honda Civic. Bear in mind that cars like the Corolla and Civic MSRP for around $18,900.
With so many Tesla Model 3 buyers skipping the base battery and opting for a longer range with more performance, the Tesla Model 3, although a small-ish car, isn’t exactly in the same league as Corollas and Civics. For the price it’s fetching, it’s a small luxury car. As such, buyers are willing to pay more now for an optioned up Tesla Model 3 and not wait 4-7 more months, as of this writing, for a Tesla Model 3 equipped with a smaller battery pack at that advertised magic MSRP of $35,000 after incentives and gas savings and minus taxes and delivery.
Also, with Autopilot 1.0 standard and what we know as Autopilot 2.0 having all the bells and whistles Tesla owners want, a three out of four take rate for Autopilot 2.0 is a no-brainer.
It’s no secret that Tesla is in the hole by billions. So while $1 Billion in revenue sounds amazing, they’re very much behind on their balance sheet. It’s no wonder Tesla is shooting these cars out at an amazing rate to fulfill preorders asap to get more revenue.
