Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Tesla announces $35,000 Model 3, is closing its stores to pay for it
On Thursday afternoon, Tesla announced that it's finally ready to start selling the cheapest versions of its Model 3 electric vehicle. For $35,000—before any federal or local tax incentives—you can now order a rear-wheel drive Model 3 Standard Range. This car gets black paint and the as-yet unseen standard interior, which means manual (not power assisted) seat and steering adjustment, cloth trim, and a stripped-down audio system. Tesla says the cheapest Model 3 will have 220 miles of range, will hit 60mph (96km/h) in 5.6 seconds before topping out at 130mph (209km/h).
[...] However, these new, cheaper Teslas come at a cost. Tesla also announced that it is now moving to an entirely online sales model and will be shuttering most of its retail locations in the US. "Going to online only is incredibly helpful to us; in many parts of the US, we're unable to sell cars because of franchise laws. This substantially opens up our ability to buy cars. It's 2019—people want to buy stuff online," Musk said.
That means job losses. "There's no other way for us to achieve the savings required to produce this car and still remain profitable. There's no way around it," Musk said. However, when asked about the number or timing of job losses, Musk would not be drawn into details and dismissed the question as "not today's topic."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 01 2019, @04:31PM
well i hope they don't have to store a lot of cars in one place.
just one disaster would ruin the whole lot.
happened to honda after grudgingly (i suppose) accepting investment incentives from the thai government
that only were granted if they agreed to build their factory in a official "industrial zone" which
also happened to be a age-old flood plain in ayudeyha-ha-ha-ha :)
https://www.autoblog.com/photos/honda-flood-cars-in-thailand/ [autoblog.com]
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also, only selling the cars via internet is proooobably not going to fly with some
establish mafia groups (car dealers, transporter, etc.)?