Wednesday, June 19, 2013

How to Recognize the Moment Elon Musk and Tesla Have Begun Their Campaign For World Domination (TSLA)

From a commenter at The Big Picture on the post "Tesla Model S Cold Weather Range Test Norway" (TSLA)":
constantnormal
With an EU-average retail gas price of about $8.33/gal (USD) (assuming I have done the arithmetic correctly), one wonders why Elon does not just build a manufacturing plant in Ireland, produce cars and charging stations, and roll everything back into the business tax-free … one would think that a model S made in Ireland would cost no more in the EU than a BMW or Volvo, and the shorter driving distances there, coupled with a lot more solar electric generation per capita, should make this extremely competitive in those markets.

Yes, the 99% in the EU are having the economic life stomped out of them, but I suspect that in the EU, just as in the US, the 1% have hardly changed their lifestyles, and Tesla should be able to sell many hundreds/thousands of these cars there, while simultaneously dominating the plug-in charging station markets.
Back in May Mr. Musk targeted July as the month he begins shipping, they already have "Tesla Stores" set up in nine European countries.

At about the same time Goldman estimated the order rate in Europe was about 200 per month, probably not enough to set up that Irish factory.