this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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At some point prices will get so low that it'll make sense to buy a Tesla and rework the body so no one knows it's a Tesla.
They're already selling at virtually no markup. They're also old, very mature production lines. There's not much more price drop to be had, unless Tesla starts selling them at a loss.
Even at these lower prices, Tesla makes more money on their EVs than their competitors. That's part of why the others haven't been able to expand and compete as quickly. Expanding an expensive vehicle becomes a bigger liability as you have less pricing room. GM is only planning to have their first EV profitable year this year, and I'll believe it when I see it.
The Cybertruck is probably another story though, I don't know if that's profitable at the lower than expected sales rate.
Edit: E.g the Bolt everyone loves from GM never made GM money. That's why they didn't sell more. They did learn from it though so it wasn't a total loss for them.
Well either they sell them at a loss or they just let them sit on lots forever.
Tesla would rather recoup some revenue than just scrap all their remaining inventory.
Doing that will probably make it near impossible to get serviced, though.
If you can buy a Tesla cheap enough the usable parts, such as batteries and motors, can be moved to a different frame or vehicle. Even an ICE vehicle that you'd like to electrify. It's all just parts.
I like the way you think. When Tesla tanks and gets sold off for pennies, could you please start a Tesla Conversion business? I'd like to have a useful EV pickup that can carry a slide-in truck camper. I don't need any of that self-driving shit or connections to the Cloud or giant touch screens. Just pedals, gauges, levers, buttons, and a steering wheel.
There are some companies working on electric crate engines for conversion, I forget the names but they should be ready sometime soon
The electric motor for the Mach-E is available in a crate.
That's pretty wild and really cool to ponder. Battery placement and balancing its weight safely seems like a steep hurdle for bolt-on EV conversions.
Seems like there's potential space in a lot of the undercarriage, or as flat packs at the base of the engine and trunk compartments.