The other problem for Tesla and the model 3 is that the federal tax credits for EVs manufactured by Tesla are going to expire fairly soon (Federal tax credit for EVs are limited to the first 200K units produced by an auto maker). Tesla already close to 100K vehicles produced so only another 100K of their units are eligible for a tax credit. Congress could extend the tax credits but I don’t know that they will. I don’t know about any sort of CA tax credit for EV. That might have different parameters.[/quote]
The tax credit does not end (drop from 7500/10k to 50% of that value) on car number 200,001. It ends two quarters after the 200,000th vehicle is delivered. This was covered at length in the past few weeks. Assuming there is no extension of the credit, expect Tesla to hold inventory to maximize credits for as many people as possible. They could arguably hold inventory from release prior to hitting the 200K and flood the market to fill as many deliveries as possible to allow for maximizing benefit to the buyer. I am not saying that will happen but its one play to benefit the consumer.
