German carmakers dissect Tesla Model 3, find they cannot compete on price - report

Four German carmakers have each dismantled a Tesla Model 3 after buying them on the grey market, Stefan Hajek reports in the business magazine WirtschaftsWoche. Hajek does not name the carmakers, but hints at Daimler, BMW, Audi, and VW. The engineers reportedly found that Tesla will be able to make money even with the basic version of the Model 3 that costs 35,000 US dollars if it can overcome its problems associated with mass production. “Our analysis shows that the total cost of all parts is around 18,000 US dollars,” an engineer told the author, adding that production costs were estimated at around 10,000 US dollars. Overall, the engineers were impressed by many of the Model 3’s technical details, and also found that a German premium carmaker “would currently not manage to build a technically similar battery-powered car for this price.”

Find the article in German (behind paywall) here.

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