One proof of how hard building a profitable inexpensive car is how long previous budget buster successes like the VW Beetle, Model T and Citroen 2CV stayed in production so long is because improving them proved to be a thankless money pit until they became really obsolete. Its not like when Musk does build one that there wont be stiff competition. The Europeans are sort of getting close. VW, Renault and Stellantis have credible $25K EV cars on the road right now. Chinese carmaker BYD has a similar car for half that price. Toyota has went from procrastinating against EVs to bringing 7 new EVs to America in the near future. 5 years ago Musk would have a been world hero doing this but now its too little too late. The reason he built the Cybertruck is because full-size American pickups have the highest profit margin of any type of vehicle in the world. Now that he failed at that, why would anyone expect he could take on this far harder task going into the teeth of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean auto industry.
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