Tesla Model 3 Earns Five-Star Crash Safety Rating From NHTSA (jalopnik.com)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has awarded the Tesla Model 3 with a five-star safety rating -- the highest possible score. This means that every car Tesla has built has earned a five-star rating. Jalopnik reports: The NHTSA tests cover three primary categories: Frontal Crash, Side Crash, and Rollover, and the Model 3 received the highest ratings in all categories. For some categories, it's easy to understand why Teslas do so well. Rollover resistance, for example, makes sense for cars that carry most of their weight at the very bottom, in the batteries sandwiched in the Tesla's chassis design. Other reasons for the remarkable crash safety may be that, without the need for a heavy chunk of metal as a drivetrain, effective and large crumple zones can be designed in, front and rear. The NHTSA has released videos of their frontal collision test, side pole collision test, and side collision test, for those who like watching these sort of things.

Comments

Tesla has a ~20% profit margin

[SuperKendall]

Hey, when you sell cars below cost

Well we all know AC's lie, but by how much?

Here's a good example of a real-life measurement you can use to determine how much fabrication goes into the average AC statement, because Tesla has around a 20% profit margin per car - 5x higher than Ford. Kind of a lot different than "losing money on every car".

Hey, who you gonna believe, a smooth-talking AC where *certainly* has nothing against Tesla, or your lying Ars?

Re:Tesla has a ~20% profit margin

[Rei]

but include the REQUIRED SG&A expenses

Totally. When Tesla runs a welding robot faster, that totally makes them build and fill a new office building!

SG&A is not part of gross margin for a reason: it does not rise in correlation with production volumes as a production line spools up. Increasing production rates on a line lowersCOGS, by decreasing hardware depreciation. Without refining of proction processes, labour costs increases linearly with volumes (labour being only a fraction of COGS), but refining production processes - something that happens every month as a new line matures - decreases labour. SG&A, by contrast, scales at a far-below-linear relationship to production volumes. Stamping out panels faster doesn't mean that you need to hire a new janitor. Simplifying how to attach two components with less labour doesn't mean you have to hire a new webmaster. Reducing interruptions in the paint shop doesn't mean you have to hire a new director of accounting. Heck, should we even bother talking about the SG&A expense that is operating the supercharger network - formerly a (expensive) loss leader, but presently converting to a profit centre as Model 3 volumes expand, and for which the vast majority ofchargers (aka those in less densely populated areas) are able to vastly increase their service volumes without any capital expenses?

I also love the fact that you never mention the fact that Tesla took a SG&A hit in Q2 in order to reduce its SG&A expenses from Q3 onward, but let's not worry our little heads about that!

Re:Any people wonder why the model 3 is hot

[Anonymous Coward]

Overall five stars yes, but not all 5 stars.
There are [only] two other cars that get rated as high: The Toyota Camry and Subaru Forester
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkiley5/2018/09/20/can-tesla-model-3s-five-star-nhtsa-rating-change-elon-musks-bad-month/#42426833103b