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Comment by mtgx | Hacker News Reader

51% of Americans earn $30,000 or less a year [1] (yes, you read that right - and you wonder why populist candidates are so popular and why the anti-rich people sentiment is so strong...).

I wish Musk hasn't said that he's not going to make a car that's cheaper than $35,000. I know he wants to add Level 5 Autopilot and whatnot by default on these cars, but he really needs to get to the $20,000 range at least. That's where the real mainstream is, and not just in the U.S. either. EVs will go mainstream when they cost $10,000-$20,000.

It may take another decade to get there, but if Musk doesn't build such a car others will. It's just that I would've preferred a Tesla car to put pressure on the quality of the competitors as well.

[1] http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-21/goodbye-middle-clas...

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Well then let's do some comparison shopping.

90% of the people living in the EU earn less than $30,000 per year. The EU's median household income is comparable to the US poverty line for median household income. The EU's GDP per capita is 60% lower than the US; they have 750 million people, with a total GDP 10% lower than the US.

Or take Sweden for comparison, it's below all but 12 US states when it comes to median individual income. The median US income is about 45% higher than the UK median. The number of countries on earth with a higher median income than the US, you can list on one hand.

These numbers are even more dramatically out of line, if you're talking about white households (which supposedly form the core of the populist anger). The median white household earns $75,000 and has a median net worth of $145,000 - an income number drastically higher than Sweden, Finland, UK, Germany, France, etc.

So remind me again how income numbers in the US are driving the populist anger.

This is fascinating. Do you have any sources to I can read further into this?

It looks like there'll be further models after the Three:

"I'm super excited about being able to produce a car that most people can afford," Musk said. "And there will be future cars that are even more affordable down the road."

"With something like the Model 3, it's designed such that roughly half the people can afford the car," he continued. "With fourth generation and smaller cars and what not, we'll ultimately be in the position where almost everyone will be able to afford the car."

From here: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3062365/car-tech/elon-m...

> I wish Musk hasn't said that he's not going to make a car that's cheaper than $35,000.

When did he state that? I'd only read the general plan of 'make an expensive high-end car, use profits to make a less expensive mid-range car, use profits from that to make an affordable car'.

Or did he mean that they don't need to make a cheaper car for widespread adoption since owners can rent the car out as a self-driving taxi to recoup ownership costs?

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