> I cannot for the life of me rationalize spending so much on a car. The $35,000 just doesn't make sense in New England, so I need to add in AWD. Then I need to add in the autopilot because isn't that the point of owning a Tesla so you don't have to drive your car someday? Now, with government incentives, this car is $50k.

Nah, that's only if you're throwing in LR and a Premium Interior.

$35k + $6k for AWD + $5k for AP = $46k.

That's before any incentives or gas savings. And you're also getting an ADAS that outperforms Comma, a huge and growing Supercharger network, and all the OTA updates and hardware utilization to come. Skip Enhanced Autopilot software and you're only $5k over the average new car price (before incentives!).

Tesla has built a profitable EV in a market that treats EVs as loss leaders. The market's about to learn a hard lesson.

[1]https://mediaroom.kbb.com/2018-02-01-Average-New-Car-Prices-...