Even calling the Model S a BMW is stretching given, for the price, how bad the interior is, how average the performance is (outside of the P100D), and how poor their customer support and QA is.

Tesla has no comparison in the auto industry. The Model S is a $35k upcharge, minimum, over comparable traditional automobiles, just for the electric powertrain. The Model 3 might get that number down to $15k. Nothing we've seen about the Model 3 looks like it should start at $35k, beside the hype around electric powertrain.

My question is: Who can get that number down to $5k first? Tesla? Or BMW, Toyota, or GM?

Wow. So pleased to see there are not a ton of Tesla fanboys on here. I feel like I'm in good company.

What are you talking about. There are a ton of musk fanboys here.

He says that we'll have fully self driving cars this year, astronauts on Mars in 2022, human comouter nueral interface in 2025, and a settlement with cheap tunnels ok Mars in 2030.

These guys are going to have a decade of disappointment and hyperbole thrown at them.

The thing is, I don't even think that's an issue. Some people just want a Tesla. They don't care what model it is. Until the 3,they would have had to get the super. And some did. Now a lot of those same people will just get the 3. They're perceived as being equal in terms of Tesla-Ness, which is what Tesla buyers seem to care most about. So how is the S supposed to maintain its sales when now it has to compete with the 3?

Tesla has to convince people that they actual want an S. Not just want a Tesla.

Doesn't the 3 allude to that it should compete with the BMW 3 series?

That wasn't their public intention, but you have to believe it was talked about given that the BMW 3 is, depending on the year, the best selling luxury sport sedan in the world.