I've always felt like the base Model 3 and base BMW 3 series were very comparable. Add in a couple of thousand, and the 3 looks like a bargain.

That becomes a harder sell when the Model 3 is actually more expensive to operate, as it is in some places now.

Its not that they are buying to save money vs the economical choices, but it does make a difference relative to their comps (RWD & AWD sport sedans).

Do customers really believe the current exceptionally low oil prices are going to be a permanent feature?

Last time the oil price went down this aggressively coincided with the massive uptick in people buying SUVs

Oil futures are under $40 all the way through the end of 2022: https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/clz22

I fully accept I may be wildly out of touch with the common man, but I tend to be thinking of 8-10 years product life when I'm considering the TCO of a new vehicle.

Oil futures don’t go that far out unfortunately

I personally don't, and I suspect a lot of others do not either.

Personally, I'd take an EV over even a high performance ICE car in terms of everyday driving fun. I used to drive a hardtop 335, and really loved that thing, but there's no throttle delay on the Model 3, let alone turbo lag.

Maybe not, but if gas had continued to go up in 2020 and 2021, you'd have to think that would help convince move people to shift over to electric.

I've somehow never believed that theory. There are tens of thousands who buy gas guzzlers, at whatever price of gas was/is. If only people were that rational, they'd stop buying them to save our planet.

You can tax cigarettes all you want, people are still gonna smoke.

Sure tens of thousands buy gas guzzlers because they can afford it / don't care. But there are also tens of thousands more that don't because they can't afford it.

It's always going to be a factor. Total cost of ownership is one of the biggest factors in car sales.