Why Does Tesla Charge Extra for Colors?
1 Answers
Price discrimination is the reason. Specific details are as follows: 1. Concentrated production: Regarding process costs, different paint colors have different process requirements, including coating thickness, number of layers, temperature, etc. Additionally, when there is only one production line, switching between paint types requires clearing the existing paint from the equipment pipelines (waste). When switching back to mass-produced paint colors after applying niche colors, the process must be repeated (double waste), and production must be halted, resulting in capacity waste. To avoid this, niche paint colors are usually produced in concentrated batches. 2. Greater profits: Mainstream brands typically set commonly used colors like white, black, and gray as standard options. Since more people choose these colors, the costs are naturally spread thinner. Tesla only offers black as the standard color. Based on the above reasoning, it can be inferred that in the early stages, production capacity was insufficient, and priority was given to ensuring output and cost control. However, even after production capacity increased, Tesla did not offer other colors as standard, not even common options like white or gray with standard finishes. This suggests that Tesla's sales are strong, the market has accepted its pricing, and Tesla maintains price discrimination to sustain higher profits.
