One example among many.
It was even worse outside the US.
Europe adds VAT (usually ~24% or so, but depends on on the country**) atop a 10% import tariff on cars from the US, atop shipping etc. It has nothing to do with Musk, and everything to do with the EU. Don't like it? Lobby your government.
** US cars - and US products in general - are priced without taxes, as sales taxes are highly varied by jurisdiction (and generally low). In the US, tax is added on after the list price; it's not included in the list price. Whether you're talking cars,or a hamburger at MacDonalds.
and those early cars were Tesla's proprietary connector too,
Model 3/Y has never been sold in Europe without CCS combo. That was S/X. Model 3 was Tesla's first switch to CCS Combo in Europe.
I doubt they will produce a cheaper model this decade
Ahem
(And note that before 3/Y, there was only the much more expensive S/X.... and before that, the even-more-expensive Roadster)
And literally, what do you think they're tooling for? It's IMHO insane how CONSTANTLY, for a decade and a half, people are constantly saying "Tesla will NEVER sell [next model here]", and then as soon as Tesla starts selling it, people just move on to the NEXT model to insist that THAT will never be sold. Roadster, Model S, Model X, Model 3, Model Y, Semi, Cybertruck. *EVERY* time, "It's never going to happen!".
I mean, you'd think being wrong once or twice would be enough, but why do people like you insist on being wrong about Tesla shipping models again and again and again?
Protip: they're not tooling factories for giggles. Feel free to speculate on what pricing and stats of the next platform will be, but insisting that *they're not going to make a new platform* is just absurdity.