Price threat...possibly. Stainless steel price

[Frankenblob]

Stainless steel has gone up about 50% ( not 400 %, as i inaccurately stated priorly) and we know commodities can be cyclical and demand driven, amongst other things.

Ergo, would higher CT prices stop you from buying, drive you down the motor scale ( i.e 3 to 2 or 2 to 1) or "ta hell with it, I am buying at any cost!"?

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[Diehard]

Any increase in price or drop in specs (making things like air suspension, vault cover,.....optional) will seriously push me toward another brand. CT value is what put my purchase on hold. I won’t reward any company that tries to pull a fast one. Will pay a bit more to someone else that was straight with me from the start.

 

[Rthardison]

I have some flexibility, but with limits. +10%

 

[Ehninger1212]

The money they are already saving from manufacturing plus the amount of stainless they will able to guarantee suppliers should be more than enough to prevent a price increase. If anything Tesla will eventually decrease the price. This is pretty constant thing from them.

Im buying it either way.

 

[Sirfun]

Stainless steel has gone up about 4x, and we know commodities can be cyclical and demand driven, amongst other things.

Ergo, would higher CT prices stop you from buying, drive you down the motor scale ( i.e 3 to 2 or 2 to 1) or "ta hell wi th it, I am buying at any cost!"?

Where did you get your information that SS price has gone up 4X? If the price of stainless steel went up 4X from Nov. 2019 when Elon quoted prices for Cybertrucks then it would make sense there would be some kind of price increase. 4X would be a huge increase in the raw materials.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

It is ridiculous to think that any auto maker would go into a multi year manufacturing run without availability and price contracts for every aspect of the production. Tesla has contracted with this Texas company to provide stainless for the Starship and Cybertruck. Does anyone really believe that Tesla is so stupid as to be at the whim of the market fluctuations? They might have to take out contracts for different volumes at different prices, but we can be pretty certain that they are protected within the scope of existing contracts.

 

[Diehard]

It is ridiculous to think that any auto maker would go into a multi year manufacturing run without availability and price contracts for every aspect of the production. Tesla has contracted with this Texas company to provide stainless for the Starship and Cybertruck. Does anyone really believe that Tesla is so stupid as to be at the whim of the market fluctuations? They might have to take out contracts for different volumes at different prices, but we can be pretty certain that they are protected within the scope of existing contracts.

Besides $10K FSD and potential Insurance revenue provides a lot of cushion to deal with unexpected supply fluctuations if Tesla wishes to stick with what they showed at the time of reservation.

 

[Pilot4hire]

I have some flexibility, but with limits. +10%

I believe in limits also. BUT. Tesla, has been taking a BIG risk from 2008 and Elon is trying to make this a better place for all of us, yes I will go above normal to help someone that is trying to help us. He is making $ but I hope you know that is not his purpose to get rich, he has improved every car manufactory just by showing them how it can be done and to make the world a safer place. Yes, I have had a couple of his cars and have more on order. We need to support those that support us. I am 200% safer as I drive down the street, I will get to see my grandkids longer. Thank you Elon.

 

[EVCanuck]

It is ridiculous to think that any auto maker would go into a multi year manufacturing run without availability and price contracts for every aspect of the production. Tesla has contracted with this Texas company to provide stainless for the Starship and Cybertruck. Does anyone really believe that Tesla is so stupid as to be at the whim of the market fluctuations? They might have to take out contracts for different volumes at different prices, but we can be pretty certain that they are protected within the scope of existing contracts.

They have more than a million CT reservations. There's no way they already optioned all that stainless steel. So some of the reservation holders will certainly see a price increase.

 

[Bigvbear]

Bear in mind, Tesla is using it's own special alloy formula for its stainless steel. Its not off the shelf stuff.

 

[EVCanuck]

Bear in mind, Tesla is using it's own special alloy formula for its stainless steel. Its not off the shelf stuff.

That doesn't change the fact that Tesla's proprietary stainless steel will have to compete for the supply of same commodities: iron, nickel and chromium

 

[Diehard]

How much steel do you think goes to one CT? Price increase from 2015 to 2019 was $200 for a Metric Ton:

https://www.focus-economics.com/commodities/base-metals/steel-usa

we may be able to afford the increase for one CT

 

[Crissa]

They have more than a million CT reservations. There's no way they already optioned all that stainless steel. So some of the reservation holders will certainly see a price increase.

Yes, they probably weren't expecting that level of demand.

But no, that doesn't mean a price increase is incoming. It could mean a price decrease would be slower.

Even more, they're planning on building Starship out of the same material. Each segment of of a Starship contains enough SS to make several Cybertrucks, and there's show many segments in each Starship and Super Heavy Booster? And they need dozens of these to go to the Moon and Mars.

There's alot of steel needed. I don't think we'll see a price jump in our trucks. We'll just see more cargo ships and old buildings dismantled.

-Crissa

 

[EVCanuck]

How much steel do you think goes to one CT? Price increase from 2015 to 2019 was $200 for a Metric Ton:

https://www.focus-economics.com/commodities/base-metals/steel-usa

we may be able to afford the increase for one CT

That is for the regular hot-rolled steel (98% iron content) that is about 3-5 times cheaper than SS.

I don't have the latest data but the price of stainless steel actually decreased since CT reveal through Apr 2020 (due to COVID obviously), I believe it went up again lately.
But I am not concerned about the price of iron ore as the world is abundant in it. I am more concerned about the price of Nickel, that is used in batteries and the stainless steel skin (about 10% for the 304 grade). Chromium (about 18% of 304 grade) is also very expensive and there are a limited number of places in the world where it is mined.
I hope Tesla has done some research in order to evaluate the impact of 100k, 500k, 1M+ Cybertrucks produced on the global demand for these two metals (Nickel and Chromium).

 

[Diehard]

I hope Tesla has done some research in order to evaluate the impact of 100k, 500k, 1M+ Cybertrucks produced on the global demand for these two metals (Nickel and Chromium).

You may have discovered the reason for update delay: Cybertruck is cancelled and they don’t know how to tell us. But if it is not, even if they have to redesign at some point due to shortage of Nickel + Chromium, there is always an upside; A lot of us may end up with collactables