Originally Posted by CT8
Tesla over here is to show off as well.
I'm sure for some it is, but the culture over there is very different when it comes to showing off wealth. I'm sure for some here the car is more than a car--it's a show of "environmental cred", "tech cred" or yeah, "wealth". Of course, some folks buy them because they perform really well. Most Golf R owners I know (hardly a car of ostentatiousness) cross shop the Model 3. The $ to performance ratio is very high. Until they made a 5 door though, I'm not interested.
While I don't want to generalize, I will a bit: almost all of China's money is "new money", and status is a huge thing. I've never sat in a factory owner's car that cost less than 80K USD, unless the factory owner was Taiwanese living in China. Then it was a Toyota... It's not just cars, it's everything. Showing your wealth is some sorta fundamental ethos, and seems pretty common to the nouveau riche of China. Tesla fits the bill perfectly. They also put a huge premium on foreign brands, which is why VW is the number one selling car there.