Plopping a new large plant in a rural area will increase housing demand... and there may not be excess housing available... IF there are a lot of employees moving to the locale of the new plant instead of locals being hired into the plant. I.e., more new people >> higher home prices. Nothing new, and not caused by wage rates. But $20/hr jobs should not cause a stampede. And current market has more open jobs than people willing to fill them. Apparently.
I guess my question would be if everyone only bought the XL trim would Ford workers be able to be paid the wages they get? Sincere question.
The difference is that Tesla’s bread and butter are the 40-60 k vehicles and I believe they would be just fine selling just those. They are in fact lowering their prices even more.
Yes and if they only sold XL Mavericks they would be thousand$ more than today but they are not and they won't. The XL are there just as the Model 3s for entry level.
I'm going to assume those sleazebags were elected, you know what to do. If they have popular support you're stuck.
Well believe me I am pulling for Ford but it might be a little soon to say they are beating predictions. I think you would agree that a large number of Maverick buyers would be F150 buyers if they were priced lower. Most Maverick XL buyers except fleet would be XLT or Lariat buyers if not for those prices being as high as they are.
My point is that line workers at Tesla making 40K per year have a very hard time finding an apartment in Austin when the median rent is around $2000 a month. Buying a house is out of the question. So Travis County and the City are using taxpayer funds to subsidize the construction of affordable housing units for low wage earners. This is after the richest man in the world already received incentives and property tax rebates. Elon has even floated the idea of building company housing, which harkens back to the era when robber barons had company towns constructed next to the mines and plants and is a common practice today in China. In the 30's and 40's after the labor movement arose and scored better wages for their members they then could afford to rent or purchase their own homes. Of course Musk is vehemently anti-union and has been cited numerous times in CA and TX for safety violations.
Sorry but thats just not accurate, Ford just lowered the MSRP on the F150 Lghting by i believe some $5000 in response to Telsa & others price reductions. also Ford & GM & Stellantis have employee discounts that offer significant discounts off of MSRP that may not be as large as they should be but certainly help the workers purchase what they produce. Telsa and EVERY other OEM that i'am aware of would give their left you know what to sell trucks with the volumes & customer loyalty that Ford has for decades.
Even taking into account that there was a recent reduction in the Mach and F-150 Lightning, you cannot say with a straight face that they all have not increased their MSRP significantly over the past few years. I know that an average transaction in the $70-k range is a lot, and is more than most employees could afford. The old dealer rule of 10% of gross income should be the max monthly payment indicates for a lot of the vehicles on the lot that their MSRP is above the line as far as a purchase with normal credit. Even with 8 year terms, many vehicles are too pricey for the pay rates. The number of days of inventory indicate a slowed sales rate, and thus the left-whatever volume is currently reducing, loyalty being attacked by recall and quality problems, and the members here have indicated their displeasure at the slow dragged-out response to demand. Ford is not doing things very well, IMO. No one else has to agree with my opinion, but figures indicate they may have made some bad moves. Who will buy a Mach-e when a Tesla with better tech and lower price is available? That may be why they are piling up on some dealer lots. Next step will be cash on the hood for potential buyers. All makers produced their 'platinum' level products to maximize profit on lower sales figures due to a virus and apparent lack of ICs to stuff into circuit boards. The product mix has left those who work the line looking, but likely, even with discounts, not buying at the rate previously seen. Again, opinion, but I think FoMoCo has put their foot in it. Back when I was a kid, the came out with the Falcon and Mustang and went from zero sales per year to hundreds of thousands. They could and did shift production to meet demand. They have not done so for the Bronco, Bronco Sport, and Maverick. The cash-cow crew who work on the F-150 likely pushed to keep production down to make sure the cash cow was not trimmed of its sales by the newcomer. They are the same crew that stomped on the Ranger until it was killed, and are not likely doing the same for fear the Maverick will steal F-150 sales. They have weight in the boardroom because of the dollars the product brings in. They also think people will be upsold to a F-1560 who came in to inspect a Maverick for possible purchase. If they think that, my take is they should get out of Dearborn more often, and take a look at what the products are being used for. I agree with multiple voices that the pickup truck market has been stuffed with fancy, full-featured, over-equipped units that are priced above what the average consumer can afford. Glad I do not own stock an any of the three USA producers. I am not and will never be in the market for an F-150 of any sort. It would cost more than many houses, and would not fit in my garage, and I cannot ever expect to reach into the bed for anything. Someone decided they all should be super-sized, and they all went for it. But I will not be looking, much less buying.
The thing is it doesn’t matter if your employees can’t build a house or pay rent close to your factory. What matters is what you can sell your product for. Austin is a high tech town with lots of high and often over-paid tech workers. They are paid well enough to live right in town. That doesn’t mean the line worker should get paid the same.
What does Tesla pay the line workers in Fremont? The SF Bay Area has housing costs that would make your jaw drop. I have no idea how anyone can afford to buy a home anywhere close to work.
