[erikpukinskis]

Yes, true! But that's not the goal. The goal is the Model 3, which should have an industry leading TCO per mile, below the Prius, Honda Fit, etc.

Tesla has been explicitly thanking current buyers of Model S and Model X for doing their part providing cash for this environmentalist project. Elon's earliest statements admit that they can't compete on price as a startup. But they have been driving costs down rapidly and their philosophy as OP stated, is to be the best car available in all senses, and not rely on environmentalist good vibes for sales.

They already did this for acceleration, automation, and running costs. They still have some categories to go. But that doesn't invalidate the suggestion that their philosophy is about feature parity, as opposed to environmental charity.