Its not a con, he knows he can save $trivial_amount domestically. He can probably hit 5% and have ownership of this thing, which is great, but he's not hitting ICE price levels. He's still hitting luxury car price levels. Tesla is a luxury car maker, why is that so hard for people to understand? He competes against Mercedes, Jaguar, etc and wants to sell better to buyers in that class, hence the gigafactory.
He cannot compete with Honda, Chevy, etc. ICE makes far too much sense.
He cannot compete with Honda, Chevy, etc. ICE makes far too much sense.