But a luxury manufacturer like e.g. Audi gets to reuse engineering work from parent VW and sibling Lamborghini to improve their $100k car. Much of the comparative advantage of the Model S is due directly to the engineering differences of building an electric powertrain; they get to make different tradeoffs than BMW does in, say, an M5.
The real nutcutting time will come when an established brand decides to build a high-end electric (the BMW i8, for instance), where they get to combine their much more significant economies of scale with the advantages of an electric drivetrain.
EDIT: The i8 is a plug-in hybrid, actually, so it's really a worst of both worlds sort of deal. The point still stands as made, however.
I wonder how the marginal cost of an ICE compares with the marginal cost of one or two electric motors + regen + batteries + charger, and how those change over time. I suspect the electric drive train isn't cheaper now, but will be cheaper in a few years.
I suspect aside from the batteries, electric drive train is already cheaper. Modern ICE are ridiculously sophisticated and require advanced manufacturing capabilities.
The real nutcutting time will come when an established brand decides to build a high-end electric (the BMW i8, for instance), where they get to combine their much more significant economies of scale with the advantages of an electric drivetrain.
EDIT: The i8 is a plug-in hybrid, actually, so it's really a worst of both worlds sort of deal. The point still stands as made, however.