What is the cheapest new car as of now ?
A Nissan Versa for 11500$
(source :
10 cheapest new cars in America - Nissan Versa (1) - CNNMoney)
I might be wrong but I believe :
Divide it by 3 and you have the price out of the factory.
1/3 goes back to engineering
1/3 is for commercials / margin for the distributor
If you can reduce 2/3 of the price to half, your price is now 2/3 of those 12000.
The car is smaller hence less steel => there is your second reduction in price, say 10%.
We are at 7200 already.
Now the company is based on a single model / single variant, basically a start-up so you labor cost (for engineering) are much cheaper than those of the big 4.
Anyway, they don't have much choice because the vehicle is an UFO (or UDO) so they have to have a major hit on the market and the price is the ultimate argument.