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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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The problem with Tesla is that once you drive it you are hooked. Majority of us buy a second one and every other car company is still selling rotary phones while I’m enjoying my iPhone X. That makes it hard to do the usual route to step five because in the past six months they just got another third of a million new loyal customers. And pissed of a bunch in Taiwan who are mad that the prices dropped this week. Apparently they think it devalued their ‘depreciating assets’ - cars.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-02/german-car-industry-to-invest-45-billion-in-electric-vehicles?srnd=premium
Germany’s automotive industry will invest over 40 billion euros ($45 billion) in electric vehicles over the next three years to triple the number of models vying for buyers, the head of the VDA car industry association said.
$45 billion ought to get them past rotary phones pretty quickly. I think the iPhone X is an excellent example. Apple sells great products with a huge mark up to a cult following. You can get similar performance for 1/3 the cost.
If Tesla does succeed, I think it will look like Apple in a lot of ways.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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"Never bet against Elon Musk".
Peter Thiel
I stick to mutual funds. So I'm not buying individual stocks or trying to short them.
And even if Tesla stocks turn out to be overvalued, you can go bankrupt waiting for market fundamentals to kick in. Especially with a celebrity/cult company like Tesla.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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I think what Apple did with smart phones was great. I'm glad that Tesla made electric cars sexy. I think this would have happened eventually anyway, but he definitely kick started the process.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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So Elon was doinking Amber Heard while she was married to Jonny Depp?
Respect!
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Banks
Trad climber
Santa Monica, CA
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I can name two times in the last decade that Tesla was in stage four. One time Elon asked every shareholder to double their stake or they were going under. This is before the S came out. Another time was before that.
The problem with Tesla is that once you drive it you are hooked. Majority of us buy a second one and every other car company is still selling rotary phones while I’m enjoying my iPhone X. That makes it hard to do the usual route to step five because in the past six months they just got another third of a million new loyal customers. And pissed of a bunch in Taiwan who are mad that the prices dropped this week. Apparently they think it devalued their ‘depreciating assets’ - cars.
And Tesla is in stage 4 again, except this time they are running out of moves to make. Model Y and truck announcements are just ploys to keep the stock afloat. They need to spend cash to make those things happen except they are quickly running out of it and no one wants to give them more. Closing all retail locations after just saying they are expanding retail locations is not a good sign. Laying off workers for the third time since last summer is not a good sign. Having trouble recruiting and keeping talent at a "cool" company while offering above industry averages in pay is not a good sign. Slashing prices on their top margin vehicles is not a good sign. And yes, you would be pissed too if you spent well over $100k on a car only to see the next guy get his for 20k, 30k or 40k less. If things are so great in Tesla land, why did Musk just mortgage his FIVE houses for $61 Million?
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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Are you sure about that? That is what we call an incorrect assumption. Didn’t you read where I keep saying how happy I am with my X? And happy that they are doing what they said they would at Tesla with models and pricing? Are we all so used to politicians who say one thing to get elected and then do another that when people actually follow through it confounds us?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Toothie, we get that you love yer car. What does that have to do with anything? By all accounts the Tucker was the car of the future too.
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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It has to do with statement he typed which immediately preceded my reply that went something like this...”And yes, you would be pissed too if you spent well over $100k on a car”. Don’t act so dumb R. And I hope you are acting because I can’t imagine someone actually being that ignorant.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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Reilly isn’t acting.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Thank you, RJ.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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Got your back Vato .
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Banks
Trad climber
Santa Monica, CA
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Tooth- So you're trying to tell me that you would be happy paying tens of thousands more for a car just because you bought it a day earlier than someone else?
And to Reilly's point, you just keep repeating how much you love your car without addressing any of the real serious problems that Tesla is facing. Tesla's are nice innovative cars and what Musk has done is impressive. But he has also taken its first mover advantage and squandered it. As a Tesla owner are you not concerned about the future of the company?
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Reilly: . . . the Tucker was the car of the future too.
I remember the Edsel. Strange and interesting car that was.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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The Edsel something like 19 bolts on the water pump. I hated working on them.
The ten inventions that nobody thought would be a success? I think a lot of people thought they would be very successful if perfected.
Tooth you asked why can't Ford do what Tesla is doing. Because they can't lose money on every car they sell.
Oh and by the way Teslas battery tech. came from GM.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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^^^
Asking why Ford (or the Germans) can't do what Tesla does is like asking why Samsung can't do what Apple does.
Apple got a huge head start on the smart phone market. Huawei and Samsung are now selling far more cost effective products than Apple is.
And Apple made hundreds of billions during its early dominance. While Tesla is bleeding money during its early dominance.
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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Banks, that is what happens when you buy tech. It gets cheaper and better in the future. I’m happy that Tesla is following through on their promise to do so, and I had five years to watch the changes in prices and tech at Tesla before I purchased. It happened before, after, and will continue to change. My dad happened to get a $2500 discount when the S literally dropped in price the next week (last year) , so I know that they don’t leave guys high and dry overnight as you postulated. I also know that I paid more for free supercharging ($9000 of value to me this year alone) which these new cars ($10,000 less) don’t have.
As far as Tesla squandering their lead, i still can’t find an EV that would let me travel like normal(50,000k/yr) that isn’t a Tesla. Especially a GM product. Their batteries are not actively heated or cooled, and all the other little details that make Tesla just work. They have the problems that justify the excuses for not getting an electric car, like waiting to charge, etc. Problems I would not want to have. But as far as product that you can buy, nobody has taken the lead, yet. It will hopefully happen, but when it does, I’m don’t care because ford has a lead with the F150 and Toyota still sells Tacomas. Which no self-respecting rancher Living up here would be caught dead in. So there is room in the market for more that one player. Tesla product is so good that I am excited for whatever eclipses them and hope there is a lot of real good product put out there soon. I fear though that they will only continue to produce compliance vehicles for as long as possible hoping that Tesla goes under and then they will kill their EV programs as well. Or it may become a non-north American thing. Where Europe/China has manufacturing of EVs and the US doesn’t. Doesn’t make it right. But politics can have just as much influence as market demand.
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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And as far as being worried about Tesla going under because I own one... there are almost a million built and the best charging network out there. Going bankrupt means auctioning off the assets, so someone will pick it up. It won’t disappear into thin air. It would probably be bought out by someone who wants to keep the high end stuff and run it without expansion. Like Audi or Jaguar - neither of which has been able to beat the performance specs given the same size battery.
So you can get all hyped about the media accounts of excitement going on around the company or just take a realistic view and actually experience the product. I choose to relax and enjoy.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Race ya ......across the country?
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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Remember how technology improves with time? Guess what comes out today? Version 3 supercharger. 200kW+?
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Imagine the money to be made coming out with a new battery 2x as good as the current Lithium packs...
Realistically though it's going to be extremely hard to approach the calorie density and distribution network of gasoline/diesel. Filling up with 20 gallons of gasoline for 500+ miles of range in 5 minutes is hard to beat. Even if such a battery existed that could be charged in such a time, the draw and network supporting the charger would have to be massive.
Interesting times for sure. My $$$ is going towards storage innovations... a much better battery is really the key to everything promised by renewables.
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