White Lake Charter Township, MI
Quoted from pezpunk:no chance. Prior to Tesla, the auto industry's only interest in electric cars was in trying to prove they were infeasible, and making them as unappealing as possible. If not for Tesla, the industry would have stayed committed to gasoline forever. They are now desperate to catch up, but in my opinion it's too late. Tesla has a ten-year head start, an actual existing huge supercharger network (not just "plans to build"), a loyal customer base, and a badge that is highly desirable. Plus, Tesla has reached a point where their pockets are as deep or deeper than the other players in the industry. There was a time when automakers, if they had jumped fast enough, could have eaten Tesla's lunch, but that time has passed.
they dragged their feet for too long. Musk has accumulated an absurd amount of vertical integration and manufacturing capability, and has virtually unlimited capital at his disposal now. he's no longer crushable through sheer force of money-pouring. if they had gotten off their ass in 2010, sure, but now it's too late, even taking their eternal annual promises of "our Tesla killer is only two years away!" at face value this time.
I totally disagree.
I realize I'm walking into the fan but IMO, Elon Musk is nothing but a snake oil salesman. Tesla's two major manufacturing centers were gifted to Tesla. IMO, what Nevada did is downright insane. Yet with all that, Tesla auto manufacturing has yet to turn a real profit. There is dispute on how they lose per unit but there is no doubt, sales are dependent upon government incentives. And now while they are touting this latest model, they fully admit they are going to skip a level of development. IOW, again, IMO they are going to use early customers as guinea pigs. And that's not they only IMO stupid move by this crazy company, this new model is going into the one segment of the market where the demand is the lowest and the segment is shrinking. Compacts aren't exactly a cash cow for any of the manufacturers and the 3 is a compact in every sense of the word. And even at that, Tesla admits they should be in the hot segment, IOW, CUV or SUV vehicles. So that's where they are going next while using just about none of the parts they just "developed".
And even with all that, the gorilla in the room is that unless things change, Tesla is getting close to the point where fuel economy incentives will run out. Of course states can write their own but after a certain amount of production, federal incentives will go away.
Yes the high end Teslas are interesting cars but truth is, it's off the shelf parts and in some cases "borrowed" technology. Don't kid yourself, look under a Tesla and consider how a Lotus Elise is built. IOW, Tesla didn't invent the concept, just "borrowed" it instead.
Throw all the rocks at me you want. But to make the statement that the big companies didn't research or develop this stuff is a bunch of nonsense. Again, just my opinion but I can see how this whole company could collapse. The stock values are insane at best. The board acts in it's own interest and again IMO, Musk is a con artist.
