I sorta wonder if they might be well positioned to take advantage of situations like this. They do a ton of variations on a handful of platforms, and presumably sell at higher margin, and do not sell in high volume (in the F-150 sense), so maybe they can be nimble and fill niche markets better than the bigger automakers. I worry more about some of the smaller makers, that do not do that much volume either, some of them have made total commitments.Originally Posted by GJM
This is an interesting supposition - minus the odd off-the-cuff remark, is net-zero a specific priority for Tesla and/or its ad copy?
I was under the impression that they not only generally eschewed such advertisement and pandering, and more specifically sold their cars from a different premise than ecological virtue.
Jules
Runcible Works
I live in one of the e-car capitols of the world
Teslas still sell decently new because it is a status symbol to certain demographics
Ford, Hundai, Kia, Chev, etc. lots are stuffed with e-cars that arn't selling. Remember when a manufacturer delivers a vehicle to a dealer it is considered sold on their books..... even if it is rotting at the dealership.
We just bought a used Hyundai for my son. The dealership experience just sucks in general. We had to fight random charges, price increased because no trade in... The usual BS. 3 hours of shenanigans.
Tesla you can buy the car from your computer, naked eating Cheetos on a beanbag chair. You can setup your phone with the Tesla app. You set a time and just pickup the car. I imagine this also drives people to give Tesla a shot.
Not for me, buying new is too pricey. I can fight with a salesman for a few hours every 5 years or so to save some cash on a used vehicle.
EDIT: I will say, wife bought a KIA Telluride from Wilkes Barre, a 4 hour road trip for us (sold at MSRP where our local dealer wanted $10k). Told them on the phone we would be there 1 hour before they closed. We were in and out, no surprises. First time ever driving one was taking it off the lot. The owner chatted with me, it was a nice outfit. I think that guy sold out to a bigger dealership.
Last edited by rayrevolver; 01-30-2024 at 10:35 AM.
I live in same the area. I see a lot of Teslas on the road. Neighbor, retired IT guy, has one.
I remember a guy I know, upper level manager at Boeing, telling me about 6 years ago that he had just ordered a Tesla. I remember thinking, who would want one of those? Then it hit me, he wanted it for the prestige. He lived in an exclusive neighborhood (not my neighborhood) and had a trophy wife.
Last edited by Borderland; 01-30-2024 at 10:54 AM.
In the P-F basket of deplorables.
It is honestly difficult to know what Tesla's priorities are, since they constantly change what they say and market. And how they interact with everyone.
Tesla does have a master plan - https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-3 - They don't specifically state net-zero instead opting for "sustainable". Theoretically, those are not the same - but realistically people treat net-zero as equal sustainable. Sustainable is realistically near-zero.
They are certainly pushing an implicit aspect of net/near zero. But of course it is only achievable it we use Tesla's technology.
Bought a new Hyundai for our daughter when she graduated college... Hyundai around here is in the lower rent areas... both local dealers... not awful, but slightly sketchy. Buying experience was not too bad... mostly over the phone... once the details were confirmed, I made it clear that I was filling out the check before I got there, so, no adds or other BS. Mostly ok... So far, I've been impressed with Hyundai service... Proactive but not annoying (great for a young college grad who definitely did not take care of the used car we bought her in HS)... prices are very reasonable and so are wait times for scheduled service.. 100K warranty is nice too..
Similar purchase experience with my current car... currently ~9yo.... saw the ad online... called and did the deal... brought a check same day... was out the door in about 30 minutes.
Would take me an hour to type the stories of the last 2 cars I bought for my wife.... One good (massive new Years Eve discount), the other took almost 6 hours and 2 walks to the car.. lol. Wife was angry for days about that one.It was a minivan, so, we deserved in, in a way...
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
Initially I would agree with this take but Tesla has been around for over a decade now and sold 2 million cars. If you go to EV forums the main reason people choose Tesla is because of the established and reliable charging infrastructure. With the US standardizing on the nacs plug all US cars and chargers will use the same plug in the future negating the lead Tesla has over everyone else. Tesla is also opening their network up to ccs cars going forwards.
Talk about cold weather and electric vehicles has been discussed.
Kind of off topic, but due to remodeling my back garage into a quilting room for my wife, this is the first year I've stored my Street Glide in my unheated pole barn. Normally I keep the garage at 50 degrees through the winter and have never had any problems with any of my motorcycles starting.
I moved all three of my 'riders' down to the pole barn and didn't immediately put them on maintainers. About a week later I realized that I hadn't hooked them up and went down to hook them up.
The Street Glide - with two year old lithium battery - wouldn't even turn over. Not having a lithium battery charger I did hook it up to it's maintainer which has a lithium setting. About two weeks later I came down to the shop and it was still yellow - not charged - the bike turned over a couple times but didn't start.
Several days ago, the temp got above 50 degrees, I went down and the maintainer was green and the bike started right up.
I'm pretty sure this is going to be my last lithium battery for the Street Glide.
Adding nothing to the conversation since 2015....
There are lots of reasons to criticize Musk, but his commitment to zero carbon isn't one of them. He invested massively in Solar as far back as 2006 with the intention of using solar to power all Tesla superchargers on the road and powerwalls at home. He released the first useable electric semi in 2022 and created the Boring Company to modernize subway systems and bypass railroad regulated monopolies.
He is almost unilaterally expediting infrastructure that took the fossil fuel industry 100 years and trillions of dollars in subsidies to develop.
Reply With Quote