Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They are horse carriage companies in the age of the Ford Model T. I disagree. If you discount self-driving (and I do), then there are clearly other manufacturers who know perfectly well how to produce an EV. I own both a Tesla and a Bolt, and neither is a clear winner over the other. They each have ups & downs, but in any case GM produced a perfectly good EV. And Ford's Mach-E appears to be an improvement on Tesla'…
I've owned multiple Tesla and LEAFs. I've test driven a Bolt. A Bolt to a Tesla like Salieri to Mozart. Where to even begin? Thin seats. Smaller car. No charging network. No self-driving. No remote software updates... It's a long list. Does GM even know how to make a car these days? TSLA has massive growth problems. I've had my own issues with my Tesla cars. But how could we even talk about Bolt and Tesla in the same…
The Tesla seats are awful compared to pretty much every other car at the same price point, so I'm not sure this is a good point. The Bolt seats aren't great either, but they're not significantly worse.
> Smaller car
Yep, more nimble. Not as powerful, for sure. But more tossable. Much tighter turning radius.
> No charging network
Except it can use standard non-Tesla DC fast-chargers, and those networks are collectively growing much faster than Tesla is growing the Supercharger network.
> Does GM even know how to make a car these days?
Uh, yes? They've always had the engineering chops, even when they cut corners and made duds. My last car before the Tesla was a Camaro SS 1LE, and it's so far on a different planet from anything by Tesla that it's unfair to consider Tesla a car manufacturer at that point. Yeah, GM knows what they are doing, what a silly thing to say!
> We should be talking about BMW.
No, we should not. They make exactly two cool cars now. The rest are just as cookie cutter boring as everything else.
> Who cares about GM?
Anyone who likes cars? I get that this generally rules out Tesla owners, I accept that. But GM makes the mid-engine Corvette - at a price point normal people can even afford! And Camaros, and many other cars. Hate on them all you want, but they're a very legitimate car manufacturer.
> If, one day, the Mach-E ships
It is...
The Mach-E has a nicer interior than a Model 3, and even has an actual dashboard screen in addition to the big center one. Not to mention an analog-ish volume knob. I bet it uses actual rain sensors, too ;). Maybe even a manual glovebox release.
Tesla is good at being different, and their drivetrain technology is excellent. The rest of the car is just barely acceptable, and only if you squint, and only if you've never ridden in anything with Recaros, etc. I like my P3D but only because there isn't yet anything equivalent, aside from the just now shipping Mach-E.