351–360 of 604 posts
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What is this based on? Ford has had record profits over the past few years and has continually improved their vehicles and manufacturing processes, including remaking two assembly plants to make aluminum body F 150s. They also invested a billion dollars in Arvo AI and are making aggressive moves into self driving technology.
Does anyone pre-order a F150?
Bill Ford gave a talk at SXSW, and I asked him the question "Why hasn't Ford built the gigafactory". He gave IMHO a really weak answer about how they weren't sure the economics of it worked out. Big car OEMs have so much invested in terms of R&D, brand and emotionally in the combustion engine that I think most are just not going to be able to make the jump to EVs. Nissan and BMW are trying, but they are still making…
I think they'll be caught with the pants down. For instance: The government of Sweden just announced suggested legislation for june 2018 that will severely punish any new registrations of non-electric vehicles (the tax penalty is linear to the co2-emissions/driven km above a certain treshold.) I think it goes sort of halfway towards Norway's current policy. (Which is rather extreme, and something they as a nation can…
I would agree with the market that Tesla has the potential to be far far larger than Ford should things go well. If they manage to get to 500000 cars and full automation within the next year, they'll be worth even more than their current market cap. Remember that Tesla have by far the best dataset for building self driving cars and this is going to give them a huge time to market and/or safety advantage over their co…
Lol. Yes, the second most unprofitable tech company in the world should clone the first most unprofitable tech company. Why not.
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So, when will Tesla be manufacturing 2,500,000 cars per year? Edit: No, really. Ford sold over a million vans, pickups and heavy trucks last year, a market that Tesla has no apparent interest in entering.[1] The Toyota Camry alone sold 428,000 in 2014, the Honda Accord 328,000, the Corolla 340,000, the Ford Fusion 306,000, the Nissan Altima 336,000, and the Honda Civic 326,000.[2] The Tesla Model 3 will presumably be…
Tesla has already announced plans to build vans, pickups, and semis.
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I think they'll be caught with the pants down. For instance: The government of Sweden just announced suggested legislation for june 2018 that will severely punish any new registrations of non-electric vehicles (the tax penalty is linear to the co2-emissions/driven km above a certain treshold.) I think it goes sort of halfway towards Norway's current policy. (Which is rather extreme, and something they as a nation can…
Ford sells 6.5 million cars a year, and only 12,000 of them in Sweden. Ford already makes an electric car, and 12K cars is 3-4 weeks of production from one production line in one of their factories.
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Combustion engines in vehicles like the F series trucks aren't going away any time soon. You need generational leaps in battery technology and safety to compete with those trucks. The whole "rugged, dependable" thing that they play on the television is not just for show. I've got a former co-worker who buys a new F-350 supercrew every couple of years before selling it and the depreciation is less than a lease for a m…
If it's so rugged and dependable, why does he need to buy a new one every couple of years?
He uses the thing as a commuter vehicle and to tow boats every now and then. The reason he gets a new one is that the dashboard computer systems on these things get updated from year to year and he prefers to stay up with the most current technology.
For most vehicles, 100K miles is nearing end-of-life. For an F series truck, 100K miles isn't even the halfway point.
Comparing Tesla with Ford is like comparing Ford with (GM + Shell + Hertz). Tesla is an energy company not an automobile company. It plans to sell you new ways to capture (solar panels), store (power wall), and consume (cars) energy. It also plans to make cars fully autonomous and ownership free. Ford will obviously compete with Tesla in some segments is not a primary competition for Tesla.
ORLY? Odd that an energy company puts such a high emphasis on quarterly delivery numbers of... automobiles.
I think these comparison's to other car companies really miss the mark. Those who are long on TSLA (myself included) aren't looking at them as a car company. Tesla is cracking open new markets in the following areas: - Electric Cars (most visible. Also don't undervalue their unique direct sales channel, which is a huge competitive advantage) - Batteries/Energy Storage (not just cars - utility scale energy storage, wi…
- Your first point is cars - there are a ton of evs for sale from many large companies and direct sale doesn't seem to sell more cars than indirect.
- Tesla is partnering with battery companies just as GM does on the bolt and volt. Nothing special here as their battery business is pretty minuscule.
- Again a niche market that compares to GMs after market crate motor program in revenue and size.
- Self driving tech doesn't belong to Tesla and Google, most luxury car companies had automated cruise systems when Tesla was making the roadster. Gm has a large fleet roaming around Detroit, Chrysler is partnering with Google with their Pacificas, and Ford has a fleet of fusions as well after billions in investment.
The larger point is that elon and his 16 companies seem to do no wrong and avoid comparisons to the existing car companies, he should focus on getting market share in the extremely competitive automotive market instead of making a space/AI/brainlink/tunnel/solar/ev company.
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> There are so many car makers, there is no monopole they could get. Same for solar and batteries. The automobile industry will contract as we move from individual ownership to mobility. But along with that transition some manufacturers will keep up and others will not. Tesla is hoping to be one of the winners, taking perhaps 25% of the mobility market as the car buying market dries up. Tesla's valuation is also base…
> The automobile industry will contract as we move from individual ownership to mobility. What does this even mean? People like to leave stuff in their cars (e.g. mug, gym bag). They like them to be at their preferred level of cleanliness or disorder. Some even use them as a means of personal expression. If "mobility" were so desirable, ZipCar would have taken off 10 years ago. The "mobility" market will be about the…
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I have heard many times that the traditional car companies are heavily outsourced aside from the drivetrain. If I haven't been misinformed there (quite possible either way!) and this is true, then outsourcing that would leave Ford not adding much value themselves. Even if it would work out for them, Tesla is pushing really hard to be a major battery supplier, so they could end up benefitting either way.
>I have heard many times that the traditional car companies are heavily outsourced aside from the drivetrain. It's true, but I don't think it matters. Traditional automakers rely on suppliers for all kinds of parts on cars: headlights, wipers, tires, glass, airbags, and many electronic modules (auto-dimming mirrors, blind-spot radars, etc.). However they do tend to always keep the body/chassis and the drivetrain in-h…