Ask HN: Why do so many people want to see Tesla fail? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many people want to see Tesla fail?

#41

Post by alfredallan2 » Sun, Apr 28, 2019, 4:45 AM UTC

One of the reasons some short sellers are shorting is they are pessimistic about the prospects of self-driving cars in messy real world scenarios.

Tesla seems to inextricably tie the two together. That's too much innovation at once (ergo, more than double the risk). If he just focussed on making awesome electric cars (with auto-drive as an option), it would 1) make Tesla's job easier, 2) make their PR reps job easier, and 3) everyone is positive about green tech. Winning over the BMW/Merc fans with high performance electric cars seems like a better strategy for a car company than trying to push a fleet of average performing occasionally fumbling self driving cars on the streets - from the perspective of the short sellers.

So in the current scenario, everytime there is some news about how the auto-drive confused one thing for another and crashed into it, the short sellers are convinced that there will be more of a negative public feedback cycle which will bring Tesla, or at least its equity, down. So they short.

Source - I have shorted Tesla in the past after the auto drive crashed and killed a driver. I am also technical enough to be paranoid about trusting human lives to a not-100% reliable piece of tech at high speeds. I only trust our attitude of move-fast-and-break-things with things like websites, not things which could kill you.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many people want to see Tesla fail?

#42

Post by rootusrootus » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:32 AM UTC

_ah wrote: post #40

richardknop wrote: post #31

I think for a lot of people (this is just my personal opinion), it is based on arrogance of the leadership at Tesla. Especially their dismissals of the rest of the car industry which has been around for decades and knows a lot about how to build cars and wild predictions that turn out to be empty. I think lot of people have become emotional about this and want to see Tesla fail just because of the arrogance displayed…

I agree... my impression is that people want Elon to be "taken down a notch". Tesla's failure is merely the vehicle (heh) for that comeuppance. It's interesting to note that SpaceX, another Elon venture, seems to have much more goodwill. I attribute this to the fact that Elon has been much more humble about every rocket launch ("we'll be happy if the payload makes it to orbit, forget about that landing nonsense") as…

I have no desire to see anyone taken down a notch. Except for maybe the wild fanboys who can't believe Tesla isn't perfect. I hope the company succeeds. I think they make a good product, though it has flaws, and I hope they continue to refine it. I think the hype is unnecessary, especially with regards to FSD. At this point I am planning to buy a Tesla myself, but only if they make through the next couple years and actually produce the Y.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many people want to see Tesla fail?

#43

Post by richardknop » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 9:50 AM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #42

_ah wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree... my impression is that people want Elon to be "taken down a notch". Tesla's failure is merely the vehicle (heh) for that comeuppance. It's interesting to note that SpaceX, another Elon venture, seems to have much more goodwill. I attribute this to the fact that Elon has been much more humble about every rocket launch ("we'll be happy if the payload makes it to orbit, forget about that landing nonsense") as…

I have no desire to see anyone taken down a notch. Except for maybe the wild fanboys who can't believe Tesla isn't perfect. I hope the company succeeds. I think they make a good product, though it has flaws, and I hope they continue to refine it. I think the hype is unnecessary, especially with regards to FSD. At this point I am planning to buy a Tesla myself, but only if they make through the next couple years and a…

I would like to see a proper SUV as model Y. What they revealed was just hacked model 3 with some custom plates at the back (the door gave it away). I don't believe that's what Y will actually look like (it won't sell if that's the final form as most people wouldn't consider it SUV).

They rushed the reveal because they are probably trying to get some hype going in order to raise capital soon. But I really hope they are planning to design Y from ground up as a proper SUV, not just a slightly modified model 3.

Although I get that having as many similarities with model 3 as possible would make it cheaper for them to manufacture it as they would have lots of parts in common. But when I think of SUV, I imagine a much bigger car with higher seating, model Y is not an SUV in my mind and in minds of most people I know.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many people want to see Tesla fail?

#44

Post by dv_dt » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 7:14 PM UTC

h2odragon wrote: post #39

dv_dt wrote: post #12

$10M+ of funding by the Koch brothers to manufacture outrage against Tesla? https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/26/tesla-musk-hit-by-trife...

Wow that some of the most effective PR money ever spent then, isn't it?

It helps that the Koch network has probably hundreds of millions of dollars of already laid into relationships, think tanks, and academic centers, so the $10M is all action, with little need to foundation build.