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Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

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Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#61
post #39

The reason theyre selling is likely due to a US small business tax loophole that allows you to write off things like range rovers and escalades as a business expense. coupled with US electric vehicle incentives state and federal, and its a pretty sweet deal on the most electric SUV per weight and length you can buy. Honestly I fully expect to see these things crisping in the sunlit parking lot of a predatory auto len…

How is buying a company vehicle a "tax loophole"?

Because you buy it as a "company vehicle" but 98% of it's miles are driven for your personal use. Whether the tax code considers that a loophole doesn't matter. It's a loophole to give a personal item the tax treatment of a business asset.

You wanted to buy the vehicle anyway, you were going to buy it anyway, but for some absurd reason you get to count a personal vehicle against your company's tax liability.

Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#62

The weird thing I’ve seen is in almost all the online forums I visit, like Reddit, YouTube comment sections, parts of twitter, hacker news, the cybertruck is universally panned. Yet when I drove a cybertruck, the number of onlookers who approached me inquiring about the car with excitement is unmatched with even a Lamborghini that I once rented. Shows how much of a bubble the internet alone is. MKBHD got the ratio’s…

Years ago I got a rental that was some new hideous looking 4-door Fiat model. Maybe a 500L or something. They were taking off the plastic wrap when I got it.

It was a week of beating off people approaching me and asking about it. It looked weird, I thought people wanted to beat me up but they were genuinely curious about it.

That some weird truck with a formerly 3 year waiting list is at the top of the charts a couple months into shipping should be surprising? Wait a year. Nobody is looking at the 500L now.

Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#63
post #15

tbh I continue to say the i3 scale/weight was what mass market EV transportation should have been designed towards (and more efforts focused on public trans than single/small n occupant cars). Societal/environmental cost of 6000-7000 lb behemoths erase any emissions gains from going EV.

I really wish they would have continued to make the i3 and reduce the cost. It was perfect for a lot of people but the price was just too high.

the irony is that apparently it was the one model where the sales were going up year over year, vs. the usual initial high demand and subsequent decline of ICE models

Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#64
post #38
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it the Aztek that had really rabid fans? It was one of those boxy ones. Never could figure out if they actually had really good reasons for it or were just trying to justify having bought an Aztek.

You're probably thinking of the Element. There were a lot of reasons it ended up with a rabid fan-base: Honda reliability, available manual transmission, available all-wheel drive. It was overall a really practical vehicle for those who wanted something with a good amount of interior space who didn't care about frills or luxury. Amusingly the Element was targeted at then-millennial young buyers looking for "adventure…

I think you're right, it was the Element. People dismissed it as an Aztek but it had some features.

They all pale next to the true King of Vehicles - the Minivan.

Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is buying a company vehicle a "tax loophole"?

Because you buy it as a "company vehicle" but 98% of it's miles are driven for your personal use. Whether the tax code considers that a loophole doesn't matter. It's a loophole to give a personal item the tax treatment of a business asset. You wanted to buy the vehicle anyway, you were going to buy it anyway, but for some absurd reason you get to count a personal vehicle against your company's tax liability.

The IRS considers that tax evasion rather than a loophole, though. Unlike using a loophole, it's actually illegal. That said, you're right -- the practice isn't that rare and that's how it's done.

Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#66

The weird thing I’ve seen is in almost all the online forums I visit, like Reddit, YouTube comment sections, parts of twitter, hacker news, the cybertruck is universally panned. Yet when I drove a cybertruck, the number of onlookers who approached me inquiring about the car with excitement is unmatched with even a Lamborghini that I once rented. Shows how much of a bubble the internet alone is. MKBHD got the ratio’s…

> impractical any actual truck work. Some pickup truck work is high mileage, but a surprising amount of it is low mileage. It varies a lot, there are lots of trucks that do less than 100 miles a day. Work trucks are also usually much more predictable than consumer vehicles. Most of them do the same thing every day. The predictability should make buying an EV easier.

That's true of the range, but the Cybertruck is also terrible in terms of torque, horsepower, and suspension compared to the Rivian truck or the F150 Lightning. Those EV trucks are very practical. The Cybertruck, not so much. As others in this comment section have pointed out, it's more of a luxury SUV than anything else.

Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> impractical any actual truck work. Some pickup truck work is high mileage, but a surprising amount of it is low mileage. It varies a lot, there are lots of trucks that do less than 100 miles a day. Work trucks are also usually much more predictable than consumer vehicles. Most of them do the same thing every day. The predictability should make buying an EV easier.

That's true of the range, but the Cybertruck is also terrible in terms of torque, horsepower, and suspension compared to the Rivian truck or the F150 Lightning. Those EV trucks are very practical. The Cybertruck, not so much. As others in this comment section have pointed out, it's more of a luxury SUV than anything else.

That doesn't explain this tractor pull result where the tri-motor cybertruck outperforms both those EVs and an F350.

https://youtu.be/Pj2jMhwKuv4?si=rJ8B1NnzBvR6usqa

Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#69

Anecdata, but in the Bay Area I see a Cybertruck almost every time I go out. At the beginning of the year it was once per month. Now there are two or three Cybertruck owners in my immediate neighborhood. I don't like the look, personally, but my kids love it.

Sure, I'm in the Bay Area too. I see Rivians daily. Had an F-150 lightning pull up next to me yesterday. Every once in a while I'll see a Luicd whatever. Can't remember the last time I've seen a Cybertruck (on the road or broken down). In the past week I've seen a couple Hummer EVs. Hell I've seen more running Vinfasts than running Cybertrucks.

I see Rivians daily too. Might have seen an F150 Lightning, but I can’t tell them apart from any other truck, honestly.

Re: Tesla's Cybertruck is outselling almost every other EV in the US

#70

The weird thing I’ve seen is in almost all the online forums I visit, like Reddit, YouTube comment sections, parts of twitter, hacker news, the cybertruck is universally panned. Yet when I drove a cybertruck, the number of onlookers who approached me inquiring about the car with excitement is unmatched with even a Lamborghini that I once rented. Shows how much of a bubble the internet alone is. MKBHD got the ratio’s…

I think the truck is like dating an exciting but shallow person who doesn't care about you.

The truck is extremely fast, with excellent steering, suspension and lots of other groundbreaking technology.

But it is basically user-hostile. No dashboard, no stalks for turn signals or gear selection, and everything is on the central touchscreen. And that is super cluttered and impossible to do important things without looking away from your driving and jabbing at a moving touch point.

It makes you a worse driver, and you're spending 100k.

Honestly, give it a dashboard. Add stalks for turn signals, wiper, headlight, gear selection. Give it a few dedicated buttons for things you need to reach by touch (defrost, mute/volume, internal/external lights) and lots of animosity would go away. Make it an option for $5k! people will pay.

EDIT: they are learning. The wrapped black ones don't look terrible.

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