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If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

electrek.co

71–80 of 91 posts

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#71
people r tryin' to equate this to a franchise model, some the amazon 3rd party model.

nope - this is just Elon raising money without going to the stock market or government but directly to Elon worshipping idiots.

he benefits two ways - interest free Capex, then higher stock prices by reporting higher number of cybercabs on the road. & guess who takes a punch to the mouth - the Elon worshippers.

with the amazon model | franchise models there's shared risk - not exactly equal but shared risk.

with Elon - one person is eating the risk, while one person eats 90% of the gains.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem in your analogy, for McDonalds, the franchisee is the one who actually operates the business. For the Cybercab, Tesla is the one operating it via "Full Self Driving", their app, and the Tesla rideshare network. As the owner, the only thing you do is own it, insure it, have a place to park it, and take on the risk of what happens if the vehicle registered to you is in an accident. Clearly, a pretty one-sid…

Actually, while I still like your point there really is still a lot of operational work. You need to clean, inspect, repair, insure, secure and charge the cars. To do so efficiently you will need to custom develop premises full of chargers and efficient charging and cleaning infrastructure. That absolutely is operationally intense. Premises, permits, construction and then significant operations.

That seems like even more downside risk, expenses, and maintenance that don't generate any revenue for you the vehicle owner.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#73
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I agree. National Socialists and Fascists are unacceptable. Also their cousins - International Socialists. Any ideology that has a body count measured in the millions is my enemy.

So capitalism is also your enemy?

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#74

If McDonald's was profitable, they wouldn't try to franchise it. That's what this is. You take on operating costs and you understand your local market. They own the brand.

actually most franchise restaurants are not profitable and eventually go out of business. subway is famous for being basically a pyramid scheme that only makes money by fleecing aspiring restaurateurs. mcdonald's is an exception because they are primarily a real estate company and commercial landlord.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#75
post #50

I may buy one if it works. It would pay for itself in about 3 years. Parking where I am at is about $50 a day. If this thing can drop me off and go make me money it is a no brainer. Skeptical it will work as advertised, though.

What if it gets damaged or a drunk customer vomits into it or otherwise soils it?

You can buy the TeslaCare package for just 9.99 a week, or 5000 a year

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem in your analogy, for McDonalds, the franchisee is the one who actually operates the business. For the Cybercab, Tesla is the one operating it via "Full Self Driving", their app, and the Tesla rideshare network. As the owner, the only thing you do is own it, insure it, have a place to park it, and take on the risk of what happens if the vehicle registered to you is in an accident. Clearly, a pretty one-sid…

That's actually a very good point. Also if Elon Musk has a demonstrable superpower it's the ability to raise capital. So they really could order 100,000 of these themselves.

They could, but running local operations isn't his forte, preference or interest, it seems. Even if he had a massive fleet of these, he'd have to navigate local laws, demand, operations and logistics.

His revealed preference is to run things centrally and at massive scales.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#79

If McDonald's was profitable, they wouldn't try to franchise it. That's what this is. You take on operating costs and you understand your local market. They own the brand.

One problem in your analogy, for McDonalds, the franchisee is the one who actually operates the business. For the Cybercab, Tesla is the one operating it via "Full Self Driving", their app, and the Tesla rideshare network. As the owner, the only thing you do is own it, insure it, have a place to park it, and take on the risk of what happens if the vehicle registered to you is in an accident. Clearly, a pretty one-sid…

Maybe? It's how McDonald's runs things too. They make the food centrally and ship it to franchises. They take on brand risk, food logistics at scale and so on. Franchisees deal with local demand, operations, hiring, local laws and so on.

It's not an exact 1:1, but that seems to be the model here. Tesla does the things that can scale (FSD, manufacturing, etc.) and operators do the things that can't.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#80
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. National Socialists and Fascists are unacceptable. Also their cousins - International Socialists. Any ideology that has a body count measured in the millions is my enemy.

So capitalism is also your enemy?

at this point, kinda yea
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