191–200 of 295 posts
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The bestselling minivan only sells 110K units in a given year. That's not millions.
In the US, and Minivans aren't the most popular type of cars. Here is just BMW sales in 2014: http://www.bmwgroup.com/e/0_0_www_bmwgroup_com/investor_rela...
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Its easier to expand downwards. e.g. Take Porsche...they have a bullet proof brand so they can sell a Cayenne football mom SUV fairly easily...just costs a bit of brand dilution. Doing the opposite (SUV to sportscar) would be a tough sell no matter how (objectively) good the sportscar is.
> It's easier to expand downwards Lots of business research says this is not true, and in fact, the opposite. This is why VW is the world's most popular car maker, and not Porsche.
I just named an example that makes very obvious sense to a bunch of people even without evidence (though I'm sure Cayenne sale numbers would back it if I had to). You allude to "a lot of research" claiming the opposite. Care to share said research?
Your example of VW being popular is an example of absolute market position and is entirely irrelevant to debate as to whether its easier to move from the low end of the market t the top or vice versa.
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I will never buy a vehicle with both an infotainment system and a steering wheel. Subaru lost a sale of a brand new car when the dealer sat down, turned the key, and the radio showed.... a loading bar. Fuck that. I deal with shitty software enough everywhere else in my life. I'm not going to put up with that in a 4000lb piece of metal going 70 MPH.
Here I am trying to imagine a vehicle with infotainment but without a steering wheel. It raises so many questions! Do you assume that we will purchase self driving cars frequently enough that the infotainment will keep pace? Do you anticipate purchasing a personal train or fighter jet? Do the handlebars on a motorcycle count as a steering wheel?
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> The GTR is 2.9 seconds, so the tesla is faster- Its also faster in the 1/4 mile as well, so this is kind of a big deal. Not until the Tesla goes around the Nurburgring in the same fashion the GTR did.[1][2] [1] http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/best-cars/86123/fastest-nurburg... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N%C3%BCrburgring_Nords...
>Not until the Tesla goes around the Nurburgring in the same fashion the GTR did. Or manages to go around the Nurburgring at full power at all: http://insideevs.com/expected-tesla-model-s-fails-lap-nurbur... “Unfortunately the car went into a reduced power mode about 3 minutes in due to excess battery heat (at least, that’s my guess). However, before it did it was able to keep a GT3 RS going full chat, within shoutin…
GT characteristics when I want, goes plenty fast for someone that seldomly goes to the track and yet still is capable of exciting on the road. The P85D, while fast, when I floored it I felt like I was taking off on a plane but there was a sense of comfort and safety that, funnily enough, I didn't want.
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I feel like the limit of what these motors can do now is being held back by something they can't control anymore, tire grip. I think a lot of these software updates on the acceleration speed aren't because they all of the sudden figured out how to get more power from the electric motor. I think it's from tweaking the "no-slip" system or whatever they call theirs. Basically when the car detects it's losing grip, it cu…
Tire grip is a huge one. I'm sure the improvements are as you said it's been a theory of mine too. Suspension also has an effect however obviously wouldn't be affected by this update. I think they do these test with the stock tires. It would be nice to see what the Model S could do with a set of R compounds or Hoosiers in a straight line.
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In the US, and Minivans aren't the most popular type of cars. Here is just BMW sales in 2014: http://www.bmwgroup.com/e/0_0_www_bmwgroup_com/investor_rela...
In what country is it the most popular type?
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Agreed. The 2015 Mazda3 we just bought has a horrible info/nav system that crashes and frequently stops responding. I'm guessing the actual chance of it ever being fixed at 0%. Tesla's get an automatic OTA update that would fix that kind of thing and it wouldn't be something you'd have to 'deal' with for the rest of your ownership of the vehicle.
I will never buy a vehicle with both an infotainment system and a steering wheel. Subaru lost a sale of a brand new car when the dealer sat down, turned the key, and the radio showed.... a loading bar. Fuck that. I deal with shitty software enough everywhere else in my life. I'm not going to put up with that in a 4000lb piece of metal going 70 MPH.
I know a dealership mechanic and he told me even with the proprietary scan tool, and access to the companies database; he spends hours a week learning every new upgrade, and feature these newer cars/trucks are implementing. He said it's usually on the customer's dime.
We need to standardize, and I believe, even mandate that if a person buys a automobile; they will have access to all the repair information for that particular vechicle.
I foresee a junk yards getting bigger, and bigger, with cars that no one car work on, or worse--just crushing the vechicle when that transmission with 10 sensors, and two computers fails?
A note to mechanics; I know the amount of ongoing learning you gave to do in order to keep your job. I know your employer expects you to learn this new technology on your time. If these vechicles keep going in the direction I think we are already at(too complicated, and car companies refusing to release data), it might me a the right time to unionize in certain counties? With unionization you could afford Lobbiests, and in the end you would be paid what you are worth, with retirement benefits? With paid training on all these propiatiary systems? (I think the San Francisco Bay Area could pull off a union takeover?)
Basically, when I buy a car--I don't want to be forced to bring it to a dealership in order to repair! I gave a family member who has a 1996 Dodge Dakota. After years of working on it, I can repair the vechicle, but I spent a lot of time learning how to flash the computer, and only got the software because I have a buddy at a dealership. I told him, if he buys a new vechicle--I probally won't be able to repair it for free. I told him to drive it until it blows up. We are not a wealthy family.
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So, did you end up buying a different vehicle? If so, which one?
He should have just asked to see a model without the (assumed, but very likely) upgraded system. Cheaper, and excludes the terrible bits that will be outdated in 2-3 years anyway. My Audi has just the basic system (radio, satellite, aux-in, and Bluetooth) and it has no discernible boot time. Excludes the navigation, but my phone does that perfectly fine, and I get free map updates for it every couple months. (Windows…
More impressive to me is the fact that the 90kWh battery is already trickling down to the Model S. It was originally developed for the Model X. I think it's safe to say that we'll see Model X features moving down to the Model S much faster than previously thought. This is how you relentlessly improve a product instead of holding specific features to a Model without solid technical reasons.
I've been reading Henry Ford's autobiography ("My Life and Work"), and it seems like Musk is taking a page directly from Ford's playbook with continuous product (and component) updates that are (mostly) backwards compatible with previously-produced vehicles in the same model. The parallels are pretty amazing, and they go much much deeper too (eg. fabrication automation, experimentation, engineering to the highest ext…
Even if not a software update, I still find Tesla's way of thinking of a car as an actual (continuously update/upgrade-able) product fascinating. Very rare for hardware. It gives an amazing user experience, "Hey restart your car and it's now got X and Y". Respect. Edit: clarifying the term "product".
The electric motor is a much simpler device compared to a classical Carnot heat engine. This, combined with Tesla's over-the-air root access to the deepest levels of the vehicle's systems, makes the actual process of tweaking and tuning the car feel much more seamless.