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Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
31–40 of 51 posts
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#32For kicks, re-read the article as something written 4+ years ago substituting "Apple" for "Tesla" and any other cellphone manufacturer for "Audi." “Tesla has to show it can be consistently profitable with a single product that is priced so high that most buyers can’t afford it,” Indeed.
They are in no way comparable.
I make a pretty damn good living and can easily afford a $400-$500 phone, but there is no way I'll be buying a $60,000 car from either Tesla or Audi.
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#33Its interesting to see how they try to cover it up. Especially BMW has researched alternative fuels, mainly hydrogen, but stopped its test fleet in 2009 [0]. Only one super expensive image car, a BMW 7, remains [1]. Audi and VW also dabbled in alternative energies, but none of them really got into it. Hopefully, Tesla can breath some new live into this area. We live in the 21st century, I demand vehicles fueled by an…
> We live in the 21st century, I demand vehicles fueled by anything other than oil. Why? (Of course there are many valid reasons, just want to get an idea of which ones people are interested in.)
I am a fan of electric cars because electricity is a buffer against volatile (no pun intended) gas prices. A gallon of gas cost $1.20 just a decade ago, compared to $4 today, a jump of over 200%, compared to a maybe 20% increase in electricity costs. As various fuel sources experience price fluctuations, it will be easier to change the mix of power plants than to change which fuel cars use.
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#34Now here's an interesting question, or maybe some interrelated questions. First, will Tesla be able to manufacture profitably in the sub-$50k range (competing with the Audi/BMW/MB low end), with a car that is range-comparable to the S? In other words, can they build a genuinely useful electric drivetrain for about the same price as an internal combustion drivetrain? Next, as they start spinning up long-term reliabili…
The answer to #1 is that Tesla's ability to do that is entirely dependent upon improvements in battery technology. Based on those projections of about 7% improvement/year in batteries, in a few years they will. #2 will be of interest, but I think it mostly comes down to battery technology. As for #3, the history of other disruptive innovations says that by the time it is possible to sell cars that meet the mass marke…
> Based on those projections of about 7% improvement/year in batteries, in a few years they will.
Take this with a grain of salt, but it might not be in their best interest to move to the lower end market.
If they can make a cheap EV car then so can another producer somewhere else in the world.
Just recently I read Ferrari actually dropped the number of cars they produced per year.
Why did they do that? The wanted to make their cars more exclusive by making it harder to buy a Ferrari, increasing the length of the waiting list and allowing them to charge more for the car.
Strange things seem to happen at the top end of the market.
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#35This is the old guard problem. You need a new company to come along once in a while and push through a new industry or new industry focus with real effort.
Current car companies, to protect their current products, they didn't put the full force behind electric, that is why they saw less demand and their looks and cars weren't pretty. Audi could benefit if they would have had the same focus and get news that tips in their favor like Tesla, people rooting for them. It costs money to start new product lines, eventually they won't be as expensive when the technology is refined and then other car companies will be behind. It wouldn't be surprising to me if Tesla was later the tech that helps other car companies succeed. If Tesla does succeed the others will be caught on their heels.
This is why older companies can't innovate as much, protecting the main source/bottom line. The only company that has really attacked their own product lines with new innovative products is Apple with the iPad (which directly hit their other models, but also hit their competitors bottom line harder). Other companies follow or start too late when they are comfy on their big bottom line cushion.
All that money Audi has and they are essentially losing the PR battle. Maybe make an investment in Tesla or compete with it then, stop crying that they'll get more focus. People want electric cars to succeed and will be more forgiving when it is done right. Audi your PR just backfired, you look threatened.
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#36Now here's an interesting question, or maybe some interrelated questions. First, will Tesla be able to manufacture profitably in the sub-$50k range (competing with the Audi/BMW/MB low end), with a car that is range-comparable to the S? In other words, can they build a genuinely useful electric drivetrain for about the same price as an internal combustion drivetrain? Next, as they start spinning up long-term reliabili…
> First, will Tesla be able to manufacture profitably in the sub-$50k range (competing with the Audi/BMW/MB low end), with a car that is range-comparable to the S? I can tell you what Musk is betting: that the supercharger network will eventually make this a moot point. Of course, advancing better batteries will result in the lowest Model S range (160mi) likely becoming Tesla's "baseline", I imagine.
The supercharger network doesn't really help all that much if you don't have ranges like the S. Let's suppose you only have 100 mi range. If so, you have to stop for fairly long time (on the order of a lunch break) in order to recharge. And the numbers I've seen say 30 minutes for a "half charge". If that was also true of a 100 mile range car (or even 160), then 300 mile trips in one day become a huge hassle.
And 200 miles trips also become very difficult if you can't be sure of a charger at your destination. So I think a 200 mile range is pretty important.
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#37Its interesting to see how they try to cover it up. Especially BMW has researched alternative fuels, mainly hydrogen, but stopped its test fleet in 2009 [0]. Only one super expensive image car, a BMW 7, remains [1]. Audi and VW also dabbled in alternative energies, but none of them really got into it. Hopefully, Tesla can breath some new live into this area. We live in the 21st century, I demand vehicles fueled by an…
BMW bets heavily on electric cars and plans to launch their first production car, the i3 in a few months.
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#38Now here's an interesting question, or maybe some interrelated questions. First, will Tesla be able to manufacture profitably in the sub-$50k range (competing with the Audi/BMW/MB low end), with a car that is range-comparable to the S? In other words, can they build a genuinely useful electric drivetrain for about the same price as an internal combustion drivetrain? Next, as they start spinning up long-term reliabili…
> First, will Tesla be able to manufacture profitably in the sub-$50k range (competing with the Audi/BMW/MB low end), with a car that is range-comparable to the S? I can tell you what Musk is betting: that the supercharger network will eventually make this a moot point. Of course, advancing better batteries will result in the lowest Model S range (160mi) likely becoming Tesla's "baseline", I imagine.
It would be really funny if the large automakers can comfortably compete with Tesla lower priced electric cars and a significant chunk of Tesla's revenues come from licensing the supercharger network out to said large automakers.
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#39They're right, of course, but I'm not sure this is a great marketing move, because it dignifies the metric Tesla has chosen as their strongest. The fact that Tesla can even mount an argument that they're in a horse race with Audi, let alone outselling them, is a gigantic coup for a car company that's just a few years old.
Yes. While I really hate the ignore/laugh/fight/win trope, this was Audi putting Tesla firmly in the fight slot, rather ahead of schedule.
Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post
#40Wow. Already 3/4 of the way down the "first they ignore you..." continuum. Go Tesla.