If the Tesla Model E was going to be sued by Ford for their E-Series vans, won't the the Tesla Model 3 get sued by BMW for their 3-Series cars?
No, it's Model "III" not Model "3" #wink.
Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
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Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#42I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a 4-wheel-drive Tesla model for those of us who live where it snows copiously... but that price tag might be a game-changer regardless. That's going to open up a whole new demographic for them.
If it snows a lot, wouldn't you also have battery life problems because of the cold?
Gasoline cars have batteries that die in the cold too.
Which is one of the reasons you have to plug in a gas car in cold weather as well, the other being the oil freezing in the crankcase, a problem a Tesla doesn't have.
Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Model T is over 100 years old now, surely Ford can't have a monopoly on a name that long right?
Trademarks don't expire as long as you keep using them - and you don't have to use them in necessarily very conspicuous ways (that's the reason all iMac boxes have "Think Different" in small lettering on the side[1]). I wouldn't be surprised if Ford still maintained the Model T trademark. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_different#Product_packagi...
And Ford actually sued another company in 2000 for trying to use the name "Model E":
http://www.autonews.com/article/20130822/OEM04/130829966/tes...
Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fixed.
No it isn't. Musk isn't a co-founder either. He came in on Tesla's A round.
Musk might not have been the founder on paper, but he was the founder in every respect that matters. The company you see today is his vision, not the product of Eberhard and Tarpenning.
Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#45I thought for a minute that the site was an Onion-esque parody site considering the first couple paragraphs deal with how they tried to name their models after the word 'sex'.
If you picture Elon Musk as Tony Stark from the Iron Man movies then that quote fits a little better. (Supposedly Robert Downey Jr even modeled his character after Musk).
I always think of him as being more like Peter Weyland from the Alien universe.
"For those of you who do not yet know me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Peter Weyland, and if you'll indulge me, I'd like to change the world."[0]
Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it snows a lot, wouldn't you also have battery life problems because of the cold?
Gasoline cars have batteries that die in the cold too. Which is one of the reasons you have to plug in a gas car in cold weather as well, the other being the oil freezing in the crankcase, a problem a Tesla doesn't have.
iirc the Tesla battery pack has liquid heating and cooling.
Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
No it isn't. Musk isn't a co-founder either. He came in on Tesla's A round.
Musk might not have been the founder on paper, but he was the founder in every respect that matters. The company you see today is his vision, not the product of Eberhard and Tarpenning.
> but he was the founder in every respect that matters.
Except actually being a founder. He provided money to an existing company, resulting in a controlling stake in that company. Certainly he is important aspect of Tesla as it is today, I'm not disputing that, but being important, perhaps even the single most critical aspect of Tesla today, does not make him a founder. It only makes him important.
Even Musk doesn't claim to have founded Tesla. He's said in the past the he was looking for a company like Tesla to become involved in. That Eberhard's dream (an electric sports car) overlapped Musk's (build affordable electric cars, but start with a high end sports car) is what brought them together.
Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#48I thought for a minute that the site was an Onion-esque parody site considering the first couple paragraphs deal with how they tried to name their models after the word 'sex'.
Nope, that's just Elon for you. Another example: the code name for SpaceX's future Mars launch vehicle is `BFR`. aka, Big F*cking Rocket
And the test stand
BFTS the big fucking test stand.
Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#49Re: Tesla Model III to challenge BMW 3 Series
#50A $35,000 price (before presumed tax rebates) would really make this car a very much more main-stream vehicle rather than a "Luxury Car". If they can pull off the whole charger network expansion thing, this will be Tesla's bread and butter car for a while.
I'd be very surprised if that's the case because the car would then be way cheaper than BMW 3-series.
The BMW 320i starts at $32,750 in the US. This is a relatively recent development though. The 328i (previously the entry model) starts at $37,300, which is more, but I wouldn't characterize $35k as "way" cheaper.
http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/content/vehicles/2014/3/320is...