81–90 of 410 posts
Throwing it down publicly to Chris Christie - now that is confidence!
Chris Christie all but had the Republican presidential nomination sewn up before the bridge closure scandal. Between that and this nonsense, his reputation as a "non-politician" has been tremendously tarnished.
I hope people don't forget the profit motive of Mr Musk. It seems technology entrepreneurs have adopted the rhetoric of "just trying to make the world a better place" while conveniently ignoring their own profit making motives. I am no friend of car dealers but I am also not going to be suckered by a self-serving sales pitch. While I don't necessarily support the NJ move, I think we should start asking questions abou…
They adapt, as all economies must to the changing winds.
Musk is massively disingenuous and rather insulting to our intelligence. But he's a heck of a salesman and makes a wonderful car. Like many persuasive people he arrives at an answer and backs into rationale but makes it appear the other way around. I'll give you just one example. The law of the land in NJ is that you can't sell in NJ unless through a dealership. That's the current law. Those laws need to change to al…
This comment exemplifies why I come to Hacker News. The ability to be for a cause, yet still call out any bullshit is unfortunately quite rare.
Well then what about BMW with bumper to bumper service as only one example. That's a high end car that you don't pay for service for (iirc) 3 years. They cover everything. Wiper blades you name it. I think last I checked the same was true for Subaru and I think even Jeep Chrysler is doing this (may be wrong about that one).
And that's not a conflict of interest but rather a business model. In the case of cars which do make money from service they therefore in theory have a lower price for the vehicle.
This argument is like saying that you are a better airline because you don't charge for luggage. Presumably that extra revenue allows you to offer lower ticket prices. And surprise that is what happens. Back when airlines were regulated (and had less competition) and they charged way higher prices they didn't have to nickle and dime you to make a profit.
I'm not opposed to what Musk is trying to do but how or why are auto dealers a monopoly? Those direct sales laws were originally created to preserve small business.
I thought he did a good job explaining why those laws were put in place and why they're not needed to be applied here. Even if you don't agree it's a monopoly, clearly in this case the law is not being applied as it should be.
I hope people don't forget the profit motive of Mr Musk. It seems technology entrepreneurs have adopted the rhetoric of "just trying to make the world a better place" while conveniently ignoring their own profit making motives. I am no friend of car dealers but I am also not going to be suckered by a self-serving sales pitch. While I don't necessarily support the NJ move, I think we should start asking questions abou…
> I don't exclude myself, we all use these web services that are highly concentrated in SV, what is going to happen to our local economies? They adapt, as all economies must to the changing winds.
> An even bigger conflict of interest with auto dealers is that they make most of their profit from service, but electric cars require much less service than gasoline cars. There are no oil, spark plug or fuel filter changes, no tune-ups and no smog checks needed for an electric car. Also, all Tesla Model S vehicles are capable of over-the-air updates to upgrade the software, just like your phone or computer, so no v…
An even bigger conflict of interest with auto dealers is that they make most of their profit from service I am old enough to remember what owning a car was like when things were changing away from mechanical devices one could understand and tinker with and becoming nondescript hunks of plastic you had to buy from a manufacturer. (I'm talking about the ignition system, as one specific example.) There was always a bit…
> the auto dealer franchise laws were originally put in place for a just cause and are now being twisted to an unjust purpose ... and Christie can argue that allowing Tesla creates a slippery slope whereby Ford and GM and other companies end up crushing the franchisees that the law intended to protect. Musk is trying to find a middle ground that just doesn't exist unless you accept governments creating one-off laws t…
Its not clear that that's true. The law says "auto manufacturers can't sell cars" but it originally meant "auto manufacturers can't renege on franchise agreements (or otherwise abuse them)". Surely there's some way to codify the second one without resorting to the first?
> An even bigger conflict of interest with auto dealers is that they make most of their profit from service, but electric cars require much less service than gasoline cars. There are no oil, spark plug or fuel filter changes, no tune-ups and no smog checks needed for an electric car. Also, all Tesla Model S vehicles are capable of over-the-air updates to upgrade the software, just like your phone or computer, so no v…
An even bigger conflict of interest with auto dealers is that they make most of their profit from service I am old enough to remember what owning a car was like when things were changing away from mechanical devices one could understand and tinker with and becoming nondescript hunks of plastic you had to buy from a manufacturer. (I'm talking about the ignition system, as one specific example.) There was always a bit…
It is possible to run a completely open software stack, and very easy to run an almost-completely open software stack.
My hope is that open-source hardware (both electronic and mechanical) will be abundant enough in the future that I could feasibly fabricate a new ECU from scratch, or 3D print a new evaporator for my AC.
I'm not opposed to what Musk is trying to do but how or why are auto dealers a monopoly? Those direct sales laws were originally created to preserve small business.
Most dealerships would not count as "small" businesses. They are at the very least "medium enterprise" and at the most Fortune 500 companies[1]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_1_Automotive