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The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

teslamotors.com

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Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#91

Post by lumberjack »

uladzislau wrote: post #11

The whole approach seems very much alike to Apple Retail stores strategy. High foot traffic locations, product specialists working not on commission, a lot of service centres - Tesla "Genius" bars. Applying proven working strategy in a different industry is a very smart move from Tesla. I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

>I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

The highest end Apple products are still affordable by most people. Sure it might be an expensive investment but definitely affordable. So with great marketing they managed to get not only the previous Apple fans but also managed to convince most people that the markup for an Apple iSomething is worth it.

I don't know if the same thing is feasible for Tesla cars which are definitely not affordable by most people. Also, the same marketing techniques might not work for the demographic that would buy a Tesla.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#92

Post by mfringel »

marshallp wrote: post #31
shortlived wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How _should_ Tesla sales prevent any random techie from asking for a test drive?

They should simply have an upfront test drive fee. Book a test drive online.

They could, but their goal isn't to make money on test drive fees; their goal is to sell cars.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#93

Post by kiba »

ericdykstra wrote: post #14

Of course vested interests in old industries will do whatever they can to block innovation. We're seeing it with all major industry disruptions. It used to be enough for the vested interests to write laws to block out, limit, or otherwise hinder additional traditional competitors (taxi medallions, ridiculous license requirements for florists[1], etc). Now we're seeing these same groups try to initiate and bring in ne…

Failing to block innovation is still a waste of resource and time, although they are less damaging than successfully blocking innovation.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#94

Post by marshallp »

lumberjack wrote: post #89
marshallp wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla are the Apple of cars. Elon Musk is the new Steve Jobs. The other car companies will have non-tech retards as ceo's and will always be playing catch-up. Tesla only has to fear techie's like google or apple itself entering the space.

>The other car companies will have non-tech retards as ceo's and will always be playing catch-up. This is false. Most car companies have been researching electric vehicles since the 60's or 70's when the first oil crises happened. And as for technology, Tesla is not actually ahead, in neither range nor charge up speed. As an example, this is also a "Startup" thing. An electric bus, that gets better range (everything…

It's not simply the battery tech. It's all the extra interior stuff like display etc. It's the total package, like apple does. Plus, just like with apple and jobs, or virgin with branson, there's an extra brand factor developing with musk.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#95

Post by marshallp »

mfringel wrote: post #92
marshallp wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should simply have an upfront test drive fee. Book a test drive online.

They could, but their goal isn't to make money on test drive fees; their goal is to sell cars.

You've missed the point completely. It's not to make money, it's to deal with the OP's problem of get looked over by sales reps. People don't like being treadted like that, that's why they hate traditional car dealers.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#96

Post by 001sky »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #72
salimmadjd wrote: post #26

I admire Musk and tesla. However, I see two paths for them and none are good. A - fully-electric cars are still too early and will get crushed by hybrids or more efficient diesel/fossil fuel cars. Tesla becomes irrelevent. B - fully-electric is all the rage, and every brand will have one. Tesla will become the victims of their own success. I'm going to assume many of you are going to disagree with me. Mainly because…

I'm going to assume many of you are going to disagree with me. Mainly because we come from a world with a much different customer acquisition models. I don't disagree with path A, but the fact is, path B (and Musk's prediction that half of all cars sold will be full electric by 2032) can't possibly happen with our current power distribution system in place. The only conceivable way that electric cars are going to tak…

swappable batteries

-- What is the weight, though? @450 pounds?[1]

___________

[1] edit: source of estimate - Honda s2000 with A123 li-ion was discussed in thread below, estimated battery pack weight was approx 460-500lbs. Car had more hp, though.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4536452

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#97

Post by AVTizzle »

ubernostrum wrote: post #81
AVTizzle wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...the purpose of those laws is orthogonal..." "...their claims are not as specious..." Those claims aren't yours to make. How legitimate or illegitimate any given law is in a given circumstance is arguable and subjective. Thus the court system, lawyers, and the entire judicial branch. Eric's point - that these cases are all part of the same phenomenon - makes complete sense. Incumbents trying to leverage power to s…

It's simple enough, I don't even see what there is to argue. What there is to argue is that there are industries where regulation serves no purpose other than to stifle competition, and there are industries where regulation serves the purpose of actually protecting people. Taxi licensing is an example of the latter. And in general, as much as HN loves the narrative of "plucky disruptive hackers vs. evil entrenched in…

1. Your claim re: Taxi licensing... Without exception, every de facto law is in place to "protect people". Whether or not that's the case is for the lawyers to argue and for the court to decide.

2. I can't argue that I wouldn't complain if I was an entrenched incumbent. Luckily for me I guess that's not the case.

It's just my opinion, but as I see it, it's fair enough to classify all the aforementioned cases as examples of analog regulations in a digital world. New digital players taking advantage of the latest technology, and old players taking advantage of yesterday's laws.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#98

Post by OldSchool »

refurb wrote: post #76
OldSchool wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only ever sold a few properties myself but as I understand it, yes you can discount-list or even flat-fee list a property but the agent that represents the buyer typically still expects to get 3% from you. It has amazed me that we have been in a technological age for a long time now where buyers can pre-select what they want to see and don't need more than someone to open the door for them at a property, and sel…

My understanding is that one the big $ houses, $1M+, they don't typically go with a 6% fee, but rather have a "6% on the first $500K, then 1% thereafter". It makes sense if you think about it, in San Francisco, many neighborhoods have 80% of the houses priced close to $2M (i.e. these are not atypical homes). If everyone stuck to the 6%, then agents would be getting $60K for each house sold (I know they give up some o…

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I did sell one in the LA area and got them to go 5%. I hope what you describe is more common now.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#99

Post by CamperBob2 »

001sky wrote: post #96
CamperBob2 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to assume many of you are going to disagree with me. Mainly because we come from a world with a much different customer acquisition models. I don't disagree with path A, but the fact is, path B (and Musk's prediction that half of all cars sold will be full electric by 2032) can't possibly happen with our current power distribution system in place. The only conceivable way that electric cars are going to tak…

swappable batteries -- What is the weight, though? @450 pounds?[1] ___________ [1] edit: source of estimate - Honda s2000 with A123 li-ion was discussed in thread below, estimated battery pack weight was approx 460-500lbs. Car had more hp, though. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4536452

Batteries are heavy no matter how you slice 'em. They will always (AFAIK) offer terrible joule/kg performance compared to a tank of gasoline.

I don't think replaceable modular batteries would be that much heavier than whatever's being done now. But yes, there would be some additional overhead, given that even the smallest cars would probably take more than one battery module.

Re: The Tesla Approach to Distributing and Servicing Cars

#100

Post by jccooper »

sbierwagen wrote: post #23

In case your eye skipped over the “for free” part, I would like to emphasize that again – owning a Supercharger enabled Model S really does mean free long distance travel forever on our high speed charging network. I really wish they'd stop saying this. They're essentially committing to building a nationwide electric car charging infrastructure for $nodollars, and never charging customers to use it, ever. Which means…

They don't claim all their customers forever will get the privilege. Just customers of this car. For as long as they're making the offer. And that's really not that many people. They're trying to do, what, 3000 a quarter?

That's many fewer, I would guess, than could possibly make the charging stations really profitable. And they need some solution to long-range travel, and nobody else is going to fix that for them. So the costs are sunk in pursuit of the real goal (selling cars), and they're not going to make much money selling power anyway, so why not turn it into a unique and reasonably cheap feature?

I would expect that once Tesla and/or electric cars are more established, they'll change the terms. At least they have the option. Note the "Supercharger enabled Model S" phrase--already laying the groundwork for future changes to their policies. Good reason to get in early, if you can.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if their long-term plan is to cede charging to the rest of the world. It's not really their focus as a company.

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