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Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post

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Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post

#3
The fact that Audi had to write this says that they feel threatened. And while Tesla does only sell one model at a time, they are able to produce cheaper models and sell more of them. As for the question posed by USA Today:

There are questions, too, about whether it can keep its order books full, or whether the number of people who crave electric cars is limited.

With the new financing offer, a Tesla is within reach for many people, but I think we'll see a tipping point once they can get below $50k.

Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post

#6
post #3

The fact that Audi had to write this says that they feel threatened. And while Tesla does only sell one model at a time, they are able to produce cheaper models and sell more of them. As for the question posed by USA Today: There are questions, too, about whether it can keep its order books full, or whether the number of people who crave electric cars is limited. With the new financing offer, a Tesla is within reach…

Shorter Audi: Tesla may be outselling us at our flagship range, but since they don't sell cars that cost half as much, we're better, and we're not going to talk about what happens when they start selling cars that cost half as much...

Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post

#7
The CNN headline is definitely misleading:

“Tesla sales beating Mercedes, BMW and Audi.”

No one would guess they are talking about "per model sales" vs "per manufacturer sales", since they are naming manufacturers. It's just linkbait. Tesla really is the new Apple!

Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post

#8
Now 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 reliability figures (real people driving real Teslas in real conditions for the 100k+ miles we expect today), will costs remain comparable?

Third, how long will it take Audi/BMW/Lexus/etc to develop fully electric cars of their own that are performance-comparable and compatible with whatever public charging systems start to develop?

Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post

#9
Its 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 anything other than oil.

[0] http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/alternative-antriebe-bmw-... (german, Google Translate here: http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=...)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Hydrogen_7

Re: Tesla sales 'misleading' says Audi blog post

#10
They'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.
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