Posted on 04/10/2016 5:55:38 PM PDT by jazusamo
Youve got to marvel at the mans sense of timing and showmanship. Whenever theres bad news on the horizon, Tesla CEO Elon Musk just takes off his top hat, waves a magic wand, and pulls out a shiny new rabbit. He may have missed last quarters production target, but then, he pulled out the shiny new Model 3. And all is forgiven.
Well, not exactly.
The master of hyperbole has proven that Tesla can ship tens of thousands of luxury electric cars albeit years later and for $30,000 more apiece than originally promised. And, even at $106K, Tesla still burns cash on every car sold, not to mention all the quality and production growing pains the companys been experiencing.
While that slight of hand has worked on Musks wealthy Silicon Valley fan boys and cult-crazed investors, I doubt it will be effective with everyday consumers as Tesla attempts to challenge the likes of GM, Toyota and Mercedes as a mass-market supplier of a broad range of cars.
Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe this is just another example of an innovative tech entrepreneur disrupting an age-old market like Amazon did in retail, Google in advertising, Netflix in video, Uber in ground transportation, Airbnb in hospitality and GrubHub in food delivery.
Besides, its not as if up-selling is limited to tech. Consumers didnt always fork over $100 for a pair of blue jeans or sneakers. Who knew you could triple the price of a $20 sweatshirt just by calling it a hoody? Or get millions of people to feel good about not working out by selling them a whole new wardrobe of athleisure wear.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Without gov’t funding, Tesla will go under, as would most of Musk’s ventures. I don’t think that any have turned a net profit yet.
But the low-infos really believe that that two-pronged outlet in the wall produces endless energy.
Tesla makes nice-looking coal-powered cars.
Tesla makes nice-looking coal-powered cars.
Sorry for double post.
He is wrong. Musk had a fabulous week: made history with Falcon 9 first stage recovery and generated a $14 BILLION backlog for Model 3.
Tell me, when was the last time anyone was that enthusiastic about some piece of crap coming from Detroit? Or Tokyo?
Call him a crony capitalist, a deluded Millennial Leftist, or whatever you want...fact is, he's the guy with the market.
There's a guy who builds hotels and office buildings who does pretty good and people accuse him of being a fraud, but know what? They got the business.
Yep, Tobak brings out the fact that the $7500 tax credit will be ending and that even on the high priced Model S Tesla is losing money on every sale.
Don't worry, they'll figure it out. This particular one could be tripled in size.
So you didn't read the article? He addresses that point.
I wouldn't care except it's probably government cash that is being burned.
Amen.
Yeah and he dimisses it as a liability and is skeptical that Tesla can ever make money on it.
But the Model S and X were low production run items. The Model 3 now has critical mass for high production/low cost.
Venture capital is not a problem for Musk. Between DFJ venture capital, Larry Page and all his buddies, he has access to literally billions, if only for short term cash flow.
The factory is now highly automated. And as far as finding people in the U.S. who know how to scale that up, they already work there: it’s part of the existing planning.
The heritage automakers are just barely keeping up with this gig. Drafting on the leader sometimes lets you win, but only if you were close in the first place.
In this market segment, they ain’t even close. They didn’t even know it existed. As is painfully obvious now.
When I have to drive to work, half of the time it is a long distance, no chargers and too far for a Tesla charge. No thanka unless Elon is waiting to push me home.
Which, of course, is your cash, and mine!
Owners seem to love the cars, although I don't really understand why. (I'm waiting for one of the Discovery car shows to cut out the Tesla battery and install a V8 and a 6-speed manual. The EPA SWAT team would probably raid the show before it was ever broadcast, though.)
Hard to say. Working people don’t throw their money away as easily as the Richie Riches who buy Teslas.
Exactly, the average working people in this country will not be supporting Tesla.
Drop in a naturally-aspirated V8, automatic and I’d be fine. There are some things in a car that cannot be replicated with Tesla’s drivetrains.
The only roadblock would be if Tesla tries to blackball you from receiving parts. They’ll do it if you start with a salvage model, and good odds would be on them doing same with an undamaged one.
In short, Tesla would be after you well before the EPA got word of what happened.
While that slight of hand has worked on Musks wealthy Silicon Valley fan boys and cult-crazed investors,
...
With a sentence starting off like that, this article couldn’t possibly be biased. The Model 3 really isn’t mass market. It will compete in the low end luxury market with Mercedes, BMW and Lexus.
The same will be true of his rockets much to the dismay of the US government and his commercial customers.
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