Posted on 05/14/2013 7:17:46 AM PDT by grundle
For the naysayers who maintained that Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) wasn’t going to make it, with the Model S too expensive to be successful, here is a fact worth reflecting on: in the first quarter, Tesla outsold comparable cars from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi.
Tesla moved 4,750 Model S units in the first fiscal quarter. Among the top three German luxury builders, the Mercedes S Class came in second with 3,077 units sold. BMW took third place with 2,338 7-Series sedans sold and Audi’s flagship A8 sold 1,462 cars, good for fourth place.
There are are few things to consider when looking at this data, which came courtesy of LMC Automotive. The three German cars all start at prices toward the top of the Tesla’s price ceiling, and no one who buys the BMW, Mercedes, or Audi get the $7,500 clean energy credit. Effectively, this makes the Tesla the cheapest car of the bunch. On the other hand, this is the pack that the Model S was intended to be running with.
While Tesla faced huge criticisms about the Model S being too expensive, which would result in a stagnancy of demand, it appears the concerns were unfounded, and that the demand is leading the segment. Given the company’s limitations as a start-up with a product that has yet to become mainstream, these figures are especially impressive.
Moreover, the Model S was never meant to be an affordable, mass market car; the company was never aiming to build the next GM Chevy (NYSE:GM) Volt or Nissan Leaf. The Model S was designed from the ground up as a luxury car, meant to compete with the likes of the 7 Series and A8.
The company’s business model suggests that as electric cars become more accepted, and concerns over range anxiety and other problems subside, the high cost of electric car technology will slope downward. And when that happens, Tesla will be ready and waiting with an entry-level, ballpark $30,000 model to market to the masses.
The trick Tesla has to pull now is maintaining the sales momentum it has built up — to show the world that electric cars can be a sustainable enterprise and not just a trending fad that will slow down to a trickle in the future. The company is already well on its way, with a crossover concept slotted for production in 2014, further whispers of a more affordable car down the road, and even a truck.
Be sure to splice-r-in before your meter or better yet, after the lib next doors meter!
Buddy I’ll just plug ‘er in the same place I charge my free Obama phone!
Oh, yes he is. Branson and Diament (sp?) and all of them are driven by the same desires and the same end is to be The Guy who gets them into space. Even miserable LEO for five minutes. Even the Amazon boys are part of it. They could get what they want by combining their billions, but too many egos spoil the rocket fuel, so they need political pull.
So, boggle. The image is true. As an example that *you* might have taken notice of, consider Gabby Gifford’s husband. And the gal with the diapers. And John Glenn, the first hero, who sold us all out to China so that Clinton could give him a free last ride on the Shuttle. Pay attention.
‘I guess it all depends on how one defines “smoke”.’
I think a pretty good definition goes like this:
416 horsepower
443 ft/lb of torque at 0 RPM
16,000 RPM redline
0-60 MPH in 4.6 seconds
13.3 second 1/4 mile at 104 MPH
134 MPH top speed (governed)
.91 G on the skidpad
All in a four door luxury sedan.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2013-tesla-model-s-test-review
And neither one came within 20 light years of $80K.
If you ever see me driving by while you're stuck on the side of an Interstate,battery dead,because you only got 270 miles out of your battery while expecting 300,flag me down and I'll give you a ride.I'll even help you to arrange a tow truck!
“Both my diesels did/do 0-60 in about two seconds”
LOL! Sure.....
Circuit breakers are not THAT expensive don’tchaknow.
Unless $elling and in$talling replacement batterie$ is part of their profit plan...
Half the fun of driving a sports car is listening to the tuned exhaust. I think Ferrari has a guy who’s only job at the factory is to tune the pipes before delivery.
Did I say that? Checking....checking....aaaah,nope!
Currently $TSLA is trading at $84/share. 52 week low was $25.52/share
you’ll be staying awhile charging off a 110 outlet. hope the cord is not to long or it might not charge and brick on ya ;)
To me it’s a slam dunk short on the fundamentals but this guy is tight with Baraq and often these stocks don’t trade rationally for a long time.
I have.
Not all diesels are slow!!!
NASA's Saturn V rocket burns fuel at the rate of 20 tons per second. The V10 Touareg isn't far behind. Volkswagen laughably lists the 5,825 lbs. SUV's city mileage at 15 mpg. But there's a real time fuel economy meter informing the pilot that even gentle acceleration results in a wallet-draining 3.6 mpg. Get this: it won't display any lower.
The trade off for such irresponsible fuel consumption: power: endless bucketfuls of forward momentum. The Touareg sports a 5.0-liter, 90-degree diesel V10 with an 18:1 compression ratio fed by twin turbochargers. The diesel-fed mega-mill is capable of an impressive-for-a-diesel 310 horsepower. Pfffft. The oil-burning Touareg stumps-up a mind-numbing 553 ft.-lbs. of torque at 2000 rpm.
In any gear, on any incline, on any surface capable of providing what's laughably called "traction," a gentle toe flick sends the Touareg TDI hurtling forward as if it's strapped to the back of a pulling NFL guard. The big VW may not be as quick as the (slightly) lighter Lotus Elise– the TDI Touareg hits 60 mph in 7.5 seconds– but the feeling is equally thrilling. Breaking Newtonian laws always is. And if you're interested, the SUV tops out at 144 mph.
I can read your mind: here we are again in Muscle Car Land. In other words, "stick a monster engine in a Sub-Zero and it'll go like Hell– and handle like a refrigerator." Before 2006– when VW redesigned their off-roader with some 2500 parts– you would have been right. When Farago drove the pre-'06 Touareg TDI, he called it The Mother of All Nose-Heavy Pigs.
I have no clue how the lesser new Touaregs handle, but the big diesel is shockingly competent. True, the steering, brakes, air suspension (and engine) are all over-boosted. There's an artificial numbness to the driving experience that's about as far away from "driver's car" as Lincoln Town Car. That said, I was bombing down curvy roads at 80 to 90 mph in absolute control. Roads that challenge my Subaru WRX at similar speeds. ...
No kiddin’.
Wouldn’t it be funny if they made it Apple compatible (an iphone being a piece of junk I DO own) and a guy could use the crummy little $60 white Apple charger/transformer?
Sit there for three months waiting for your dreamy Tessie to charge.
The pathetic fact is that, like Apple fanatics more or less already do, the owners would queue up at the tiny Apple charging stanchions and praise and lie and weep together over the flawlessness of their overpriced gizmos.
... The pathetic fact is that, like Apple fanatics more or less already do...
The pathetic fact is that you fall into the very category you disparage.
I am a proud owner of Mac products dating back to 1984 when it was introduced. I have laptops, desktops, and am currently typing on my MacBook Pro, circa 2009. I could have used my iPhone4 or my iPad1, but I like to type on a real keyboard.
They all work, even my 1984 Fat Mac! I even have a box full of 3.5 floppies and used MacDraft to help me design and build back in 1985 and 1986...
I have never had a virus, nor have I had any attack stop me from using my computers. YMMV.
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