Tesla and Dealerships
 

Telsa is challenging the dealership model. I never knew that car manufacturers are basically banned from opening their own dealerships. Doesn't this seem unconstitutional?


U.S. Dealer Group Seeks Tesla Meeting on Retail Plans - Businessweek

This is pretty much how all business is done, unfortunately. It's dumb and out dated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-t...l_distribution)

Middle-men who on the surface (I've not researched why there are those laws in the first place) do seem to be unnecessary and out-dated in today's environment. I've wished that we could order cars directly for a while. I think all of the times we've bought cars we've pretty much known exactly what we wanted going in, and trips to the dealer only served to try to wear us down, tire us out, and extract more money from us for things we didn't want.

(An exception to this was buying our MPV some years ago at Heritage in Owings Mills. We came in with an online price from another dealer, they beat it by a couple hundred bucks, and we were out of there in maybe an hour, if that. Most of the agreement was made over the phone. Our Hyundai? Fuck that smokestack bullshitter going on about the DOOM that is acid rain.)

I've bought my last three cars basically this way. overstock.com is actually awesome for cars - they will find you the best price in your area, you can print it out and you can either take it in to that dealer or use it to try and get a better price from a dealer closer to you. It's a great system.

One of my customers just got their Model S. It is an awesome car. I'd definitely think about picking one up once their announced 500 mile range batteries come out. The current 200-225 mile range just isn't enough for me, considering how much I drive between Austin, Dallas and Houston. But if I had a normal commute, it'd be a no-brainer.

I imagine they don't do well in winter conditions, otherwise they're so cool that I'd love to get one...

From what I've heard, they lose about 10% of their range in below freezing conditions. So even if you had a 100 mile round trip commute, you'd still have just a little less than half a charge left.

That's not bad - and my daily commute is like...15 miles total...LOL.

I'd be more worried about the handling and such (for some reason...dunno why). It's an attractive idea - and a sexy car. And with the new financing plan it's even more of an attractive idea.

http://news.consumerreports.org/cars...ars-range.html

Elon Musk announced that he is opening up Tesla's patents for anyone to use.

Elon Musk to allow rivals to use Tesla motor electric car patents*-*Los Angeles Times

He'd strongly hinted at this recently, so it's not a major surprise.

I am similarly mystified at why no other carmaker has gone down a similar route in terms of battery tech - Tesla absolutely kicks the ass of any of the other cars on the market in terms of range.

Very cool to hear they're working on teaming up with other makes to share their Supercharger network.

New Tesla will do 0-60 in 2.8 seconds. They are calling it 'Ludicrous' mode. Next step I guess is 'Plaid'.

Tesla's 'Ludicrous Mode' takes the Model S from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds

I finally saw my first Tesla and store last week. I went from being skeptical to being impressed and feeling like I was looking at the future of cars in about 10 minutes.

A friend of a friend is an Evangelical Tesla owner. He's crazy into his car and the brand, so much that he does lobbying for them in Michigan and was working very hard to challenge the state's dealership laws requiring OEMs to sell cars through dealerships. (As someone who works for an automobile OEM, I'll keep my opinions on this topic to myself.)

I ran into this friend of a friend at a Potbelly once. He showed me his car, took me for a ride in it, and all of that. It's crazy impressive. A very cool driving/riding experience.

Still, don't buy one.

Buy a GM car. Any GM car.

K thx bai!

I saw one at a hospital I used to deliver too. Looked like electric sex.

There are a lot of "ifs" here, but if Tesla delivers the Model 3 in 2017, and if it has 200-300 mile range, and if they are able to keep the price in the $35K range, it's going to be a game-changer. Yes, there will still be people that will have range-anxiety and won't be in the market for a full electric car, and there are people for whom a $35K pricetag (even considering lower operations costs and federal incentives) is just too high, but a car that hits these key metrics - especially from Tesla, where you can feel pretty confident it's going to drive like a mofo and look amazing - is going to really break open the full electric car market.

I expect they won't be the only ones at these metrics. Nissan knows they're going to have to significantly boost the range of the Leaf without raising the price given the threat from the Model 3, and others that are dipping their toes (BMW, VW, Ford, Fiat, Mercedes, GM) have to know that a new bar will be raised, and it will be match (or exceed) or GTFO.

While there's reason to distrust projected street dates from Tesla, the Model 3 might be different - it shouldn't require any significant new tech (unlike the Model X) and is really just a scaled-down version of the S, with the cost (presumably) driven down by economy of scale from their new battery gigafactory. On the other hand, inevitable continued delays on the Model X might force them to push it back, which could leave open a window for a competitor to hit those metrics first.

Our current Leaf lease expires in 2017, so I'm hopeful the Model 3 is A) ready and B) not significantly more expensive than they're currently promising.

I know a guy who's an engineer for Tesla. He's an insufferable, self-righteous prick. But he's super smart and the stuff he works on is pretty amazing. If I was a little healthier financially and was already a homeowner, I'd definitely be looking into one.

That kinda sums up the Tesla owner I know pretty well too.

Buy Volt! Or, when it comes out, a Bolt! 200 miles per charge, baby!

My brother works for Tesla. He's also working on an engineering degree (presumably so he can move up in the company? Not sure). Be interested to see how long he sticks with them, but he's definitely got a little hero worship where Elon Musk is concerned.

Given the enormous odds they have faced - and continue to face - it wouldn't surprise me if this kind of mindset is common at Tesla: "Us vs. the world" with a healthy, super-sized amount of belief in what they're doing.

My comment above applies here as well. Add on to that some evidence to suggest the Musk isn't just out to make a buck (that's what his previous ventures were about), but to actually change the world. I'll say this - I'm happy there's someone like Elon Musk out there, because without him I'm not sure the electric car movement is even 1/100 of the way to where it is currently.

Genius often comes with a price. Sucks to be Musk right now and Tesla's board.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...=technology-vp

He's not a genius.

I think maybe he's had a little too much 420.

$20M is chump change for him. I think this is a sweet deal for him (and stockholders), he gets to stay on as CEO.

Elon Musk agrees to pay $20 million and quit as Tesla chairman in deal with SEC

The fine should've been $420 million

Commit massive fraud and get off with a slap on the wrist. What it must be like to be that rich. Rules just don't apply.

Do you work in the oil and gas industry, RainMaker? Just curious where the massive hatred for Musk stems from.

Well he called some guy a pedophile because the guy dared to say that Musk didn't help out with a rescue mission. Then he proceeded to commit massive fraud because he was angry that short sellers exist. I'd say those two things are reason enough to not like the guy.

I'd tack on that he gets labeled as some genius when he's really not. Made his money through Paypal but his side of the business wasn't where valuable technology was (it was just a bank that his Daddy funded, Confinity was where the brains were). And his new businesses almost exclusively rely on government subsidies to stay afloat.

Sure he came from a wealthy family and he had "buffer" to take risks but do you think anyone in the bottom 99% could have done what he has done with his businesses?

He has accelerated EV adoption in the US and the world (hate our dependence on ME oil). His solar and space travel privatization hasn't done as well but there is still great potential.

A dick, a bull-shitter etc. but I give credit where its due. Not quite (yet) the visionary of Gates in the 80's & 90's or Job's but still pretty damn impressive.

I'll give him credit for convincing the government to give his businesses billions and essentially subsidize them. I don't think that makes you an innovative genius, just another in a long line of confidence men who leached off our government (see the entire financial sector in 2008).

EV adoption is up, but it still holds a minuscule share of the market. And that market share is almost entirely reliant on government incentives for buyers. It's why the states that give you the most money back (like California) are the one's selling the most.

Don't get me wrong, I want to drop our reliance on oil (although with EV it just makes us dependent on China). And Tesla is one of the first electric cars that doesn't look like it should be driven around by a white college kid with dreadlocks. But it's not some new technology that he's created. It's not changing much in the world or even the market.

I think the "bullshitter" part is what makes people believe he's something he's not. He spouts outrageous things he plans on doing that don't or won't come to fruition.

Back in 2016 he said you'd be able to self-drive his car cross country by the end of 2017. They aren't even close. Heck, BMW and Audi long surpassed them in this field. Hyperloop is complete nonsense. He was going to fly humans around the moon this year. Dropping battery costs by 30%, having machines build the machines by now. That doesn't even touch on all the bullshit about the car. How many he'd make, how many he'd sell, and what their capabilities are.

Talk is cheap. He's still just a guy running a company that is entirely dependent on our tax dollars to survive while spouting ideas that will never happen.

We'll agree to disagree.

I will say the vast majority of successful people I personally know have been great bull-shitters. (Unfortunately I am not).

I mean I'm not making the stuff up. He really said those things that didn't come true. His company also relies a ton on our tax dollars.

Even with his privilege and backing, I contend 99+% of us could not have the vision he had and accomplished what he has regardless of government handouts, lies, bullshitting etc. To me that is genius.

Jobs was an ass, bad father, and treated his employees poorly (and probably many other bad things). He was a visionary and changed the world. Musk isn't quite there yet but he is that 2nd or 3rd tier below Jobs (whereas you and I are likely down at the 9-10th tier).

Give us $5 billion in government handouts and decades of financial losses and we'll do some cool stuff too.

Not arguing Jobs. He has a resume of innovative products that changed industries and the world. Turned Apple from a company that was close to going out of business to one of the most profitable companies ever.

Hah, but are you good enough of a bull shitter to get the government to give you $5B and survive decades of financial losses without your stockholder/investors giving up on you? I don't think so.

But somehow, someway he got it done.

The Model 3 was the 4th highest sold car in September. Adoption is on the rise, and when the Model Y is announced and at some point made it will take EV adoption to the next level.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/10/03...ng-car-in-usa/

Out of 1,441,240 vehicles sold in September, Tesla sold 21,700. That's a pretty small market share. And what happens to their sales when their government subsidies end?



September U.S. auto sales