McLaren
Premium
- 46,089
- Texas
The board is full of long-time friends, hence why they'll never get rid of him. His brother Kimbal is even on it.
Elon's Antics
- Thread starter Danoff
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- 3,104
- Columbus, Ohio
And they all know that Elon's presence is the only thing holding the investors' money in place that's keeping the company afloat. It's the classic poisoned chalice scenario. If he gets pushed out he'll likely dump all of his holdings in Tesla, the investors will bolt and the company will be unsalvagable.
- 2,302
- Germany
- GlamFM
- GlamFM
European and especially Chinese automakers are catching up fast though and have surpassed Tesla in a few areas already like pricing and general quality.
I think pretty soon the only thing Tesla will have going for it is the charger infrastructure.
That's probably why Elon is trying to make his taxi nonsense happen before it's ready for primetime.
Danoff
Premium
- 34,260
- Mile High City
So far Chinese automakers have had trouble with safety regulations for getting their cars competitive in the more expensive markets. I do not disagree that Tesla is losing its edge. What happens when it truly has lost its edge and STILL has the Elon baggage? The company plummets.
Elon is just something they can't afford. They need to ditch him now before they're in worse shape. They should have done it a year or two ago.
McLaren
Premium
- 46,089
- Texas
Yep. I remember this article from last month head lining that BYD outsold Tesla for the first time in Europe.
Of course, it is more so of Tesla falling out of favor due to Musk, but it shows how far the brand has fallen over seas that a Chinese brand was able to finally overtake.
- 640
- Canada
- Mortal_Resonance
Are Tesla products ahead of competitors?
Everything I've read suggests that competitors are beating Tesla in every milestone and metric.
Remember when Musk stated Tesla would be the first to release a level 3 autonomous driving car, just to be beaten to it by Mercedes-Benz?
Or when it was revealed that the Chevrolet Silverado EV charges quicker than a Tesla?
Or that the Lucid Air is reviewed as an overall better car, with better performance, driving feel, build quality and luxury, for $10k less vs a Model S?
Tesla aren't even leading the charge in battery development anymore. That goes to three Chinese brands!
Personally, if I were in the market for an EV, I'd be looking at competitors because Tesla's only advantage over competitors is their charging network and brand recognition, but that's questionable when you consider that most people with EVs charge at home and the brand is now associated with Nazi Salutes and Trump.
For me it'd be the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, a car that reviewers went wild over.
Roll back a decade and yeah, sure, Tesla are leading the way, but now every other manufacturer has caught up and passed them in some way.
Danoff
Premium
- 34,260
- Mile High City
I'm noting that you went to a bunch of different vehicles to pull leaders in some particular tech niche and then told me you'd go for one that isn't any of those. Tesla makes cheap EVs that are very difficult to outperform in their segment. They're a good car company. Not a great one, build quality is crap, servicing is crap, and their image is a disaster (not just for branding, but for owners). But in general the model 3 and Y are very hard to beat in their segment. For lots of reasons (acceleration, charge time, range).
I'm getting the sense that you don't like Tesla. Which is fine. I don't like them either. But I don't think this company is sunk without Musk. I think if they keep Musk much longer, their product will have fallen off even more compared to competitors and then they really will be sunk when they finally have to ditch the Musk albatross.
I've long thought Tesla had a great opportunity. They were a car company that didn't really know how to make cars, but put together a really aggressive tech package that pushed the entire industry in a huge way. They made a ton of money being first on the scene, and I remember thinking, if they can take this moment to learn how to build cars, they'll be a staple car company for a long time. But if they mess around and squander their opportunity, they'll get passed by car companies that actually know how to build things and they possibly will fail.
Well, instead of learning how to build cars, they messed around with cybertrucks, tech rabbit holes, and dragged their entire brand through the mud. It's not looking so great anymore.
- 88,879
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
As a day-to-day EV, I very much would not.
I agree with every single point made about how it elevates the driving experience from a fun perspective, but as a daily driver - in the UK/Europe at least - it's more compromised than you might think. Also I personally think it's revolting to look at; I'd rather have the mildly hot GV60 Performance sibling (and I fear the Magma may tread the same path as the 5N).
And if you were to put someone's name at the top of the list of reasons why they were doing so... yeah.
"Uber for biospheres".
- 2,446
- Michigan
- FuriousDemon
Just bought my first EV and it’s not a Tesla. I got Chevy Equinox instead and not just because of Musk, even though that’s the #1 reason, of course.
The other big factors were that I don’t have to do everything through an iPad the middle of the dash and actually do have a display in front of me that is actually useful. Plus the price is right for what you’re getting. Sure, it’s not as tech advanced as a Tesla and “only” charges at 150kW DC, but I take 1-2 trips a year where that matters. Range wise it’s comparable and if you really want hands free driving you could get Supercruise, which is highly rated, although only for highway driving, which is why I skipped it.
I guess if the prices were lower, Musk wasn’t there, and you had a better driver display system, Teslas would be fine as a lease car (with a caveat that their build quality is still not up to par but that would not matter as much for a lease). However, Musk is still around, so it’s not happening any time soon.
The other big factors were that I don’t have to do everything through an iPad the middle of the dash and actually do have a display in front of me that is actually useful. Plus the price is right for what you’re getting. Sure, it’s not as tech advanced as a Tesla and “only” charges at 150kW DC, but I take 1-2 trips a year where that matters. Range wise it’s comparable and if you really want hands free driving you could get Supercruise, which is highly rated, although only for highway driving, which is why I skipped it.
I guess if the prices were lower, Musk wasn’t there, and you had a better driver display system, Teslas would be fine as a lease car (with a caveat that their build quality is still not up to par but that would not matter as much for a lease). However, Musk is still around, so it’s not happening any time soon.
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- Mortal_Resonance
I'd say I'm indifferent towards Tesla as a brand. I've been the guy in the passenger seat while a buddy floors it to show off, but the honeymoon phase is long over.
And the purpose was to show that Tesla aren't really leaders in anything anymore, hence pull various examples of things competitors have done that they have done better. I do tip my hat as Musk has accelerated the EV industry and adoption rate though.
I actually agree with a lot of what you said, my query is simply 'are they still leaders in the industry?'.
