Are Tesla's days numbered?

There are several indicators that the brand's days are numbered.

They've had an inordinately high unreliability rate; the fanboiz chalk it up to growing pains.

They're over-priced, even discounted; the company has plans to reduce sale prices even farther to promote sales. Looks like the plan is to use current production as a loss leader to promote popularity of the brand.

They're closing all their dealerships and moving all sales online. This move, as a cost-cutting measure, is the death knell to my way of thinking.

The company has remained afloat largely due to investment dollars. Can you say "Bricklin?"

a reply to: TheTruthRocks

Probably, who wants to be a passenger in their own cars?

Musk's ambitions are to lofty. Yeah I'd like to climb Everest but i'd be dead before reaching summit, Musk needs to learn how to differentiate expectations and reality.

He needs to look to the ground a bit more instead of the clouds, the sky is the limit but the sky ends

Are Tesla's days numbered?

Yep.

Musk is no Howard Hughes.

originally posted by: Thecakeisalie
a reply to: TheTruthRocks

Probably, who wants to be a passenger in their own cars?

Musk's ambitions are to lofty. Yeah I'd like to climb Everest but i'd be dead before reaching summit, Musk needs to learn how to differentiate expectations and reality.

He needs to look to the ground a bit more instead of the clouds, the sky is the limit but the sky ends

I agree, he's trying to do too much too fast. Just build a solid, reliable electric car. I couldn't care less about the car driving for me, in fact, I'd rather drive it myself. Don't give me all that power and then expect me to let it drive itself.

However, something that I think would really boost their sales...make the range longer. Stop spending so much on trying to get the car safe to drive itself, and instead spend the money on how to go 500 miles (random number similar to a Subaru) on a single charge. So many more people would buy the car if they could drive it exactly like a normal car.

Maybe this is just an issue for myself and folks like me. I'd love to have a Tesla, but the nearest city of 10,000 or more is 3 hours away going 70ish mph, so charging stations are few and far between. Make the battery last longer, and I'd seriously consider getting one.

ETA: As an alternative to the longer range, make the recharge to full time similar to the time it takes to fill a tank of gas. Tesla's are a great idea, but I can't imagine getting halfway to the nearest major city and having to stop for 45-60 minutes to recharge the battery. That's super inconvenient.

Of course they are.
Lagging production.
Low sales.
Nothing new or innovative to create a buzz.

Only a matter of time before investors pull out.

Yeah they're done. Now that interest and demand is up all the big boys are getting serious. I just saw this announcement about an upcoming Volvo Tesla-killer -
BLOOMBERG

a reply to: TheTruthRocks

Tesla's days are limited. Their Chief Accounting Officer left the company after ONE MONTH back in the fall, their General Counsel Butswinkas left after TWO MONTHS on the job... Chief Information Officer left after just a few months last summer...

Elon Musk violated an agreement he had with the SEC to not share materially-relevant information about the company that could affect share price (after already being charged with securities fraud for his "Funding Secured" tweet.

Elon Musk, total con man and one of the most irresponsible CEOs out there today

originally posted by: underpass61
Yeah they're done. Now that interest and demand is up all the big boys are getting serious. I just saw this announcement about an upcoming Volvo Tesla-killer -
BLOOMBERG

Love the looks of the Polestar. If they make wagon version, I’d be awfully tempted.

He should mount some of his stolen flamethrowers on them.

Have them pop out like the bat mobile.

There, I saved the company.

But seriously, is Space X just another fake private company like Google used to fill the sky with spy crap?

Look at the EVs, Fuel cell, and hybrids being released this year. Hyundai alone will eat Tesla's lunch this year.

Tesla has a lot of competition, and they are doing It cheaper than Tesla, AND they can meet production schedules.

a reply to: projectvxn

But Tesla isn't the competition. Gas imports are.

Electric cars need to beat the price of imported 4 bangers to go mainstream.

a reply to: Mandroid7

I agree in general.

What I'm saying is that Tesla is about to meet stiff competition on THEIR turf and it will be coming from the EV, Hybrid, Fuel Cell, and yes, the gasoline run traditional vehicles that are getting more and more efficient.

a reply to: projectvxn

Yeah, that's not good for tesla.

I want to see a system that is better than gas before I jump on board.

Something that doesn't plug into the wall. I know the tech is there somewhere.

a reply to: Mandroid7

Hydrogen is your tech then.

Much cleaner and every efficient.

I don't think they are done. No other company has come out with anything remotely competitive to their product. Almost everyone who owns Teslas rave about them.

The challenge is that building a car company from scratch is insanely capital intensive. I think they will get additional funding if needed.

Worst case, I think Tesla gets acquired. Elon may get pushed out.

If I were in the market for a new car, Tesla would be at the top of my list.

I remember when people though Apple was dead. Amazon didn't make money for years.

originally posted by: narrator

originally posted by: Thecakeisalie
a reply to: TheTruthRocks

Probably, who wants to be a passenger in their own cars?

Musk's ambitions are to lofty. Yeah I'd like to climb Everest but i'd be dead before reaching summit, Musk needs to learn how to differentiate expectations and reality.

He needs to look to the ground a bit more instead of the clouds, the sky is the limit but the sky ends

I agree, he's trying to do too much too fast. Just build a solid, reliable electric car. I couldn't care less about the car driving for me, in fact, I'd rather drive it myself. Don't give me all that power and then expect me to let it drive itself.

However, something that I think would really boost their sales...make the range longer. Stop spending so much on trying to get the car safe to drive itself, and instead spend the money on how to go 500 miles (random number similar to a Subaru) on a single charge. So many more people would buy the car if they could drive it exactly like a normal car.

Maybe this is just an issue for myself and folks like me. I'd love to have a Tesla, but the nearest city of 10,000 or more is 3 hours away going 70ish mph, so charging stations are few and far between. Make the battery last longer, and I'd seriously consider getting one.

ETA: As an alternative to the longer range, make the recharge to full time similar to the time it takes to fill a tank of gas. Tesla's are a great idea, but I can't imagine getting halfway to the nearest major city and having to stop for 45-60 minutes to recharge the battery. That's super inconvenient.

Tesla's have enough range and charging power. First, the vast majority, as in 99% of people drive less than 40 miles PER DAY. Having a range of almost 300 miles on a single charge is more than adequate. Most cars are charged overnight.

For the times that you need to take a long road trip, then yes, you can rent a car or use a gas powered car. Most electric car owners have a second gas powered vehicle...

a reply to: Edumakated

You just explained why electric cars are a flop.

Oh, any time you need to drive somewhere you can just use your real car.

"Most electric car owners have a second gas car"

My golfcart was 2k for new batteries back in the day. What does a replacement tesla battery bank go for 20k?

What is the replacement cost, plus cost to charge it, plus cost to maintain with minimal service location options?

It has to get out of the virtue signaling rich douche category, and be a lower cost than imported 4 bangers, or it's just marketing to idiots with more money than brains.

The other option with electric is the high performance market, which is tough too, because of costs, so the market is tiny.

Imo the tech just isn't there yet. Batteries suck, recharging sucks, regular mechanics can't work on them.

Too many extra steps makes them impratical.

originally posted by: Mandroid7
a reply to: Edumakated

You just explained why electric cars are a flop.

Oh, any time you need to drive somewhere you can just use your real car.

"Most electric car owners have a second gas car"

My golfcart was 2k for new batteries back in the day. What does a replacement tesla battery bank go for 20k?

What is the replacement cost, plus cost to charge it, plus cost to maintain with minimal service location options?

It has to get out of the virtue signaling rich douche category, and be a lower cost than imported 4 bangers, or it's just marketing to idiots with more money than brains.

The other option with electric is the high performance market, which is tough too, because of costs, so the market is tiny.

Imo the tech just isn't there yet. Batteries suck, recharging sucks, regular mechanics can't work on them.

Too many extra steps makes them impratical.

You are demonstrating your ignorance of electric cars...

Tesla batteries are warrantied for 8 years or up to 125,000 miles. New battery cost $10,000 assuming it is out of warranty. You want to compare it to something, go see what it cost to replace stuff on a German car. I had a 10 year old VW Touareg and got quoted almost $8k just to replace gas tank (at which point I said screw it and bought a new car).

Electric cars have far fewer mechanical issues. No oil changes, fluids, etc. Electric drive trains are exponentially simpler to work on and replace and a combustion engine. Once motors are installed, any tuning is done by ECU. A lot of people don't know that the high performance Telsas are literally the same car as the regular ones. They just programmed the ECU differently.

Tesla is the quickest car in production right now. Electric is far superior to combustion engines because of immediate MASSIVE torque from 0 RPM and lack of gears. Go look up stock Tesla Model S sedans embarrassing supercars in the 1/4 mile. Ferrari's, lambos, hellcats, etc. Doesn't matter. None of them can keep up with a stock $100k car in the 1/4 mile.

Even on days when people are "running around town", they don't drive anywhere near 300 miles. At best 75 miles. It may feel like more with city traffic.

Saying Tesla's don't have enough range because you can't drive 500 miles on a charge is straight ignorance. First, hardly anyone drives that long without a break. Super chargers can typically charge a car in an hour. So basically, when you stop for lunch or whatever, you can charge up if needed on a road trip.

This is like when people claim they need a pickup truck because they MIGHT lug a sofa one weekend a year.

To be clear, I don't think Tesla is perfect, but I do think they offer an innovative product and seriously disrupting the auto industry. People should be supporting them on their challenging of the dealer network cartels and their crony capitalism alone. A lot of people don't realize that car dealers lobbied to make it illegal to sell direct to consumers.

This is why the car buying experience is so crappy. The dealers basically set it up so consumers have little choice but to deal with them. Tesla is challenging that model.

Numbered yes, but the number is still pretty high.

I just like how many people on Twitter constantly cry about Musk, clearly cost them a lot in tradings

People like... twitter.com... are clearly very hurt. So many bots.