Mercedes Unveils First Tesla Rival In $12 Billion Attack (bloomberg.com) 246
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Mercedes-Benz, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, is rolling out its first in a series of battery-powered models, adding to a growing array of high-end brands targeting Tesla. The Mercedes EQC crossover starts production in the first half of next year, part of a plan to develop its EQ electric line, Daimler AG Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche told reporters in Stockholm at the car's world premiere. The company intended to invest $12 billion on the electric-car push, but the spending has become "more than that," he said Tuesday, without specifying figures. "There is no alternative to betting on electric cars, and we're going all in," Zetsche said. "It is starting right now." The new EQC -- roughly the size of the brand's popular GLC SUV -- features a range of more than 280 miles and accelerates to 62 mph in as little as 5.1 seconds. The Model X has a range of 237 miles. Daimler doesn't plan to establish a dedicated electric assembly plant and will instead build the vehicles at the same sites as conventional automobiles to be able to better adjust output, Zetsche said, adding that he expects demand to mainly eat into sales of combustion cars rather than lure new customers.
Cue Janice (Score:4, Funny)
5.1 seconds? (Score:3)
5.1 seconds seems substantially slower than any model Tesla.
Are they making a car to compete against Tesla, or the Volt?
Re: 5.1 seconds? (Score:2, Informative)
I think they want to compete in sales rather than racing the cars...
Re:5.1 seconds? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Superfast acceleration is perhaps #231 on the list of must-haves for prospective buyers of this type of car.
Speak for yourself.
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So how do you explain engine power inflation? Take any given model, and over the years, look at how the standard engine power increases. OK, explain.
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Higher weight. Here is a typical example of probably the most common German car:
VW Golf 1, 750-805 kg kerb weight, 50-70 hp.
VW Golf 7, 1205-1540 kg kerb weight, 85-180 hp (non-GTI version).
Add to this the general population becoming heavier and you'll have your answer.
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Ah, yup. Power by any other name. Call it what you want to, everybody wants it.
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Yes, and in the USA, all other manufacturers are years behind Tesla in building a charging network that will support long distance drives.
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The supermarkets et al will be the ones with the most chargers. Expect them at all undercover car parks oh and carparks themselves, why refuse the extra income and of course most work places will have some chargers, why waste money with your company vehicles, when you have a roof, make money with it.
Reality is new electric vehicles will not be so much competing against each other but against the infernal combustion variety of motor vehicle. The more electrics in the market, the more popular they will becom
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If you look at total profit from drilling to the pump, I think you'll find that the money is in gasoline. The automakers just aren't involved in it.
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Re: 5.1 seconds? (Score:3)
True, but Tesla has been saying 'up yours' to the mainstream automotive fuel industry. The other automakers have long and congenial relationships with the established gas station chains. Think of the convenience if there was a charging station added at nearly every gas station in the world. You wouldn't have to frequent a specifiC 'network' of charging stations. Gas stations can just add a charging station or two. Which is a lot cheaper than what Tesla has done.
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What makes a gas station a better location for EV chargers than where Tesla has been installing its chargers? The bad coffee? The dirty restrooms? The smell of gasoline?
No one really wants to stop at a gas station. In contrast, many Tesla Superchargers are sited near Starbucks or restaurants. Places where people actually want to stop.
Tesla has nothing whatsoever to gain from keeping the fossil fuel industry
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So are coffee shops and restaurants and parking lots.
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To reuse a New York Times quote originally about the Macintosh, Tesla fans "... on the other hand, may note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans, and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form."
But in all seriousness, gas stations and Tesla superchargers are fundamentally different in ways that make them inherently incompatible:
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The infrastructure required to upgrade a gas station for any reasonable EV charging is non-trivial— likely comparable to removing a fuel tank and remediating some soil. And what exactly do you do at said gas station while waiting for reasonable charge? It might work for truck stops, but not an average station.
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A single 40A charger is trivial, but being able to support 2-3 200kW chargers is no small task for most stations. You quickly go from a 200A, 120/208V service from overhead pole-mount transformers to 1,200A, 480/277V with a parking space or two lost for a pad-mounted transformer. Not a big deal if you are in the middle of nowhere (with a good sized distribution circuit available), but it can be quite a challenge. Add to this the changing logistics of vehicular circulation, the need/desire for a canopy cover
Not nearly enough (Score:2)
Gas stations can just add a charging station or two. Which is a lot cheaper than what Tesla has done.
And how is a 60k+ Mercedes owner going to feel when both spots are filled or (more likely) one or more is broken because they are a side addition to the gas station?
Mixing charging stations into gas stations is a terrible idea because it will serve no-one well at all. Because even rapid charging takes quite a lot longer than a gas tank refill you need way more charging stations than you would pumps, not jus
Re:Not nearly enough (Score:5, Insightful)
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It's interesting to think how the numbers will play out:
- When and how fast will apartment block parking lots be retrofitted with chargers
- Will lamp-post charging become commonplace
- How often will people actually need to charge given average daily driving distance in the US is 30miles (which implies charging only once or twice a week on average)
- How common will workplace charging become
I'll bet there's teams of analysts at banks and management consultancies and automakers and energy companies who are doi
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Yes, and in the USA, all other manufacturers are years behind Tesla in building a charging network that will support long distance drives.
True, but that is an advantage that will be shortlived as electrics become popular. Building out a standard charging network at existing gas stations is not that difficult, and will put Tesla up against established companies that have the resources to compete long term. Once that happens, things such as price, service networks and existing loyalties will trump a charging network that is located mainly in cities and interstates. Tesla may find that first mover advantage was not enough.
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The other part of that issue is that traditional car companies seem not even be aware of the problem. They seem to think that someone else will solve the charging issue. Even the plans in place put a large proportion of the new chargers in dealerships instead of along highways. Who wants to come off the highway to get to a dealership and then, who wants to wait at a dealership?
Chargers require permits and this process isn't quick in many places.
The lack of attention to the issue by traditional auto manufact
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The other part of that issue is that traditional car companies seem not even be aware of the problem. They seem to think that someone else will solve the charging issue. Even the plans in place put a large proportion of the new chargers in dealerships instead of along highways. Who wants to come off the highway to get to a dealership and then, who wants to wait at a dealership?
I would not say they are unaware of the issue as the have made some moves to a standard charger plug in anticipation of a growing market. It's more of a lack of sales to warrant spending money on the issue and seeing EVs as more of city commuter cars at present where charging is not an issue. Once sales grow, the can work with existing infrastructure such s gas stations, restaurants, etc. to build out a charging infrastructure; as well as create consortiums to address battery limitations to lower the costs
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You are in the same mindset as the traditional manufacturers. It's a chicken-and-egg problem. Sales will continue to be limited until the charger infrastructure for long journeys is in place. If you wait for sales to h
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You know not of what you speak. Building up a slow AC charge setup would not be that difficult, except for the little problem of having to leave your car at a gas station for 18 hours to charge it.
Building up a DC fast charging network at existing gas stations is technically infeasible because of the space involved. A typical DC fast charging setup requires enough space to park about 14 cars, to serve only 10. It i
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Eh?
A 43kW or 50kW charger is just not that big whether AC, DC or both, and is pretty fast.
Look here for a picture of one:
http://myrenaultzoe.com/index.... [myrenaultzoe.com]
There are tons of these chargers all over the UK. Being blocked by another EV charging is rarely an issue -- the bigger issue is being blocked by an ICE car parking where it shouldn't.
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You know not of what you speak. Building up a slow AC charge setup would not be that difficult, except for the little problem of having to leave your car at a gas station for 18 hours to charge it.
Building up a DC fast charging network at existing gas stations is technically infeasible because of the space involved. A typical DC fast charging setup requires enough space to park about 14 cars, to serve only 10. It is best suited for companies with large parking lots, like Target or Wal-Mart, not gas stations, which never (+/- some small margin of error) have enough space for even two or three DC fast chargers, much less enough to be practical without large amounts of Internet-based coordination of which cars go to which gas stations.
A DC fast charge needs 480 - 600V 120 amp circuit. As for space requirements, malls seem to easily install one or two in parking garages, which do not have large space availability for the installation, since they are siting them on higher levels of a parking garage, and enough to meet ADA requirements. Yes, the older 4 pump station/quickmart may be space limited; if you look at may of the newer service stations, they have plenty of equivalent parking space (handicapped parking space sized) to install 4 or
Re:5.1 seconds? (Score:5, Interesting)
Superfast acceleration is perhaps #231 on the list of must-haves for prospective buyers of this type of car.
It may not be top of the list for most buyers but to pretend it sits that low in importance seems not right to me... But beyond that let us proceed...
The importance things to compete on are range, charging, looks, room, quality, comfort.
Tesla's have more range as a top end option. Frankly I think if you are offering anything under 300 you should really go back and keep working it until you can hit that figure reliably.
Tesla has a HUGE lead in rapid charging stations (frankly to me this is the actual #1 for most people for any electric car since it means stopping overnight vs. for snacks).
As you say they mostly look like a real car, and I personally like how the model 3 looks better than almost any modern sedan. The look of the new Mercedes seems OK, though it seems oddly stretched out, like a piece of taffy just being pulled?
Teslas also have good room with extra trunks.
Quality and comfort to me seems about the same in a Tesla as modern Mercedes I've been in. Maybe slightly lower quality but even the top end cars are not that impressive quality-wise if you've attended an auto show recently.
Re:5.1 seconds? (Score:4, Insightful)
Tesla has a HUGE lead in rapid charging stations
That's why I will be staying with ICE for quite some time. When I buy an ICE car, I don't have to worry about who has the 'lead' in filling it.
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5.1 Seconds will beat a lot of vehicles already on the road including "sports" cars. Jaw dropping accelerations of 3 seconds like the Model S P100D can achieve beat even very high end gas sports cars and are simply beyond what almost anyone would want for your average commute. Yea it's cool and all, but that 3 second acceleration just isn't going to be a big feature for most people.
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5.1 seconds is faster than base model Teslas. The Model 3 non-performance is "slower" than that. And by slower I mean by a fraction of a second that no-one cares about except fanboys playing Top Trumps.
Range wise 280 miles is pretty decent. Take the Hyundai Kona, which is rated for just under 300 and will do a solid 250 at 70 MPH. That's 3.5 hours of solid driving, say 3 hours to allow some buffer. Don't know about the US but in Europe that is getting close to the legal limit for commercial drivers to take
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I disagree that rapid charging station infrastructure is so important. My little EV (Renault Zoe) goes only 90 miles between charges. Makes no difference to us: we drive beyond that only a few times per year, and there's more than enough 22kW and 43kW chargers in the UK for it to be easy to charge en route for those few journeys. Our next Renault Zoe will have a range of 180 miles, at which point we'll need a public charger perhaps twice a year.
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Frankly I think if you are offering anything under 300 you should really go back and keep working it until you can hit that figure reliably.
Why? Tesla may be big in the USA but Mercedes is a European company, and there are far more popular electric cars than Tesla in the EU, the most popular of which has a sub 200mile range. Range may help the anxious Americans but it isn't a selling feature for many.
Tesla has a HUGE lead in rapid charging stations
Tesla has a huge lead in the USA. In Europe charging points are dime a dozen. Most en-route charging points go unused (people charge at home). And within the next 2 years Tesla's nextwork is expected to be dwarfed by the Ionity system both in numbe
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It's the same performance as their plug-in hybrid GLE (which I was just looking at), which is the fastest GLE engine option unless you go AMG for $120k. But this is the same size as the GLC, where the fastest non-AMG model is the hybrid with 0-60 in 6.2 seconds. It's plenty fast for 99% of SUV drivers.
Hopefully they'll follow up with the full line of SUVs, not just a crossover to compete with the Model X. However, you can tell Mercedes isn't 100% sure of the quality here, as they normally introduce new t
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I think the big tipping point will be one of two things (for all electric). Basically anyone who owns a car that does any long distance driving needs one of the two capabilities:
1) An abundance of charging stations available along at least major routes AND rapid charging technology that can charge the car in seconds or at most a few minutes.
2) A range of about 900km (560miles).
#1 is basically analogous to the capabilities of combustion engines, while #2 would allow you to hopefully not care that it takes a
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I'm more talking about interior quality when you sit in the cars - even on quite expensive cars it's not uncommon to find cheap feeling (or looking) material everywhere.
If you have an older car, going to a car show can be beneficial - it totally drained me of the desire to buy a new car whatsoever. The only car that appeals at all now is the Tesla Model 3, but I'm still waiting a few more years at least before I get any new car.
What you say about mechanical quality seems to be true as well, but the car sho
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Sub 5 s acceleration is likely to spill the boss's drink.
Re:5.1 seconds? - Because I want to stop (Score:2)
Re: 5.1 seconds? (Score:2)
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Tesla does sell an SUV, the Model X [tesla.com]. It has a range of 237 to 295 miles (P100D), and accelerates 0-60 in 2.9 to 4.9 seconds...
And it has gull wing doors...
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Error in the ./ Summary (Score:3)
from the ./ summary:
The Model X has a range of 237 miles.
from wikipedia [wikipedia.org]
The Tesla Model X 100D has an official EPA rated range of up to 295 mi (475 km).
So the summary incorrectly states that the Mercedes EQC has a greater range (280 miles) than the Tesla Model X, when in fact the Mercedes has the lesser range.
There are different standards for measurement for electrical vehicle range, so it's not clear if the figures are comparable. Nonetheless, the value given appears either outdated or otherwise in error.
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The Model X 75D has a range of 237 miles and has a starting price of $79,500. Prices were not announced on the EQC, though the rumor mill is putting it at around $55,000.
Actually the 280 range of the EQC.... (Score:3)
Actually the 280 range of the EQC is apparently not an EPA standard measurement, so it is not even comparable. The 100D you mention is the "high end" for the tesla, but even the 75D model X has 237 miles or range, when the EQC might not have much more than 200: https://jalopnik.com/the-2020-... [jalopnik.com]
It seems that their range was too short, so they sort of fudged the numbers a bit to make it sound better? Not sure what this NEDC measurement is, but it apparently gives the Tesla Model X 100D a 351 range!
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> It seems that their range was too short, so they sort of fudged the numbers a bit to make it sound better?
"New European Drive Cycle" -- aka the measurement standard used by the European Union. It is not surprising that a European automaker would choose to report NEDC numbers-- though of course these are being replaced with WLTP (but WLTP gives a lower result than NEDC, so you don't want to report a WLTP number when your competition has reported NEDC).
Model X 75D has a NEDC of 259 miles, vs. 280 miles
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It looks like they compared the Model X that is closest in price to the Mercedes. Of course if you are willing to pay a lot more you can get a little bit extra range.
How do they plan to recharge? (Score:2)
If they use Telsa's supercharger network that's great news for Tesla.
But if they and other manufacturers decide to share their own standard for charging stations (open or otherwise) then Tesla might be in major trouble.
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Now, do it with just Tesla. [energy.gov]
What do you see? The fact is, that you can not go across the country using CCS, CHademo, AND Level 2. It is only Tesla that allows you to drive around most of the nation.
All in all, unless these companies spend billions just in America, they will get nowhere.
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What do you see? The fact is, that you can not go across the country using CCS, CHademo, AND Level 2.
It is only Tesla that allows you to drive around most of the nation.
"most of the nation" is pretty crappy coverage when you're talking about an automobile. Most people don't want to include the location of charging stations when planning for a road trip.
All in all, unless these companies spend billions just in America, they will get nowhere.
RTFM is one thing... but RTFHL?
Mercedes-Benz, not exactly the biggest manufacturer out there, is investing $12 billion, you really think they can't build out/subsidize a charging network?
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what is Daimler investing that money into? A battery factory, and a little bit goes to their network. VERY little bit.
So what? Once they build all those cars do you expect them to simply forget that their cars need somewhere to recharge? Telsa can't count on their competition being inexplicably stupid. If none of this first $12 billion isn't earmarked for charging stations then a bunch of the next $12 billion will be.
The big car companies are building electric cars and they have teams of very smart people trying to figure out their charging station strategy. They could still screw it up, but they're going to do something.
Re: How do they plan to recharge? (Score:2)
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Then maybe America is not their primary market.
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I suspect that this car will sell in the same way that S/X did. That is, low numbers until a network was fairly well developed.
There Is No Alternative (Score:2)
There is no alternative to betting on electric cars
While I tend to be favorable to electric cars (with some caution: where does the electricity comes from?), the "There Is No Alternative" mantra still lit a red light for me.
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Yes, but even a coal plant is way more efficient than a ICE, thus less polluting than burning gasoline
3D Print A Car? (Score:2)
I prefer Merc to Telsa (Score:3, Insightful)
I currently own 2 merceders a C200 and an E220D. One of my best mates owns a Tesla S.
The Tesla is really nice. And goes incredibly quick. But for me it doesn't tick the right boxes for me to spend that amount of money on.
I totally get that it is personal taste, but I'm not a fan of the interior of the tesla. It doesn't feel as nice as my E. And while the tesla wieghs more than my E it doesn't have the same solid feel inside. Stupid example is the sound the doors make when you close them. Also, once you get over the geeky "thats so cool" response to the massive screen in the tesla I'm not a fan of it.
Acceleration isn't a thing for me. Cars have never really been about performance, I have motorcycles for that.
One thing that my mate owning a tesla has done is totally remove any range concern about owning an electric I might have had. Sure my E will do over 1000km on a tank. But his tesla has a full tank every morning. The 30km each way commute to the city just isn't a cause for concern. Also our state govt has built a network of charging stations along the primary highway network.
For me an electric car in the same category as the Mercedes E class would be hugely compelling.
Belly flop (Score:2)
The actual range (by US standards) is "up to 200 miles." While I think range is over-emphasized with electric cars, that is in fact worse than the X.
It seems to be an electricized version of the GLC, which is a tiny SUV (well, I couldn't fit in one) selling for $40K. The EQC is going to cost twice as much as the GLC, in which case what's the point? Electric cars drive better and cost less to run/maintain, but doubling the cost is too much. It's also within striking range of the price of a Model X, which
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Model X 75D has a NEDC-measured range of 259 miles, vs. 280 miles for the EQC-- so it's a bit better than the 75D and a fair bit worse than the 100D.
Is it really an attack on Tesla? (Score:2)
Didn't Elon say his goal was to push other car manufacturers to also build electric cars? I bet from his point of view, Mercedes aren't attacking Tesla, they're joining them.
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If Mercedes is really going to sell electric cars, Tesla will have completion in their niche market, which means Tesla is more rapidly running out of runway. Now they have price competition and less of a differentiator for their products. Their margin for error was always pretty small, but this will only make it smaller.
I think Musk sees this coming, which explains his erratic behavior of late as CEO of Tesla. I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't look like he's taking the stress very well.
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BMW says they are selling a new car, basically 6 to 9 months from now, big deal. Tesla always had competition, but never really good competition. The two I think of off the top of my head are the Leaf and the Volt. I know there is more but I am too lazy to list all of them. It is enough to say that right now, it is not a one company market and right now Tesla is controlling it.
Mercedes all said they are just getting start and aren't dedicating a factory because they don't want to over-commit to the marke
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Mercedes all said they are just getting start and aren't dedicating a factory because they don't want to over-commit to the market.
They aren't dedicating a factory because they don't need to. They've got an assembly line that's flexible enough to produce two very different vehicles in an arbitrary ratio. This is a superior solution to a dedicated production line.
And they can roll out this flexibility to other assembly lines when those are tooled up for new vehicles, so in a few years they'll be able to do half their total production as EVs. Make no mistake, Mercedes may just be getting started, but this won't be a tentative, small-scal
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Citation [cnbc.com]
The vehicle will be produced on the same line as the company's C-Class Saloon and Estate, GLC and GLC Coupe. ...
"Our decision to produce electric vehicles on the same line as models with combustion engines enables us to respond flexibly to demand and use plant capacity to best effect.
In case you don't realize, the GLC and C-class are related, but rather different vehicles (completely different body, lots of commonality internally). The $12B figure is from TFA.
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If Mercedes is really going to sell electric cars, Tesla will have completion in their niche market, which means Tesla is more rapidly running out of runway. Now they have price competition and less of a differentiator for their products. Their margin for error was always pretty small, but this will only make it smaller.
I think Musk sees this coming, which explains his erratic behavior of late as CEO of Tesla. I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't look like he's taking the stress very well.
Seems like Goldman Sachs agrees. They have stock rates as a sell and think it will drop to $210. Bad news for those hoping they'd recover to the $360 convertible debt strike price by February. With production numbers falling behind recent targets, it is hard to see how the stock can be lifted that much in the next 6 months. With competition coming in their high end niche, and with the apparent struggles to find a way to be profitable off of something in the mid priced range, they have some tough challenges
Re:so close (Score:5, Informative)
Mercedes isn't the paragon of virtue quality wise. They have their own quality issues. My brother is a Mercedes dealer mechanic (among the top 10% in the nation) and he told me that there are a number of models he'd never recommend anybody buy. Their SUV initially had some serious quality issues with the electronics packages and once they fall out of warranty, few folks keep them due to their huge maintenance costs, so they get junked pretty quick.
But you do make a valid point. Tesla needs to get that factory working and stop messing around. They don't have time to mess with any new features, but need to start pushing out cars at a profit. They have to make good and start recouping their investors' money.
Long term, Tesla will face a serious issue with their build costs. That's where the majors will clean their clocks. They know how to run the supply chain, drive costs down on volume and build cars accurately and quickly. Tesla will struggle there too. Their margin for error is very small.
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Long term, Tesla will face a serious issue with their build costs. That's where the majors will clean their clocks. They know how to run the supply chain, drive costs down on volume and build cars accurately and quickly. Tesla will struggle there too. Their margin for error is very small.
On the other hand, Tesla built their own battery factory, and they get all the batteries they need at the lowest possible cost. Battery cost is a huge chunk of the cost of an EV.
The Chevy Bolt is believed to sell at a $900 [cleantechnica.com]
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Tesla will likely end up on the ash heap of history with Delorian. But there is a chance they make it on their own, a very slim chance. But the odds where always stacked this way for Tesla. My guess is that they won't make it, but it's going to be fun to watch them try. It won't all be a waste, Tesla has advanced the state of the art in ways the majors couldn't and I'm going to bet that whomever snaps them up as they die will get a treasure trove of new things.
My guess is Tesla gets purchased by one of
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The other big quality issue with Tesla that rarely gets mentioned is beta software.
Because they can do OTA updates they release cars half finished and promise to release basic features later, but then never do. It's as bad as game developers.
For example, take speed sensitive volume control. Very basic feature that has been standard on car stereos for what, 20 years now? Tesla promised it years ago, even got as far as making the check box for it visible but it didn't work properly, and last time I checked th
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Their diesel engines were especially renowned for longevity and practically every model was over-engineered. Fast forward a decade and they started cutting costs where
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Tesla is blowing the doors off all other car makers, according to Munuro.
And it is the 'sleeping giants' that are being schooled.
Sadly, I predict that in another 2-3 years that many, if not most, of them will be begging for gov money.
Who is Munuro? (Score:2)
Is that the gimpy old dude in Fukuoka who can no longer grab a recessed door handle and does "tear downs" of cars and sells the report of what he finds for a lot of money?
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I'm not sure that cars were ever really the focus. I don't think Musk wants to be Henry Ford. He wants to be John D. Rockefeller.
Anyhow, no giants have been sleeping. The time hasn't been right for them, and now they're probably moving a little faster because the right time would be too late.
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Still a good thing for consumers.
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I think the big car makers are now going to adopt electric, and they are going to catch Tesla. Only time will tell if Tesla can stay ahead. I wish them well, though.
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Game over
Ah, not so fast. Where I don't think this is great news for Tesla, and I agree Tesla has been spinning it's wheels getting manufacturing up to speed, They are far from done. They are rapidly running out of maneuvering room as the majors start to take Tesla seriously enough to market similarly equipped all electrics at similar price points, so they need to get that factory running, w/o any more delays or they will be done. BUT they are not done.
I give Tesla less than a 50% chance of making it long term an
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Tesla had one chance to pull through, and it was to replace the loudmouth with a real manager with auto experience years ago, before they spent a fortune building a non-working "automated factory" that they had to write off and rebuild. Oh, and before Musk spent untold billions on bailing out his other fad business instead on making cars.
Too late now, the company has no credibility, no obvious advantage, a mountain of debt, and production numbers that don't indicate it will be able to service it. Those long
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The main issues for Tesla now are price and quality. The Model X is an impressive car, but they can't build them consistently. I've never seen one that didn't have poor door alignment or ridiculous panel gaps. Not to mention the amount of service centre visits people are having to make.
For that reason alone the Jaguar iPace and this new Mercedes will be popular with people who want a car built to a high standard. With those brands you know it's going to be perfect, and they won't tell you "sorry 10mm misali
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Tesla failed to meet production goals again. And musk will soon be getting ass raped in prison for securities fraud.
It was the Ambien and the SEC doesn't send you to the maximum security part of the system where such things happen. Especially in this case. Musk broke the rules by talking when he should have kept quiet. If he didn't tip somebody to what he was going to say and didn't make a personal profit on this, the SEC isn't going to toss him in the pokey. He was just shooting off his mouth in public, about stuff he should have kept quiet about, you don't go to jail for that. They may fine Tesla and/or Musk for his
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several class action lawsuits
Those things take years. Tesla will either be very profitable by then, or sold to a competitor. It won't make a difference either way.
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While it would be nice to be able to upgrade to fully autonomous, no Tesla currently produced is every going to be upgraded to fully autonomous, so that's somewhat of a red herring. Sure, I know they're selling it as such, but it's just another in an extremely long line of flat out lies from their marketing team. It is extremely include that they do not have the appropriate sensors to do full autonomy. No amount of software can fix their lack of sensors. These cars can't even properly so blind spot monitori
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what's with the fake grille - was that really necessary?
Presumably it is a skeuomorph. [wikipedia.org]
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Yeah, just like that Internet thing.