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Tesla outsells Mercedes Benz in the USA

I'm not so sure, apparently there are fields in the US with thousands of these cars parked up for months on end while the factory says they cannot build them fast enough to keep up with demand. Something doesn't add up here. (Edit: JD Power surveys showing them bottom of the table for build quality will not help either.)
 
My Mrs came home from a business trip last night and tells me that all her tech-nerd colleagues want to own a Tesla.
 
As I have said in the past till someone builds the EV equivalent of the Ford Model-T the IC vehicle is safe enough. Evidently at the dawn of the motor car in 1900 when it was strictly for the rich 1/3 of cars were electric. 33 minutes in- the Baker Electric
BBC iPlayer - Revolutions: The Ideas that Changed the World - Series 1: 2. The Car
AND HERE
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I am aware that Tesla had a fire sale in the UK in Q2 this year, effectively selling-off all their new stock cars at significant discounts, and from Q3 all new cars are made-to-order, i.e. no more building cars for stock.
 
A friend of mine just bought a model 3. His kid was telling me that it does 0-60 in under 2.7 seconds and costs $5 to fully charge it. You might not get all the quality control when your on the bleeding edge but he seems very happy with it.
 
alabbasi said:
A friend of mine just bought a model 3. His kid was telling me that it does 0-60 in under 2.7 seconds and costs $5 to fully charge it. You might not get all the quality control when your on the bleeding edge but he seems very happy with it.
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We have a brand new 19-plate Model-X at work. It's a lease car so I did the delivery inspection.

Let's put it this way: If it was an Approved Used MB car, I would have rejected it... it is going back next week for various paint and trim corrections.

Said that... it's brimming with technology and goes like the clappers... so who cares about paint defects and misaligned trim... :D:
 
After all these negative waves and FUD it's difficult to know where to start about Tesla, it's production and sales.

Production levels the 2nd qtr were approx 90,000 model 3's over 100,000 inc Model S and Model X; deliveries during the same period were 87,000 Model 3's, don't know offhand the S & X figures.

Unfortunately for the traditional car manufacturers, the thousands of concessionaires and BIG OIL, EV's are here to stay and Tesla is estimated to be about 8 years ahead of it's competition.

Have you heard that the new Tesla factory which commenced building in marched is almost completed and will be producing Model 3's for China by 4th qtr this year?

Anyone heard of another EV manufacturer that makes it's own batteries ? The offerings from the likes of Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar are about to commence production and are already 8 yrs behind in terms of range and autonomous driving.

People talk about Tesla competitors, where are they? You can order a Model 3 today and have it delivered within 4 weeks, who else can do that ?
 
thebiglad said:
Have you heard that the new Tesla factory which commenced building in marched is almost completed and will be producing Model 3's for China by 4th qtr this year?
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That has to be seen to be believed. And unfortunately Musk is the boy who cried wolf, not a single investor believes this will happen, hence the shorting of Tesla stocks. A colleague of mine had a low speed T bone accident in Model S AWD which struck the nearside front and damaged the motor and planetary gear assembly. The £13500 for the front motor assembly is a bit steep but the 14-16 weeks in a courtesy car due to no parts available were too much for the insurance company who wrote the car off despite being only 6 months old. Tesla simply don't have the parts inventory to sustain the brand and worldwide operations, these are know and documented problems across the USA let alone the rest of world. Most investors believe the inventory shortage is down to having simply not enough cash.

thebiglad said:
Anyone heard of another EV manufacturer that makes it's own batteries ? The offerings from the likes of Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar are about to commence production and are already 8 yrs behind in terms of range and autonomous driving.
Click to expand...

Battery technology today is nothing new. Most battery systems employed by Tesla and any other manufacturer is patented (and has to be paid for) to other companies. I work on a Hybrid boat with all Siemens plant, all the chargers are made and licensed by Panasonic, the cells are made by Siemens and licensed from Samsung SDI, and the inverters by ABB who own the patents to that technology. Tesla had no choice but to produce its own batteries as its margins were too thin on bought in products due to fluctuating raw material costs, and it only produces batteries for its own products, under license from Panasonic, and its a considerable margin behind the next largest producer which is LG chem.

Everyone needs to calm down on the autonomous driving, the legal construct in the developed western world simply won't allow it to be used as is within the current legal frame work, it will take years for legislation changes to made. And most countries will run out of electric long before that gets through parliaments/legislators. Short of making it illegal to drive manually overnight, anything less is going to be far more dangerous negating any so called safety benefits offered by autonomous driving. EV's are currently 0.6% of UK vehicles, and with a 20% uplift on price over ICE in a country that's already squeezed, massive uptake is not going to happen in the next 25-30 years for sure, not unless you want to make everyone less well off and alienate more voters by taking away their ICE cars overnight.

Paraphrasing Darth Vader: Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed....

thebiglad said:
People talk about Tesla competitors, where are they? You can order a Model 3 today and have it delivered within 4 weeks, who else can do that ?
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There are no Tesla competitors, because most all other mass market manufacturers can build cars without repeated faults, deliver them through an established supply chain in a timely manner, service and repair them in authorised repair network in timely manner, and turn a profit whist doing it. Tesla has done none of these things to date.

As for ordering a Model 3 and having it in 4 weeks, not in Europe I'm afraid. I think Musk has gone all Anna Sorokin again and forgot which story he has told to crow bar more cash from investors. Tesla are not building cars for stock any longer, only to order... yet it takes 5-6 weeks to get from Freemont to Rotterdam via Houston, and then another 10 days for WLTP certificates in Rotterdam before arriving in the UK. Not including the fact that factory lead times in the US which are currently 4-6 weeks. All of a sudden building a factory on the West coast doesn't seem to make much logistical sense, yet more problems of his own creation.
 
Out here in California here for a couple of weeks. Lots and lots of Tesla out here, all models. However also many more trucks and SUB particularly mega sized double pick up 20-22ft trucks. The irony is high!
 
One must also consider the American market, and the power of its jingoistic "Buy American" rhetoric. The same nation that frequently views anyone who doesn't stand to attention at the National Anthem as unpatriotic commie-loving scum.

Tesla, despite raiding the DC parts bin and having a South African at the helm, is very much seen as an American company, which will ensure a healthy product takeup regardless.
 
Doodle said:
One must also consider the American market, and the power of its jingoistic "Buy American" rhetoric. The same nation that frequently views anyone who doesn't stand to attention at the National Anthem as unpatriotic commie-loving scum.

Tesla, despite raiding the DC parts bin and having a South African at the helm, is very much seen as an American company, which will ensure a healthy product takeup regardless.
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If you want to view what's happening in a non American, go to Norway. Tesla is the best-selling marque across the board, with over 60% of all new car sales being EV.

You can argue the toss all you like, challenge everything that Tesla is doing as much as you, ridicule Elon Musk; but without him and Tesla there would be no EV's.
 
thebiglad said:
If you want to view what's happening in a non American, go to Norway. Tesla is the best-selling marque across the board, with over 60% of all new car sales being EV.
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Ah yes, Norway. The one where all EVs are exempt from the crippling taxes levied on new vehicle purchases. There's a tax by weight, a tax for CO2 and N2O emissions, plus VAT. All of this adds 50% to the base price of a mundane hatchback.

They're are (or have been) exempted from:
Road tax
50% on road tolls (was 100% until 2017) and ferry charges.
50% discount on parking fees (again, was 100% until 2017)
Access to bus lanes
Access limitations specifically designed to favour EVs
60% discount on company car tax
VAT exemption on private leasing (25%)

With all those incentives to sweeten things, it is hardly surprising the uptake is massive. It also makes them totally unrepresentative.
 
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But apart from that, what did the Norwegians ever do for EVs?
 
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