| Message |
A couple other things to keep in mind if someone is considering buying a Tesla:
Tesla claims to be something other than an automanufacturer in the eyes of the government....this is what permits them to sell directly to the public, which is why they are being dragged into court to force them to implement a dealership franchise system like everyone else.....while this special status is certainly in the consumer's benefit (built-to-order model vs the dealership-imposed built-to-sell model), by allowing Tesla to ignore this rule against manufacurer sales directly to the public, the precedent is now set that Tesla can ignore other inconvenient rules, such as the rule that requires automanufacturers to stock OEM spare parts for 10 years after the model year release. Ever tried getting a Tesla fixed?? I have read nothing but horror stories and never-ending asspain. Dealerships are bad enough. When the company goes bankrupt, then what??Tesla is among the most shorted companies that are publicly tradeable. There is a VERY good reason for that.
They are literally fighting to keep their financial head above water and have been doing so for a few years now by using sleight-of-hand (borderline unethical) accounting practices. This has been WELL documented on financial blogs written by credible analysts. This doesnt even begin to address the egregiously unethical practices related to the entire autopilot fiasco. This feature is KILLING (less than smart) people. Almost every manufacturer has some feature with some degree of autonomy built in....cruise control or parking assist, whatever....but only Tesla's is racking up a bodycount. If a company is capable of overlooking the glaring shortcomings of this "feature" and shrug off the deaths, trauma, and destruction of property in some sort of bull-headed PR effort meant to protect company share prices, then what other unethical practices are they capable of and how many of them put my life or the lives of my loved ones at risk. Until they figure out conclusively what causes these cars to spontaneously combust, in the rare cases that they do, there is no way I would park a Tesla inside my garage unless the garage is not attached to the house. Additionally after the last two autopilot deaths, the discourse is beginning to turn to why is the NHTSA and NTSB seemingly turning a blind eye. The moment the government turns on Tesla like it did on Boeing (once enough bad press starts landing in the wrong person's lap at one of these organizations as it did with the FAA) then Tesla can find themselves faced with a government-imposed halt on production or at a minimum a ban on the autopilot feature. The the hell of trying to convince unqualified government regulators that everything is ok after the latest over-the-air-update which these government officials will have to sign off on....well that will be a fun process. As if all this wasn't bad enough.....lets look at the road going forward for their products. Porsche Taycan will certainly take away a LOT of Model S buyers. Established company, established service/maintenance provider, established reputation for quality, Porsche certainly satisfies the desire for an "elite" or luxury brand for image-conscious buyers. VW will mop up a large chunk of model 3 buyers, and other manufacturers are going to take more model 3 buyers with less expensive offerings than the "$35k Model 3" which actually costs more like 50-60k. So you tell me....
this company has only had ONE profitable quarter, EVER, and to do so they had to ramp up production to completely unsustainable levels (they had to put additional temporary production lines in tents outside the factory building) while taking advantage of (years worth of) pent-up demand for the model 3. Now that the launch hype has passed and demand has normalized, Tesla doesnt have a prayer of selling as many model 3's each quarter (as necessary to turn a profit) in similar numbers unless something about the car or its price changes dramatically. This same company plans to build in China. Well doing so means you literally handover all your IP to the Chinese and a chinese competitor based on your IP will be up and running ASAP, undercutting you within the chinese market and possibly abroad. So there goes any competitive advantage based on IP.
...does this sound like a sound company with good long-term prospects for the future despite operating in an industry HEAVILY burdened and hamstrung by government interference which has been doing nothing except eliminating market participants for over 60 years with zero new mass-production manufacturers? Look I get it, You have a Tesla. I am sure you like it. I am sure it is probably a damn cool if not a great car. Nobody likes being told the car the bought sucks or the company sucks. We all like to proselytize for OUR car brand. It is a totally natural thing that we all do to one extent or another, but the amount of cognitive disassociation necessary to fly the Tesla flag high is staggering. We are talking big picture here and the risk involved in buying a Tesla vs other options, especially vs those incoming. Would I get an EV for DD purposes, sure, especially in a large city. Would I buy a Tesla? Not today or in the forseeable future. Far too many downsides with the ONLY upside being the completely subjective "cool" or "trendy" factor. There is zero reason to blaze the asspain trail in my case, I am 100% comfortable waiting until the utility of these vehicles matures, and the support and design matures....and it will be a german company that gets it right first IMHO, then the japanese or possibly an American company will figure out how to do it at a more reasonable price....or the EV movement will be supplanted entirely by something that makes much more sense. If there is anything I have learned over my lifetime it is that any product that RELIES on branding to sell is a product to avoid like the plague.
  30 years ago...or now? "I torch my soul to show the world that I am pure deep inside my heart...."
--William Patrick Corgan
|
 |
