The fuss is about it being a beautiful long range EV. No ICE. Everything else such as tech toys (including autopilot) is secondary. Plushness is tertiary. If plushness is what's important to you, stick with your Mercedes.
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This. Tesla is revolutionizing the drivetrain and the entire way in which cars are propelled. ICE manufacturers have refined that part of the vehicle so much that the actual engineering differences between mainstream sedans are tiny; they have to compete on bells and whistles and little tech toys.
It's not too surprising that they would be ahead of Tesla on this front, even if it seems a little counter-intuitive for such a "techy" brand as Tesla.
Let Mercedes and Audi compete on sizzle. Tesla is making steak.
gizmoboy
Member
That sounds like an early-adopter perspective to me.
To sell half a million cars a year, Tesla is going to have to break out of the rich-dudes-who-think-ev-is-cool niche.
I'm obviously exaggerating to make a point, but that point is that they need to be competitive on other aspects to win out on their tech/EV edge.
If it's an either-or (luxury and tech versus EV) then you've got a huge decision in the mix that will tip some potential customers away. And the point is that right now, they are behind the competition on autopilot and tech, in addition to cabin build luxury, leaving performance and EV-allure as their main differentiators.
This may (MAY) not matter now when they can't make more than they're selling, and may not matter when the X comes out and the initial wave of EV enthusiasts who want an SUV wave hits, but it will matter eventually.
Between now and then, Tesla needs to remove more reasons not to buy.
I just finished watching BMW's video about the 2016 7 Series. It has better technology than Model S in almost every area, including gesture controls and autopilot, and the base price is in line with a Model S. The 7 Series has a touch screen, but with gesture controls, you'll hardly ever need to use it. Of course, I would never buy one because it does not have an EV drive train, but if it did, it would be superior to the Model S in almost every metric.
I'm just pointing this out because I want Tesla to be able to compete when the big boys bring out their toys. Tesla's biggest problem has always been execution, and that has me worried. What is a huge issue for Tesla is just another day in the life of an established auto maker, and a minor bump in the road.
perkiset
... this one goes to 11
Do you have a link for that? I find that, in almost every case I've looked at, the UI and usability thereof is second to the features - a very bad chemistry. In my world (programming for over 37 years now) hard is easy, easy is hard. Tesla has done excellent work making the control of all features in a car undistracting, easy and intuitive. BMW has not done that yet IMO - they have nifty features, but crappy implementation. If my mother can't make use of it, it's not done right.
So I'm very curious about your post to see if they've up'd their game ...
I suppose I am at risk of underestimating the importance of these tech bells and whistles because they all seem kind of goofy to me. I mean, autopilot? FFS, I haven't used regular cruise control in a car in at least 20 years. Cars are for *driving.* if you don't want to drive, take the train.
But my broader point stands, in that Tesla's competitive differentiator is the drivetrain. If they had no delays on the MX and no problems with drive units, I wouldn't begrudge the vanity project of something like lane keeping. But neither of those is the case...
But my broader point stands, in that Tesla's competitive differentiator is the drivetrain. If they had no delays on the MX and no problems with drive units, I wouldn't begrudge the vanity project of something like lane keeping. But neither of those is the case...
I hate regular cruise control, and I never use it. I LOVE TACC, and I use it all the time. And if autopilot is half as good as they say it will be, I'll use that all the time too.
It's not taking over all driving, it's about letting you relax during the driving you don't like (long stretches of boring road).
Here's the video, all I can say is that I was really impressed with what BMW has done:
The all-new BMW 7 Series. All you need to know. - YouTube
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gizmoboy
Member
If trains offered the convenience of hopping in a car and going from a specific place to another specific place , with the privacy and comfort available in a car, then I'd hazard a guess that the vast majority of people would prefer that.
It is, however, a straw man argument.
What Tesla (and all EV cars in general) are still battling with is getting up the "convenience curve" wrt ICE autos. They've probably already created the "conscience curve" (though there are those that argue that the pollution produced by electricity generation does not yield that favorable a differential compared to ICE).
If they're also battling the "comfort curve", that's just one more obstacle to broader uptake.
...that actually is quite impressive. I'd like to use it for a few days though, as I wonder how well the gestures work in every day life.
perkiset
... this one goes to 11
Cheers, Amped.
BTW, I think I've seen your car on the 51 a few times,
I'm in a tuxedo black, perhaps we'll cross paths sometime, passing boneheads as if they are standing still
Cheers, Amped.
BTW, I think I've seen your car on the 51 a few times,
I'm in a tuxedo black, perhaps we'll cross paths sometime, passing boneheads as if they are standing still
If you see someone with big hair waving wildly, that's me! lol
Are you in the Arizona Facebook group? Here's the link if you're interested in joining: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TeslaModelSOwnersArizona/
Dont forget, with all those advertised features, the 7 series is close to 150K, whereas most of Tesla's technology can be had in a 75K S70. The tax rebates help too, so do the gas savings. Still, someone who can spend 100K on a car (the avg. sales price lets say), can usually also spend 150K.
That said, in 2 years the tax rebates will expire, and all of BMW's tech will trickle down to 3/5 series. Even today, a 5 series interior is better than Model S.
When you compare nav or voice controls, Tesla is poorer than a toyota corolla. Yeah Yeah, I know it is software fixable, but its not getting fixed.
And then there is this whole thread about autopilot
So yes Tesla needs to shape up. But shaping up is going to need money.
Tesla does have a pretty decent untapped credit line, so they could get their act together.
But credit lines can evaporate the moment the market fundamentals change.
But they also have massive expenses ahead of them,
1. Gigafactory
2. Expansion of Service centers/repair facilities that are already maxed out in high population areas.
3. Model 3
4. Supercharger network expansion
And they have some serious headwinds,
1. US production costs, and high US$
2. Expiring tax rebates, zev credits
3. Lower gas prices
4. General reliability issues, which increase service costs.
While Tesla hasn't exactly lost it's game today, it is certainly a cause for alarm.
They need to shape up, and not do stupid things like 'We have autopilot, but we really don't".
If anything, this thread proves that Tesla's fanboys will support Tesla no matter what.
Tesla's biggest asset is the feel good customer perception, and high customer satisfaction.
Lying to their prospective customers is not the smartest move.
The next incremental customer is not the EV enthusiast, it is someone who wants a good car.
Andyw2100
Well-Known Member
I've watched this video before. I started watching it again just now.
It amazes me that companies can spend so much money on producing super-slick advertising, and screw up the English! There was something before the following that I found awkward, though not glaringly wrong, but the following is just plain wrong:
The text does match the script the actor read from. (He said the same line--they didn't just caption it incorrectly.)
Obviously either "This is how luxury should look today." or "This is what luxury should look like today." would be correct, but not the above.
I stopped watching at that point, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were additional errors.
Am I the only one bothered by stuff like that?
Bad grammar and english are far more prevalent than a simple advertisement.
It doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother you.
Tesla has some pretty poor wording on its web site regarding Autopilot, maybe you should have stopped reading at that point as well... lol
perkiset
... this one goes to 11
Fair enough. If you see someone that just can't seem to get enough of the Go pedal, that's me!
My custom plate should be arriving soon, I'll post it and then we can watch for each other.
Wasn't, but just asked to join, cheers again. Looks like fun.
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