Gosh, if ever there was an argument for Tesla to sell through traditional dealers, there it is. Imagine if they hadn't had to make that investment? The Model 3 was the fifth best-selling light duty vehicle in the US last month, you think some dealers might have wanted in on that? And paid Tesla for the privilege?
I understand not trusting traditional dealers to sell your EV, but not trusting them to the tune of whatever Tesla's got invested in their dealer / service network, seems like a fool's errand.
Hold up a minute here. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. One can't freely accept all that sweet, sweet IPO money, and then lament how hard the open markets have been on your company.
Just because Elon likes being a media darling, does not mean he can gripe about everyone giving such close scrutiny to what he does.
It doesn't matter, because all he has to do is announce the Model Y and open reservations with $X deposit, and the money flows back in again. Repeat with the pickup. Elon's a master at the game. Tesla will be fine.
Oh no, they were supposed to be building their own, remember? Never have I heard such blatant nonsense.
Well, up until he said 30 minute body repairs would be possible.