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The big boys are finally starting to take notice. Now things get interesting.
I had posted previously about BMW with their signature model s checking out the charging in delawareThey've been. BMW bought a Model S and have been trying to reverse engineer. Doing what the Germans do best. Take something apart and try to make it better (but this time I think it's different)...
I think Elon would be thrilled. Basically these guys are working on V1 while Tesla is on V3 with the Gen3 car. Now, BMW and others will have a jump since they're not starting from scratch, so call it V1.5. I think the first true production competition (not concepts, not "compliance" cars) won't come until after Gen3 is out for a year or two. Tesla will hopefully have cemented itself as a profitable and viable long term competitor at that point, which is a big deal because folks need to see it as a dominant player with staying power. By the time there's real competition, Tesla wants the concern about long term viability to be non-factor.They've been. BMW bought a Model S and have been trying to reverse engineer. Doing what the Germans do best. Take something apart and try to make it better (but this time I think it's different)...
while not news here given Elon's talk this weekend, nice to see this short piece on Bloomberg where manufacturing VP Gilbert Passin clearly states the factory is up to 500 cars a week (20 seconds in). Some nice factory footage too.
Inside Tesla: A Massive Factory Pumping Out Model S: Video - Bloomberg
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Interesting Palmer. Perhaps some Seeking Alpha article or something like that will try to use this as FUD, but I don't see it affecting the stock. Voelker raises a fair question (if rules are changed and battery swap doesn't increase ZEV revenue will Tesla drop it), but unlike him, my gut is no, they won't drop it. I also disagree with Voelker's interpretation of the Tesla spokesperson's comments as "avoiding an answer"... I think stating "Tesla's battery swapping is to provide consumers with a choice." suggests Tesla's plan is not contingent on the ZEV rules rewarding a battery swap network.
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Elon would be extremely happy that Tesla is getting competitor attention. ...
Agreed.
Found this interesting piece at Forbes, looks like GM is taking more notice.
GM, Which Killed The EV1, Plans To Study Elon Musk's Tesla - Forbes
Thanks for the article! Looks like GM is getting scared of Tesla....and they should be. hahaha. Hopefully this company will stop creating half-assed cars and commit to the future.
Like CKessel and aznt1217 mentioned above, taking notice now only means their (GM, BMW, Ford, others) version 1s wont be available for at least 1.5 - 2 years and by then the Model X could already be selling like hot cakes with a Gen 3 coming out very soon. The Tesla brand will known like Apple is today. This is exactly what Elon wants. Seeing multiple companies interested in entering that market will make Panasonic more likely to build another Lithium battery plant knowing that it'll have lots of customers coming online real soon. This will lower Tesla's battery costs allowing them to better compete with the cheaper GM branded EV's while also still competing higher up with BMW.
one of the big problems the large companies are going to face is the fact that they have chopped up their cars into component systems and then outsourced manfuacturing. this not only leads to outsourcing your expertise but also firm/software fragmentation. Telsa makes much of the car in-house including leading all the software work. Here is a thought experiment - if you assumed the big guys could manufacturer a drive system (including battery management) competitive with Tesla how long will it take them to redesign their cars (and supply chain) to the point where they can push updates over the air? Major updates like turning on new functionality or changing things like the regeneration options.
How many top software people do you know who live in or would move to Detroit? Would GM shift full design to SoCal? What about ongoing operations?
Telsa has done much more than just design and manufacturer an electric vehicle
GM Just Woke Up...Not surprising..
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...uard-against-musk-effect-cars.html?cmpid=yhoo
Wonder if this will affect the stock positively or negatively short term...hmmm.. ;-)
I did a full tour of SpaceX in 2012, and I have yet to do the Tesla factory tour, but what I learned about SpaceX sheds interesting light on Tesla.
At SpaceX, what I heard over and over again is that they can build rockets for 10% of the cost that giants like Boeing or Lockheed can make 'em, because they build everything right there in Hawthorne. Every part, from rocket engine to the capsules to life support to the various stages and structure and so on, everything's right there. Contrast with say Boeing or the the old Shuttle, which had hundreds (thousands?) of suppliers all over the world, and that brought huge logistical and financial overhead which added to the bottom line.
Tesla seems to be operating in the same fashion, though they are getting many parts from third-party suppliers. But what I hear is that they want to do more and more in-house in their factory as production scales and it becomes cost-effective to make their own parts in the vast colossus that is NUMMI. This can only help with margins in the end.