What is Tesla afraid of?

[Tforme]

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...-tesla-model-missing-nactoy-honors/105623110/


"Ironically, one of the year’s most anticipated vehicles is a sedan, the Tesla Model 3. But Tesla withdrew the Silicon Valley-made electric vehicle, saying it is focused on scaling up production and could not have a car available for jury testing."

The Bolt began production very late last year but Chevrolet was able to provide a car for this competition and it won the car of the year award. Tesla' excuse sounds very contrived - why are they afraid of a competition like this?

 

[stopcrazypp]

Detroit sedans, Tesla Model 3 missing from NACTOY honors


"Ironically, one of the year’s most anticipated vehicles is a sedan, the Tesla Model 3. But Tesla withdrew the Silicon Valley-made electric vehicle, saying it is focused on scaling up production and could not have a car available for jury testing."

The Bolt began production very late last year but Chevrolet was able to provide a car for this competition and it won the car of the year award. Tesla' excuse sounds very contrived - why are they afraid of a competition like this?

Nothing? They don't need more hype from another award this year. And awards usually don't go to the same car in consecutive years, so they can save it for next year when they have enough production to satisfy demand.

 

[Waiting4M3]

Why does Usain Bolt slow down at the end of the 100meter sprint when he's 10 meter ahead of everyone? Does he not want to compete?

 

[dsvick]

Why do you think they're afraid. Could it possibly be that they just didn't have a car ready to submit ...

 

[Tforme]

Why does Usain Bolt slow down at the end of the 100meter sprint when he's 10 meter ahead of everyone? Does he not want to compete?

But Usain entered the event. Tesla is refusing to even do that. Not a good analogy at all.

 

[PhatCat]

Glad they didn't. If they had submitted a car, we'd have 76 pages of whining here about why it was the wrong configuration to show, how the panel gaps were outrageous, how this demonstrates that Tesla is not meeting their production ramp, shows that Elon deliberately misrepresented the specs, and blah blah blah. But most importantly, everyone would complain about how they should not have diverted resource from delivering cars to actual paying customers,

 

[macpacheco]

Tesla IS afraid of this: Showing the Model 3 more leads to lower MS/MX orders. This is part of the smart, savvy anti selling of M3 until the massive pre order backlog begins to shrink to less than 4 months from its current estimated over 12 months.

 

[heysteveh]

why are they afraid of a competition like this?

So why is this "competition" important to Tesla? Ah, because of the fantastic publicity if they won which would lead to... more sales of course! And in the case of the Model 3, more sales means... PRE-ORDERS. And what does Elon Musk think about more pre-orders right now? Big Hint: it's like "hamburgers"...

He (Elon Musk) compared the situation to running a restaurant jammed on a busy night. "There’s like an hour and a half wait for hamburgers," he said. "Do you really want to encourage more people to order more hamburgers?"

I'm sure down the road the Model 3 will win some awards. But right now we are in the "anti-sell" period.

 

[Stolz25]

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...-tesla-model-missing-nactoy-honors/105623110/


"Ironically, one of the year’s most anticipated vehicles is a sedan, the Tesla Model 3. But Tesla withdrew the Silicon Valley-made electric vehicle, saying it is focused on scaling up production and could not have a car available for jury testing."

The Bolt began production very late last year but Chevrolet was able to provide a car for this competition and it won the car of the year award. Tesla' excuse sounds very contrived - why are they afraid of a competition like this?

Perhaps this taunt will cause Tesla to change their ways! Clearly those fraidy cats are afraid!

 

[brianman]

So why is this "competition" important to Tesla? Ah, because of the fantastic publicity if they won which would lead to... more sales of course! And in the case of the Model 3, more sales means... PRE-ORDERS. And what does Elon Musk think about more pre-orders right now? Big Hint: it's like "hamburgers"...

He (Elon Musk) compared the situation to running a restaurant jammed on a busy night. "There’s like an hour and a half wait for hamburgers," he said. "Do you really want to encourage more people to order more hamburgers?"

Sounds like someone should watch The Founder.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Themselves

The problem Tesla has is for now the Model 3 is a significantly better car for the money than the S.

Any additional attention the Model 3 gets is a possible loss of a short term sale of an S.

We're going to continue to see Tesla understate the Model 3 until there is more differentiation with the Model S.

 

[Waiting4M3]

Sounds like someone should watch The Founder.

OT, good movie. What Tesla is doing with Alien Dreadnought reminds me of McDonald's burger assembly line, and Tesla's approach to energy and mobility reminds me of McDonald's approach to real estate.

 

[WileyTheMan]

Aside from the "it doesn't need more hype" argument, this feeds on their (arguably) desirable image of not playing ball with the auto industry. They got an article written up about it *simply for not participating*. That is free marketing.

 

[BluestarE3]

I've never heard of NACTOY. Is it supposed to be some sort of prestigious and well-known award? Is it like getting the nod as "Car of the Year" from one of the popular automotive or consumer magazines? Or is it more of a self-congratulatory award for industry insiders? Tesla doesn't like to hang with the good-old-boys of the traditional auto industry. They skip most of the auto shows too.

 

[03DSG]

It's in DETROIT, MICHIGAN. The state Tesla is suing. The state that is fighting tooth and nail to keep Tesla banned. Tesla as well shuns the Detroit Auto Show.

 

[Tforme]

Tesla was more than happy to accept Motor Trends Car of the Year Award in 2012. They'll "hang with the good old boys" when it's to their advantage

 

[gambit48]

I'm pretty sure most of the decision falls into the anti-selling strategy.

That said, I'm not sure this falls into the "good old boys" category. More of a "who?" category. When there's enough M3s in the press fleet for any random media joe to get one for a test drive, I'm sure Tesla wouldn't mind submitting when asked. But seriously, I've never heard of these people.

Right now, things are so limited, only Motor Trend got any real access, and that was with a personal car of a high up exec. CD and RT didn't even get the access they normally get with new cars.

 

[bro1999]

Why does Usain Bolt slow down at the end of the 100meter sprint when he's 10 meter ahead of everyone? Does he not want to compete?

Because he just pulled a hammy.

 

[WileyTheMan]

Tesla was more than happy to accept Motor Trends Car of the Year Award in 2012. They'll "hang with the good old boys" when it's to their advantage

Absolutely. I'd call that tactical. I don't see the problem of them picking and choosing what events they participate in.

 

[patrick40363]

Nothing? They don't need more hype from another award this year. And awards usually don't go to the same car in consecutive years, so they can save it for next year when they have enough production to satisfy demand.

I was trying to think of the last time I bought a car based on an award. Never.