7 ms·

I wonder if its a fad so much as recognizing the threat from 200k+ people reserving a car before they've ever seen it with their own eyeballs. I know if I ran a

by mkhpalm 11y ago

I wonder if its a fad so much as recognizing the threat from 200k+ people reserving a car before they've ever seen it with their own eyeballs. I know if I ran a car company I would be deathly afraid of becoming another nokia in an iPhone world. They are extremely far behind on these fronts.

serge2k 11y ago
1. The Tesla is a status symbol for people. 2. It's a 1k deposit. I just purchased a car last year, otherwise I probably would have put down 1k on the chance I do decide to buy a Tesla.
- olalonde 11y ago
  I'm not sure #1 is meant to be a counter argument but so is/was the iPhone.
- lsiunsuex 11y ago
  Point #2 - exactly. If the car was available now - in production - I think a lot more people would of put the 1k down. I myself, my lease runs out March 2017 - I can't not have a car waiting on the Model 3 to come out. I'll have to wait for the next round.
  - erikpukinskis 11y ago
    You can't extend your lease?
- drumdance 11y ago
  The deposit is also 100% refundable.
- mseebach 11y ago
  Ford makes status-symbol cars, so that's irrelevant. The important question is, could Ford produce a car, status symbol or not, that 200k people would put down even a refundable $1k deposit on, sight unseen?
  - serge2k 11y ago
    Going back to the F-150 again, it's a status symbol for some people. I could probably go down to a dealer today and grab one with with most/all of what I want, or wait a little bit and get what I want. A deposit isn't needed. It's a silly comparison anyway as the Tesla is an entirely new thing, vs already established. A better comparison would be if 5 years from Tesla announced a new major revision of the model 3 (similar to what ford did with the F-150 this last year) and got 200k orders immediately. now all this being said, if Ford announced a brand new electric vehicle tomorrow with similar specs/price as the Tesla I really doubt they could get preorders like this.
lgieron 11y ago
Unlike phones, cars' price prohibits most people from paying grossly more for a slighly better car (it's say $40k extra for a car vs $400 for a phone). Plus, there are already "iPhones" on the market (Mercedes, BMW etc.).
- cjrp 11y ago
  Financing makes that grossly higher price more palatable though.
- mkhpalm 11y ago
  Check out a 2016 Honda Accord Touring that anybody can pick up for 31k. (or the civic for even cheaper with lane assist and all that) Honda seems to recognize there is a pretty major threat out there... but even they are behind. All I'm saying is there seems to be a pretty big difference in whats easily and cheaply possible and what the status quo auto industry execs have been doing. A good example is every single car at this point should come with a touch screen head unit and a not-invented-here operating system on it. Traditionally all these execs believe that such a thing should cost thousands of dollars in upgrades either by model class or just the configuration itself. Few seem to realize they can easily generate 10x the revenue with software features and upgrades than they can with the hardware feature upgrade itself. The cost difference is pretty negligible... but the status quo gives them far less potential.
ryanmarsh 11y ago
By definition most everyone inside a buracracy is focused inward, on their own performance signaling. I doubt many people noticed without providing some sort of defensive rationalization like "PC guys aren't going to just come in and..."
erikpukinskis 11y ago
> I know if I ran a car company I would be deathly afraid of becoming another Nokia It's far worse than that. The top phone manufacturers before Apple were Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and Blackberry. These transitions are wrecking entire fields of players. It's not enough to avoid becoming the next Nokia, you have to sprint like hell and pray to Jesus, Allah, and Vishnu that you can become the next Samsung. And unless you have a major government behind you, odds are you're not the next Samsung.

by mkhpalm 11y ago

serge2k 11y ago

1. The Tesla is a status symbol for people. 2. It's a 1k deposit. I just purchased a car last year, otherwise I probably would have put down 1k on the chance I do decide to buy a Tesla.

olalonde 11y ago
I'm not sure #1 is meant to be a counter argument but so is/was the iPhone.
lsiunsuex 11y ago
Point #2 - exactly. If the car was available now - in production - I think a lot more people would of put the 1k down. I myself, my lease runs out March 2017 - I can't not have a car waiting on the Model 3 to come out. I'll have to wait for the next round.
- erikpukinskis 11y ago
  You can't extend your lease?
drumdance 11y ago
The deposit is also 100% refundable.
mseebach 11y ago
Ford makes status-symbol cars, so that's irrelevant. The important question is, could Ford produce a car, status symbol or not, that 200k people would put down even a refundable $1k deposit on, sight unseen?
- serge2k 11y ago
  Going back to the F-150 again, it's a status symbol for some people. I could probably go down to a dealer today and grab one with with most/all of what I want, or wait a little bit and get what I want. A deposit isn't needed. It's a silly comparison anyway as the Tesla is an entirely new thing, vs already established. A better comparison would be if 5 years from Tesla announced a new major revision of the model 3 (similar to what ford did with the F-150 this last year) and got 200k orders immediately. now all this being said, if Ford announced a brand new electric vehicle tomorrow with similar specs/price as the Tesla I really doubt they could get preorders like this.

lgieron 11y ago

Unlike phones, cars' price prohibits most people from paying grossly more for a slighly better car (it's say $40k extra for a car vs $400 for a phone). Plus, there are already "iPhones" on the market (Mercedes, BMW etc.).

cjrp 11y ago
Financing makes that grossly higher price more palatable though.
mkhpalm 11y ago
Check out a 2016 Honda Accord Touring that anybody can pick up for 31k. (or the civic for even cheaper with lane assist and all that) Honda seems to recognize there is a pretty major threat out there... but even they are behind. All I'm saying is there seems to be a pretty big difference in whats easily and cheaply possible and what the status quo auto industry execs have been doing. A good example is every single car at this point should come with a touch screen head unit and a not-invented-here operating system on it. Traditionally all these execs believe that such a thing should cost thousands of dollars in upgrades either by model class or just the configuration itself. Few seem to realize they can easily generate 10x the revenue with software features and upgrades than they can with the hardware feature upgrade itself. The cost difference is pretty negligible... but the status quo gives them far less potential.

ryanmarsh 11y ago

By definition most everyone inside a buracracy is focused inward, on their own performance signaling. I doubt many people noticed without providing some sort of defensive rationalization like "PC guys aren't going to just come in and..."

erikpukinskis 11y ago

> I know if I ran a car company I would be deathly afraid of becoming another Nokia It's far worse than that. The top phone manufacturers before Apple were Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and Blackberry. These transitions are wrecking entire fields of players. It's not enough to avoid becoming the next Nokia, you have to sprint like hell and pray to Jesus, Allah, and Vishnu that you can become the next Samsung. And unless you have a major government behind you, odds are you're not the next Samsung.