3 ms·

$200k USD for R&D on such a market-changing item is peanuts. I'm not sure what the hullabaloo is all about.

CosmicShadow 11y ago
Haha, I was just about to say the same damn thing!
joezydeco 11y ago
The public never usually hears about it, that's why. There are entire companies that specialize in tearing down products and selling reports to customers.
Retric 11y ago
It's not the total price that's a shocker rather they needed to pay $55,000 over the list price. That's way above average even if it's chump change for a major car company.
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  This is a company with a $54B market cap and a 2015 pre-tax net income of $10B out of $150B in revenue. Yeah, I think they can spare an extra $55,000 now and again.
  - Retric 11y ago
    Can spare sure, but this looks more like how a middle manager can quietly hand 50k to a friend.
    - quakenul 11y ago
      I get it now. What a story.
    - monkeyprojects 11y ago
      Given that the car was a freebie for referring 11 Model S sales I doubt it was a friend.. See http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/20/11466810/tesla-model-x-ford-purchase http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/20/11466810/tesla-model-x-for... My guess is that this was the first one Ford was able to buy at any price....
      - Retric 11y ago
        Yea, I think this is a case of looks sketchy but is fine. Still, journalism often focuses on the interesting even if it's not that big a deal.
  - jasonjei 11y ago
    Exactly. In fact, $200,000 is a rounding error for a company with $150B in revenue.
- mikeash 11y ago
  They didn't even need to, they just didn't feel like waiting in line, or locating a non-Founder's unit to purchase. They must have enough cash allocated for buying cars that they just don't care. And of course there's nothing wrong with that.
  - sliverstorm 11y ago
    "Just didn't feel like"? Presumably they believe there is tremendous time-value attached to the information they want.
    - mikeash 11y ago
      If they were in that much of a hurry they wouldn't have waited until March to buy the thing.

Haha, I was just about to say the same damn thing!

The public never usually hears about it, that's why. There are entire companies that specialize in tearing down products and selling reports to customers.

Retric 11y ago

It's not the total price that's a shocker rather they needed to pay $55,000 over the list price. That's way above average even if it's chump change for a major car company.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago
This is a company with a $54B market cap and a 2015 pre-tax net income of $10B out of $150B in revenue. Yeah, I think they can spare an extra $55,000 now and again.
- Retric 11y ago
  Can spare sure, but this looks more like how a middle manager can quietly hand 50k to a friend.
  - quakenul 11y ago
    I get it now. What a story.
  - monkeyprojects 11y ago
    Given that the car was a freebie for referring 11 Model S sales I doubt it was a friend.. See http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/20/11466810/tesla-model-x-ford-purchase http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/20/11466810/tesla-model-x-for... My guess is that this was the first one Ford was able to buy at any price....
    - Retric 11y ago
      Yea, I think this is a case of looks sketchy but is fine. Still, journalism often focuses on the interesting even if it's not that big a deal.
- jasonjei 11y ago
  Exactly. In fact, $200,000 is a rounding error for a company with $150B in revenue.
mikeash 11y ago
They didn't even need to, they just didn't feel like waiting in line, or locating a non-Founder's unit to purchase. They must have enough cash allocated for buying cars that they just don't care. And of course there's nothing wrong with that.
- sliverstorm 11y ago
  "Just didn't feel like"? Presumably they believe there is tremendous time-value attached to the information they want.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    If they were in that much of a hurry they wouldn't have waited until March to buy the thing.