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Tesla’s “unexpected” new product reveal postponed til Wednesday
- jfoster 10y agoI think the article is on the wrong track regarding autopilot speculation. It seems unlikely that "a new product unexpected by most" would end up being an autopilot upgrade.
- leadingthenet 10y agoAgreed. "Unexpected by most" has to mean a new product line, otherwise the wording doesn't make too much sense (and would build up unnecessary hype, were it only an evolutionary update to an existing product).
- martin_bech 10y ago"Unexpected by most" could be related to the pace of the uprade, Autopilot 2.0 with next level autonomy ready next month, hardware already in cars leaving factory. I expect a big upgrade to Autopilot OR a new product line.
- leadingthenet 10y agoBut isn't that precisely what we expect them to do? People have been predicting a fully autonomous Tesla for years now.
- jfoster 10y agoAutopilot is an existing product, and the eventual advancement of it is 100% expected.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- givinguflac 10y agoTesla Truck? Smart/Mini competitor? Watercraft of some type? Finally revealing the fictional electric plane mentioned in Iron Man 2? Tesla Motorcycle? A transforming amphibious Tesla vehicle? As unlikely as most of these are, they are more likely than this much hype for announcing the next level of autopilot.
- jacquesm 10y agoWere you around when Dean Kamen's 'IT/Ginger' was hyped so much people were totally disappointed when it turned out to be the Segway?
- reustle 10y agoI would love to see a Tesla motorcycle. Not for the sake of a Tesla motorcycle, but the amount of pressure it would put on all of the other manufacturers. KTM Freeride-E is tempting but $14k is too much for that little range. Tesla would be some serious competition.
- gwbas1c 10y agoThere's rumors of a small Tesla SUV parked at LAX last Friday. I wonder if they're re-revealing the Model 3, or a variant of it?
- perseusprime11 10y agoTesla Hybrid similar to Prius?
- rdlecler1 10y agoThis is a risky strategy. Tesla has been missing deadlines and has ambitious timelines with the new FIFA factory, add to that a SolarCity integration and Musk running a little rocket company called SpaceX, and I could see investors punishing Telstar is this isn't absolutely magical and fully baked. Until the Model 3 is delivered, everything else is a distraction.
- pi-err 10y ago> Until the Model 3 is delivered, everything else is a distraction Agreed - except to increase cash flow to get to build >500k Tesla 3 fast enough. They're climbing a mountain of risk at this point. If the first T3 production year is too low in quality and/or quantity, the rest of the reservations could evaporate, especially as the rest of the industry is finally embracing electric. A utility version of Tesla X could churn out some hard needed cash.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoThere isn't enough battery manufacturing capacity in the world for other auto manufacturers without Tesla's Gigafactory.
- jlebrech 10y agoTesla Motorbike PLEASEEEEEE
- jlebrech 10y agoor an ebike, with all the connectivity onboard. power meter included and aero compartments.
- thenewwazoo 10y agoThere are some players in this space already, and I don't think it would be a smart play for Tesla to enter it. Motorcycle manufacturing is a ~$4.4bn industry, and there were about as many Toyota Camrys sold in 2015 as there were on-highway motorcycles, so the market opportunity there is very limited. Motorcyclists as a demographic tend to be conservative in their preferences (for example, see the debate over ABS, Harley Davidson), as well as very cost-sensitive. The machines themselves are very sensitive to weight, and even the best batteries can't compete with gasoline for energy density which either means very short range (see Zero's offerings) or very heavy bikes (see the late Mission Motorcycles' 550lb R). Finally, there are very few engineering synergies between motorcycles and cars so cost savings by parts reuse is negligible. Tesla's historical model of starting with a premium offering wouldn't work because even the best LiIon motorcycle couldn't compete with a petrol-powered competitor in any objective measure except for environmental friendliness... which is insufficiently compelling to the typical rider to open the market. Motorcycles are very cool, and I'm an avid long-time rider, but e-bikes are necessarily a niche of a niche. Tesla is looking for hockey-stick growth over the medium term. Edit: forgot to add that US automobile manufacturing output was ~$61bn in 2015.