3 ms·
To me, Tesla feels like a "marketing" company. And I don't mean that in a bad way. Yes, their battery tech is improving, and they make pretty damn good cars, b
by Klathmon 10y ago
To me, Tesla feels like a "marketing" company. And I don't mean that in a bad way.
Yes, their battery tech is improving, and they make pretty damn good cars, but most of all Tesla is getting people excited for electric cars.
Before they came around, electric cars were shitty ecoboxes that were worse in just about every way to an ICE car. They were ugly, had no range, were missing features, expensive, slow charging, etc... There were exceptions, but for the most part this was what the average person believed.
And while you could argue that much of this is still true with Teslas when compared to other luxury brands at the same price point, Tesla has gotten people interested. They've gotten people excited for electric cars. They've made people want them even though they might be worse on paper.
And that's a big deal. They are not only making a great product, but they are pushing their competitors to step up their game and really focus on their electric offerings.
- coredog64 10y agoOff the top of my head, the pre-Tesla EVs I remember are the GM Impact, an electric RAV4, and an electric S-10/Ranger (the latter primarily sold to corporate fleets). The EV1 spawned a movie, with most owners very interested in buying. If you think a RAV4 is a shitty ecobox, well, I'm not sure how I can help.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ethbro 10y agoI owned an ICE Rav4. I would absolutely characterize it as a shitty ecobox version of an SUV.
- basch 10y agoit's also a quality assurance company, similar to apple. "we put these different parts together, and guarantee they function the way we say they do." similar to intel and microsoft making first party hardware, their core becomes more valuable when oems get better.
- ethbro 10y ago> similar to intel and microsoft making first party hardware, their core becomes more valuable when oems get better So, you mean the opposite of Android?
- jsight 10y agoI think that describing them as a "marketing" company oversimplifies things in important ways as Tesla wouldn't have been successful without a lot of other key attributes as well (financial planning, product development, extensive development of the product's complements, etc). I do think that you are exactly right in regards to their competitive advantage, though. A company that competes with them will need to do a lot of work to convince the market that their electric car is in the same class as a Tesla. That will take years of work, a lot of money, and it will require them to do some things that risk damaging their existing business. I suspect that we are actually agreeing here and maybe I'm just saying it in a different way?
- Klathmon 10y agoI agree 100% and I think we are saying the same thing.
- ams6110 10y agoWasn't that one of Musk's stated goals early on? I can't recall the exact words but I thought he had made a statement to the effect that he wanted to show the world what an electric car could be, to raise the bar for all manufacturers.
- mikeash 10y agoThat doesn't seem quite right to me. A lot of what gets people excited about Tesla's cars in the fact that they're great. Getting people excited about your product by making a great product isn't what I'd consider marketing. They do some marketing as well, but it doesn't seem like the core of their business at all.
- yessql 10y agoTesla is probably the most vertically integrated automotive OEM. Tesla doesn't advertise via any traditional channels. Yes, they have changed people minds about EVs, but calling them a marketing company is silly, when you compare them to traditional OEM's that mostly just do final assembly and buy advertising.