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> but are stagnant and waiting to be disrupted The other car companies are rapidly developing their own electric cars. See the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf for m
by zanny 9y ago
> but are stagnant and waiting to be disrupted
The other car companies are rapidly developing their own electric cars. See the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf for mid-level and entry-level examples. Who says they will not disrupt themselves? These are huge incumbents with large R&D budgets who always look for ways to one up the competition. There is a very limited window of opportunity from an outsider where the insider industry misses something obvious, but that isn't frequent.
In most cases, what is called disruption is either breaking laws or ignoring some fundamental problem the incumbents think too important to ignore. They test assumptions, and (rarely) prove them invalid, but the intent to disrupt alone shouldn't make for such enormous PIs.
- crush-n-spread 9y agohuge incumbents with large R&D budgets who always look for ways to one up the competition One up the competition? These car companies introduce new plastics or fender flares and call it "All-new". That's how they compete, body styling and incremental change. Every single incumbent car company is incredibly slow moving and reluctant to create change, because each one of the low-motivation engineers in the chain of command is reluctant to work. "One up the competition", seriously...
- mehwoot 9y agobecause each one of the low-motivation engineers in the chain of command is reluctant to work Possibly the laziest analysis I've ever seen
- crush-n-spread 9y ago1. It is a fundamental human trait to not expend energy when it is not required, and that includes engineering effort. 2. Engineering effort is not required for Ford to continue to be able to pay their engineers a living wage, as they could live off of their current product line for the next decade. Combine 1 and 2 and surprise, you have lazy engineers.
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y agoName a product that came about by means other than "body styling and incremental change". Even Tesla's first car, the Tesla Roadster, is a slightly remodelled Lotus Elise. Apple's first iPhone is only a slightly rethought version of products that had existed for years.
- crush-n-spread 9y agoSlightly remodelled, as in slightly remodelled the entire controls and drivetrain and engine.
- stcredzero 9y agoSlightly remodelled, as in slightly remodelled the entire controls and drivetrain and engine. That's what the typical Bay Area programmer thinks of as a "trivial" change.
- Sohcahtoa82 9y ago> Even Tesla's first car, the Tesla Roadster, is a slightly remodelled Lotus Elise. From the outside, yes, you are correct. But under the hood...you couldn't possibly be more wrong. It is definitely more than just "body styling and incremental change".
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y agoI mean to say: It's still a car. An electric car, to be sure, and there have been quite a few of those for quite a long time. Electric drive systems are extraordinarily common. It's not like Tesla came out with a radically new design for what car means and dropped an Alcubierre drive in the thing.
- stcredzero 9y ago> > but are stagnant and waiting to be disrupted > The other car companies are rapidly developing their own electric cars. See the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf for mid-level and entry-level examples. Who says they will not disrupt themselves? ... There is a very limited window of opportunity from an outsider where the insider industry misses something obvious, but that isn't frequent. So the outsider's survival is uncertain. Maybe the right move, then, is to figure out which one of the incumbents will remain standing after all of the foreseeable disruption? Which ones are the least encumbered by their legacy systems and relationships? Which ones are sincere about pursuing the electric/autonomous future?
- 11thEarlOfMar 9y agoIt's not just about getting an electric car on the market. They are going to have to release models with 5 star safety ratings in all categories/sub-categories, and enable their cars to perform like drag race cars, and enable their cars to drive themselves, and probably buy batteries from Tesla. They cannot move as fast as Tesla has been moving. They will survive. But there will be another US 'auto maker' to compete with.
- Tiktaalik 9y agoThe Bolt has a 5 star safety rating and was 2017 car of the year. It doesn't seem to be selling that great, which could be due to a great deal of factors, but the awards it has won makes me believe that the traditional car companies are going to be able to keep up with Tesla at least on technical merit.
- DonnyV 9y agoThe Bolt doesn't sell well because it looks like a turd. Tesla has figured out how to make a nice looking car within budget and...and drives itself.
- cmrdporcupine 9y agothe Bolt doesn't sell well because they're only making 30,000 of them this year and the only place where they sat on lots was in California where they are competing against a dozen California-only compliance cars that you can't get in any other state. Here in Ontario they sold out completely in the first month they were here and there's a waiting list that won't get fulfilled until next year at the earliest. I've driven one and it's great.
- thenewwazoo 9y agoSo let's say this is all true (and I have no reason to doubt it): is this an argument that Chevy is somehow outperforming Tesla? GM has a storied history of shooting themselves in the foot by doing dumb things like cramming lots full of cars where they aren't in demand. The Bolt may be great, but I believe Tesla will be more likely to avoid these kinds of pitfalls.