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We could also think of it as they understanding the market needs & technology direction. It did take a 15 year old upstart to recognize the market, but I don't

We could also think of it as they understanding the market needs & technology direction. It did take a 15 year old upstart to recognize the market, but I don't think there is anything wrong in established companies trying to get into the market. It certainly adds more competition and brings much welcomed innovation into the ecosystem.

ZenoArrow 9y ago
There's nothing wrong with other companies getting involved, the comment merely highlights that it took a small company with lot of media attention to set the direction for a larger industry. It's no problem for Tesla, it was their plan all along to encourage competition.
- rapsey 9y ago
  > the comment merely highlights that it took a small company with lot of media attention to set the direction for a larger industry. Isn't that very often the case though? Think iPod/iPhone. Apple was a nobody in those spaces when those devices were released.
  - kumarvvr 9y ago
    Media attention is usually required only when a consumer product is at stake. Take, for example, current upstarts competing with Cisco in networking gear. Not much media exposure but a quite revolution. In the history of business, its almost always the upstart that upends business. Examples include Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft.
    - ZenoArrow 9y ago
      Who are the network hardware upstarts you're thinking of? What are they bringing to the market which is changing it?
      - kumarvvr 9y ago
        Not able to remember names right now but I remember seeing a lawsuit by Cisco against one of thwir ex-directors or so, just a few weks back. Basically Cisco is facing competition from startups implementing hardware in COTS components and innovating in features through software.
codemusings 9y ago
Except the don't as they recently pulled their only electric vehicle (B-Class) and haven't exactly shown any interest in pursuing this technology in cars. Their narrative is that nobody showed any interest when the thruth is that they had only lackluster PR and of course it wasn't a great value compared to a Tesla for instance. The state of affairs when it comes to electric cars in car country Germany is a very sad one. Everybody keeps reiterating how we're not ready yet (not enough stations, battery production and demand, etc.) when Scandinavia is doing just fine. And their car industry is probably just a fraction of ours.
- Neil44 9y ago
  The electric B class was a cooperation with Tesla wasn't it? As Tesla becomes a more serious competitor I can see why they'd want to curtail that to focus on their own technology. People lap up this narrative about Tesla beating all the traditional companies but the bottom line is they're tiny and loosing money, while the others are making it.
- _pmf_ 9y ago
  > Except the don't as they recently pulled their only electric vehicle (B-Class) and haven't exactly shown any interest in pursuing this technology in cars. The e-Smart is quite successful as a car sharing platform. But yes, there are forces inside Daimler that actively work against the E-mobility efforts of other parts of the company. > The state of affairs when it comes to electric cars in car country Germany is a very sad one. Yes; for some strange reason[0], no money goes to advancing generic charging infrastructure, but instead to research projects benefiting individual OEMs. [0] OK, it's plain corruption
- mxschumacher 9y ago
  Daimler (the Mercedes parent) is quite active in the space of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel cells and fully electric cars: Here are three electric models that company currently produces: - Denza ( in cooperation with BYD): http://www.denza.com/?s=eng&r=single/overall http://www.denza.com/?s=eng&r=single/overall - smart: https://www.smart.com/en/en/index/smart-fortwo-electric-drive-453.html https://www.smart.com/en/en/index/smart-fortwo-electric-driv... - fuso eCanter: https://www.ecanter.com/en.html https://www.ecanter.com/en.html electric bus coming in 2018: https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/19/mercedes-benz-confirms-electric-citaro-bus-coming-next-year/ https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/19/mercedes-benz-confirms-... A 26-ton electric truck is in the making: https://www.daimler.com/products/trucks/mercedes-benz/mercedes-benz-electric-truck.html https://www.daimler.com/products/trucks/mercedes-benz/merced... Together with Ford and the German automakers, Daimler is building an electric charging network: https://www.daimler.com/innovation/efficiency/ultra-fast-charging-of-electric-vehicles.html https://www.daimler.com/innovation/efficiency/ultra-fast-cha... , they are also the lead investor in ChargePoint

ZenoArrow 9y ago

There's nothing wrong with other companies getting involved, the comment merely highlights that it took a small company with lot of media attention to set the direction for a larger industry. It's no problem for Tesla, it was their plan all along to encourage competition.

rapsey 9y ago
> the comment merely highlights that it took a small company with lot of media attention to set the direction for a larger industry. Isn't that very often the case though? Think iPod/iPhone. Apple was a nobody in those spaces when those devices were released.
- kumarvvr 9y ago
  Media attention is usually required only when a consumer product is at stake. Take, for example, current upstarts competing with Cisco in networking gear. Not much media exposure but a quite revolution. In the history of business, its almost always the upstart that upends business. Examples include Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft.
  - ZenoArrow 9y ago
    Who are the network hardware upstarts you're thinking of? What are they bringing to the market which is changing it?
    - kumarvvr 9y ago
      Not able to remember names right now but I remember seeing a lawsuit by Cisco against one of thwir ex-directors or so, just a few weks back. Basically Cisco is facing competition from startups implementing hardware in COTS components and innovating in features through software.

codemusings 9y ago

Except the don't as they recently pulled their only electric vehicle (B-Class) and haven't exactly shown any interest in pursuing this technology in cars. Their narrative is that nobody showed any interest when the thruth is that they had only lackluster PR and of course it wasn't a great value compared to a Tesla for instance. The state of affairs when it comes to electric cars in car country Germany is a very sad one. Everybody keeps reiterating how we're not ready yet (not enough stations, battery production and demand, etc.) when Scandinavia is doing just fine. And their car industry is probably just a fraction of ours.

Neil44 9y ago
The electric B class was a cooperation with Tesla wasn't it? As Tesla becomes a more serious competitor I can see why they'd want to curtail that to focus on their own technology. People lap up this narrative about Tesla beating all the traditional companies but the bottom line is they're tiny and loosing money, while the others are making it.
_pmf_ 9y ago
> Except the don't as they recently pulled their only electric vehicle (B-Class) and haven't exactly shown any interest in pursuing this technology in cars. The e-Smart is quite successful as a car sharing platform. But yes, there are forces inside Daimler that actively work against the E-mobility efforts of other parts of the company. > The state of affairs when it comes to electric cars in car country Germany is a very sad one. Yes; for some strange reason[0], no money goes to advancing generic charging infrastructure, but instead to research projects benefiting individual OEMs. [0] OK, it's plain corruption
mxschumacher 9y ago
Daimler (the Mercedes parent) is quite active in the space of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel cells and fully electric cars: Here are three electric models that company currently produces: - Denza ( in cooperation with BYD): http://www.denza.com/?s=eng&r=single/overall http://www.denza.com/?s=eng&r=single/overall - smart: https://www.smart.com/en/en/index/smart-fortwo-electric-drive-453.html https://www.smart.com/en/en/index/smart-fortwo-electric-driv... - fuso eCanter: https://www.ecanter.com/en.html https://www.ecanter.com/en.html electric bus coming in 2018: https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/19/mercedes-benz-confirms-electric-citaro-bus-coming-next-year/ https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/19/mercedes-benz-confirms-... A 26-ton electric truck is in the making: https://www.daimler.com/products/trucks/mercedes-benz/mercedes-benz-electric-truck.html https://www.daimler.com/products/trucks/mercedes-benz/merced... Together with Ford and the German automakers, Daimler is building an electric charging network: https://www.daimler.com/innovation/efficiency/ultra-fast-charging-of-electric-vehicles.html https://www.daimler.com/innovation/efficiency/ultra-fast-cha... , they are also the lead investor in ChargePoint