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Toyota or Ford or any other car company can enter any of those fields, either directly or through investment. That they choose not to probably indicates that t
by TAForObvReasons 8y ago
Toyota or Ford or any other car company can enter any of those fields, either directly or through investment. That they choose not to probably indicates that the risk/reward doesn't make sense for them, and they probably aren't worth that much if Tesla manages to pivot. They chose not to play in EVs until recently, for example, because the market appetite wasn't there
- gleenn 8y agoYou gotta hand it to Elon for stirring the appetite for EVs though. What makes you think he can't do similar things in other markets?
- threeseed 8y agoBecause he is overcapitalised with his existing projects. Simple as that really.
- rootusrootus 8y agoI am not convinced he really changed the market's desire for EVs. He made a halo car, and now he is selling the baby version for Average Joe. I think the success of the Model 3 has a lot more to do with the brand than it does with it being an EV.
- stevehawk 8y agoHave to admit I agree with this. He didn't change the appetite he just recognized that it was better to make a $120k EV than a $20k EV.
- colordrops 8y agoIt's simply ignoring reality to not acknowledge Tesla's center role in popularizing EVs. It's not even a question.
- solarkraft 8y agoTesla has vastly changed public perception of EVs, changing demand & enabling current production ramp up of cheaper models.
- colordrops 8y agoBy the way, why do you think the brand is popular if not for their EVs?
- slg 8y agoI am surprised to see this type of argument on HN of all places. One of the primary goals of any start up is to either create a new market or to serve a market that an incumbent is failing to properly serve. You can't just assume that because a company like Toyota hasn't done any of these things yet that there is no potential to gain from them. There are countless reasons why traditional powers fail to innovate and are eventually challenged by more forward thinking companies. I have no idea if Tesla will be that company long term. But the potential is there and that potential is what is fueling the hype.
- bicubic 8y agoGM/Toyota have the resources to start operating in the same markets that Tesla has ambitions for. And they are certainly keeping an eye on Tesla's actions. After watching what Tesla is doing, they have chosen not to invest those resources even though if they did, they would beat Tesla at its own game quite easily because they eclipse it both in capital and experience. Either their analysts are wrong and failing to see a winning strategy here, or there is no winning strategy. One of these two statements must be true. I've put my money on option #2, but I'm aware that large competitors aren't idiots and there is a risk here. Elon Musk has also publicly stated that he wants the other big players to compete with Tesla. He doesn't actually care if Tesla is ever profitable or not, he just wants to force the world to transition off fossil fuels by dispelling the myths sown by the oil industry with concrete examples of success. It is stupid to ignore Musk's stance on this matter as an investor.
- slg 8y agoUsing this logic every start up would fail as soon as they showed their business model could lead to success and a bigger company swooped in a with their overwhelming capital and experience.
- bicubic 8y agoMany do, for that exact reason. If you ever pitch your startup idea to a VC, you're expected to explain how you're going to deal with this risk.