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Tesla is just being sensible here, given the dynamics of the car market. Point 1 - the car market is shifting heavily to sell more SUVs. (For some reason) buy
by mft_ 8y ago
Tesla is just being sensible here, given the dynamics of the car market.
Point 1 - the car market is shifting heavily to sell more SUVs. (For some reason) buyers are preferring them to traditional saloons. [1]
Point 2 - as a result, many car manufacturers have a range of SUVs, which absolutely cross over with --and cannibalise-- their saloon options. For example:
* Audi has the Q3, Q5, Q7, and Q8
* BMW has the X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7
* Mercedes has the GLA, GLC, GLE, GLE coupe, and GLS
All of these are SUVs, and all of them cross over with other (saloon) models from the manufacturer.
If Tesla wants to sell more Model 3-sized cars to consumers, it needs a small SUV alongside the Model 3. This is just good basic sense, on their part.
[1] https://qz.com/1344537/by-2020-suvs-could-make-up-50-of-us-car-sales/ https://qz.com/1344537/by-2020-suvs-could-make-up-50-of-us-c...
- kurtisc 8y agoDoes this extend outside the US car market?
- Bad_CRC 8y agoVW in Spain has like 4 or 5 different SUVs
- arethuza 8y agoVW Group has a vast number of SUVs models - must be nearly 20? (Skoda, Seat, VW, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley all have SUV models).
- amyjess 8y agoAll three of those companies are German and sell even more models in their domestic market than in the US.
- kurtisc 8y agoI'm not challenging the existence of the cars, I'm asking if the global car market reflects the US market as in the citation. I'm especially interested if it applies in China.
- mft_ 8y agoLooks a touch more complex in China: To the surprise of many in the industry, sedan sales in May leaped up by 12.1 percent on the same period last year to 940,000 units, while the SUV segment seemed to lose momentum, growing 6.5 percent year-on-year to 761,000. The SUV segment had retained a much faster growth rate though when the first five months this year were combined. Its sales grew 11.7 percent from January to May to 4.22 million while sedans rose 4.8 percent to 4.73 million in the same period. "It is understandable that SUV sales growth has slowed a little bit after years of surging ahead," said Xu Haidong, an assistant to the association's secretary-general. [1]http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2018-06/25/content_36445018.htm http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2018-06/25/content_3644501...
- mft_ 8y agoYep: The SUV market segment showed the strongest growth in sales. [1] [1] https://www.theicct.org/publications/european-vehicle-market-statistics-20182019 https://www.theicct.org/publications/european-vehicle-market...
- petre 8y agoYou forgot about the Audi Q2.
- freefal 8y agoTIL a "saloon" isn't just an old time bar but also a synonym for "sedan"