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My take: Panasonic is moving its chips from Tesla to Toyota/Mazda and betting the incumbent Japanese makers will be better positioned to capitalize on EV sales

My take: Panasonic is moving its chips from Tesla to Toyota/Mazda and betting the incumbent Japanese makers will be better positioned to capitalize on EV sales over the long term. It’s not strange for a 100+ year old company playing the long game. I also think Tesla’s function for many of its suppliers was to prove that Americans will buy EVs, and their expectations are fairly low about how much more Tesla will accomplish.

sliken 7y ago
Well the weird thing is Panasonic is complaining about not selling enough batteries. Seems kinda crazy considering the rapid scale of Tesla's ramp up, not to mention secondary uses like powerwalls and grid sized battery systems.
- hef19898 7y ago
  I won't speculate why Panasonic is putting the brakes on. Could be anything from financing to some new guy at Panasonic not liking the color choices of the Model Y. But it is telling us something that the most integrated of Tesla's partners is putting on the brakes. And I remember some reports about less then optimal conditions in the giga factory. And these conditions, even if they are only half true, would the opposite of what Japanese companies would like to see
samstave 7y ago
Personally; ding ding ding. This is why american MBAs are utter useless garbage.. The asian incumbents in heavy industry are going to own, simply because they are capable and willing to play the long-game. China is pretty much buying all of Africa. They havea 100 year plan. And anyone who isnt aware of that fact, is simply behind the game and already losing. We had a post about KPCB earlier, and good riddance - the arrogance of the SV VC mind and short-term thinking of the US industries are literally what has the US in ruin come 25 years from now.
- newsoul2019 7y ago
  This reminds me of the late 1980s when America was on the decline and the Japanese were buying everything and the end was in sight.
  - shereadsthenews 7y ago
    People who did not experience the 80s, and the endless nightly news stories about Japanese school kids’ math test scores, will not understand your comment.
  - Udik 7y ago
    Japan is a small, rich and overpopulated country of 126 million; China is a still emerging, vast country of 1.4 billion. I don't think it's correct to assume history will repeat the same way as with Japan.

sliken 7y ago

Well the weird thing is Panasonic is complaining about not selling enough batteries. Seems kinda crazy considering the rapid scale of Tesla's ramp up, not to mention secondary uses like powerwalls and grid sized battery systems.

hef19898 7y ago
I won't speculate why Panasonic is putting the brakes on. Could be anything from financing to some new guy at Panasonic not liking the color choices of the Model Y. But it is telling us something that the most integrated of Tesla's partners is putting on the brakes. And I remember some reports about less then optimal conditions in the giga factory. And these conditions, even if they are only half true, would the opposite of what Japanese companies would like to see

samstave 7y ago

Personally; ding ding ding. This is why american MBAs are utter useless garbage.. The asian incumbents in heavy industry are going to own, simply because they are capable and willing to play the long-game. China is pretty much buying all of Africa. They havea 100 year plan. And anyone who isnt aware of that fact, is simply behind the game and already losing. We had a post about KPCB earlier, and good riddance - the arrogance of the SV VC mind and short-term thinking of the US industries are literally what has the US in ruin come 25 years from now.

newsoul2019 7y ago
This reminds me of the late 1980s when America was on the decline and the Japanese were buying everything and the end was in sight.
- shereadsthenews 7y ago
  People who did not experience the 80s, and the endless nightly news stories about Japanese school kids’ math test scores, will not understand your comment.
- Udik 7y ago
  Japan is a small, rich and overpopulated country of 126 million; China is a still emerging, vast country of 1.4 billion. I don't think it's correct to assume history will repeat the same way as with Japan.