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You say that maintenance is a large part of the pie that will be lost to electric. Here's an unfounded but different perspective: Electric's reliability and re

You say that maintenance is a large part of the pie that will be lost to electric. Here's an unfounded but different perspective: Electric's reliability and return on investment will only make the transportation industry that much more profitable, and the amount of transportation will only increase as time goes on. The total size of the pie will increase. Maintenance will still be needed, especially on many generations of electric transport not limited to cars or trucks.

Judgmentality 7y ago
I am genuinely curious, when has a company deliberately making a stark pivot in offering better reliability for a product line led to better sustained profits? This is not a rhetorical question - I genuinely want people to provide me with examples. I suspect it is very rare that this happens, but hope I'm wrong.
- momokoko 7y ago
  Mercedes Benz? It's actually very common. It's just that the recent trend in private equity is to cash in past reputation for short term profits.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  Honda and Toyota are the reference models for this premise. They completely owned multiple segments by offering a better quality product. Hyundai is another more recent-ish example. Hyundai cars were absolute garbage for a long time, they improved but the market didn’t know. So they their money where their mouth was by offering a 100k warranty. (Audi did something similar in the 80/90s). I’d be cautious in assuming that electric cars will be better. Scheduled maintenance is reduced, but there are plenty of quality and repair issues with Tesla as evidenced by consumer reports. Unscheduled maintenance is still a factor of assembly and engineering quality. Also, from a cost POV, franchise laws aren’t going away right away. So the price of that ICE maintenance dealer margin is going to be baked in, or the dealers won’t move the cars.

Judgmentality 7y ago

I am genuinely curious, when has a company deliberately making a stark pivot in offering better reliability for a product line led to better sustained profits? This is not a rhetorical question - I genuinely want people to provide me with examples. I suspect it is very rare that this happens, but hope I'm wrong.

momokoko 7y ago
Mercedes Benz? It's actually very common. It's just that the recent trend in private equity is to cash in past reputation for short term profits.
Spooky23 7y ago
Honda and Toyota are the reference models for this premise. They completely owned multiple segments by offering a better quality product. Hyundai is another more recent-ish example. Hyundai cars were absolute garbage for a long time, they improved but the market didn’t know. So they their money where their mouth was by offering a 100k warranty. (Audi did something similar in the 80/90s). I’d be cautious in assuming that electric cars will be better. Scheduled maintenance is reduced, but there are plenty of quality and repair issues with Tesla as evidenced by consumer reports. Unscheduled maintenance is still a factor of assembly and engineering quality. Also, from a cost POV, franchise laws aren’t going away right away. So the price of that ICE maintenance dealer margin is going to be baked in, or the dealers won’t move the cars.