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He has one advantage that past failed attempts didn't: electric cars are relatively simple compared to combustion engine cars. But American consumers will want
by tabtab 7y ago
He has one advantage that past failed attempts didn't: electric cars are relatively simple compared to combustion engine cars.
But American consumers will want to see roughly 5 years of reliable quality reviews before they trust the brand. Problems with Yugos and early Hyundai's left a trail of memorable Internet memes.
So, what do you do the first 4 years? That's a lot of years to take a loss in order to gain market share.
Maybe start in the rental markets by loaning the cars out to rental shops. If they are loaned on a short-term basis, then the rental shops won't have to eat quality problems, if they appear.
One thing they have to know: if you foul up quality early, it takes a long time to recover that reputation. Detroit brands are still recovering from the clunkers they made in the 70's and 80's. They are now on par with the Japanese brands, but that's not good enough to get a clean reputation. Hyundai had to include generous extended warranties AND low prices to restore their reputation and market share.
- lostapathy 7y agoDecent idea but wrong description. Hyundai and Yugo has problems decades before “internet memes” were a thing.
- tabtab 7y agoYes, but they were among the very first things meme-ified on the Internet. Pent up anger?
- mmanfrin 7y agoI've never seen a Hyundai meme.
- freehunter 7y agoMeme as in image macro with top and bottom text? I haven't either, but that's not what the word "meme" has meant until very recently. Meme as in "Hyundai/Yugo are terrible cars" repeated even by people who have never driven one? Very common back in the day before meme meant image macro. FORD = Found On Road Dead (or Fix Or Repair Daily) FIAT = Fix It Again Tony JEEP = Just Empty Every Pocket HYUNDAI = Hope You Understand Nothings Drivable And Inexpensive An article from 2001 saying this Hyundai joke is now outdated because they finally make good cars: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000326,00.html http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000326...
- tabtab 7y agoThey generally were jokes, some with images, some not. It seems every joke site at the time had at least one about Yugo's or Hyundai's. At least that's what I remember. This is roughly between 1995 and 2000. Some may have been on Compuserve instead of the Internet, I don't remember the details, but generally both copied each other.
- yellowapple 7y agoIn the same vein, my grandpa considered Toyotas to be "toys" ("they've even got 'toy' in the name) until he bought a Highlander and - eventually - a Prius.
- WalterBright 7y ago> FORD = Found On Road Dead (or Fix Or Repair Daily) Haha, just fixed my Ford in the driveway today! (Battery cable corroded to the point it wouldn't conduct anymore.) But the beast is 30 years old, so I forgive it.
- tdumitrescu 7y agoYugo = you go on foot
- tabtab 7y agoYou don't remember Rodney King "getaway car" jokes? Maybe that was regional.
- aidenn0 7y agoUSENET meme then?
- wffurr 7y agoThat's a really narrow conception of "meme". If you think of it as the brand's reputation, and widespread jokes, anecdotes, etc. then it's spot on.
- fnord77 7y ago> electric cars are relatively simple compared to combustion engine cars. It's not really an advantage, though. Established makers have that same advantage, with the addition of having established dealer and service networks, established reputation, and so on. He's about 10 years late to the EV party
- blhack 7y agoBuy up a few parking lots in a few major metros and let people unlock the cars with an app on their phones as short term rentals. The vehicles will probably end up as a loss, but it's going to get a lot of press. Then start selling them. Make the parking lots into car dealerships. Put them in college towns where people are just starting to get real jobs and have money to spend, and are also very online.
- scythe 7y agoThis is clever, but I think you could get a similar result with fewer dedicated internal staff (better for a company with no US ops) by leasing or selling vehicles to e.g. ZipCar.
- blhack 7y agoZip car is essentially what I mean. Just adding the additional press bump by trying to draw a comparison to the scooter shares, or docked bicycles.
- tabtab 7y agoDo you mean sell the cars to students? It's same problem: they will probably prefer very used cars from known brands over slightly used cars from an unknown brand.
- standardUser 7y ago"American consumers will want to see roughly 5 years of reliable quality" You say that as if it's gospel, but it sounds like "boomer thinking" to me. The demand for electric cars over the next ten years will mostly come form people who have different ways of making purchasing decisions than in decades past. And they've never heard of a Yugo.
- dahdum 7y agoI don’t think researching a $40k purchase and valuing reliability is “boomer thinking”. It’s a side effect of people getting married, buying homes, and starting families.
- caspper69 7y agoYeah, lol. It's called adult thinking. And it happens once you actually become one. One that is responsible for others, not just yourself and your whims. "Adulting" for an hour a week to pay your bills doesn't count.
- kube-system 7y agoThe average age of a new car buyer in the US is 53 years old, so maybe you're on to something...
- Igelau 7y agoThat might have been true once, but I suspect this small-sample history is now irrelevant due to shifting demographics. Only Boomers remember the Yugo. The rest of us are too busy trying to afford the privilege of commuting to really care where the car came from.
- cgriswald 7y agoWhat a bizarre sentiment. If you can barely afford it you should care more. Get a reliable make and model that there are a lot of so the parts are cheap. Also, I’m not a Boomer and I remember Yugos.
- mattkrause 7y agoThe only thing I know about the Yugo is that it was awful.
- Igelau 7y agoYou're confused. The topic was generational bias over country of origin, not reliability.
- cgriswald 7y agoThe actual topic is reliability. Country-of-origin is a consideration in reliability. You can't just exclude the context of the original post. You're trying to argue that "Boomers", which I took in good faith that you were not using as an epithet, are the only ones who would consider country-of-origin. That's, simply put, wrong.
- Symbiote 7y ago> Only Boomers Why is this term suddenly popular, especially here? I'm downvoting comments using it, since it seems to be disparaging at best, if not offensive. It's also used inaccurately. The Yugo wasn't even produced until 1980.
- gambiting 7y ago
- zyang 7y agoDetroit never stopped churning out clunkers. My neighbors brand new, $50k Chevy truck’s electrical is completely shot after first year. This is in mild Northern California weather.
- nradov 7y agoChevrolet ranks 25th in reliability out of 30 mass market vehicle brands. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2019/11/14/consumer-reports-auto-reliability-study-2020-vehicles/2578463001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2019/11/14/consume...
- radiorental 7y agoIt so bad, it's a running joke [1] I think low-end Fords (i.e. simple) are the only US car I'd consider and even then, their transmissions are suspect. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSBsq6HBBzw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSBsq6HBBzw
- blaser-waffle 7y agoWhole reason I bought a Ford Fiesta with a stick is because I heard that their transmissions are made out of glass. Otherwise, decent car.
- rwmurrayVT 7y agoA FiST though :)))
- Cougher 7y agoGiven the angle of the original Consumer Reports study that the USA Today article is about, it wouldn't appear as simple as your comment suggests.
- o-__-o 7y agoAnd here my 4 year old $20k ford is still worth $12k, so maybe not all of Detroit is bad?
- AnthonyMouse 7y ago> So, what do you do the first 4 years? That's a lot of years to take a loss in order to gain market share. Hyundai addressed this by offering a ten year warranty. They could do that right out of the gate rather than waiting until they have a bad reputation first. Another possibility is to start off with a big leasing program. People aren't too concerned about repair costs or resale values for leased vehicles.
- honestoHeminway 7y agoJust add a waranty and suddenly.. that doesent matter. Also new product category- i wouldnt trust a traditional carmaker to make a good e-car.
- hamhand 7y agoIt's simple to make one that moves, but hard to make it superior to other brands.
- llampx 7y ago> it takes a long time to recover that reputation. Detroit brands are still recovering from the clunkers they made in the 70's and 80's. I would say that they are still recovering from the clunkers they made in the 2000s. Detroit never really got into the quality mindset that the Japanese car makers became famous for. And they didn't get into the driving dynamics mindset of their European counterparts, except maybe a couple of Cadillac models starting with the CTS-V.
- rasz 7y agoYou can always tell you're in a >5 year old Dodge by the cracked dashboard, over 30 years of same never solved issue :o
- rdtwo 7y agoNever really recovered, did you see the recent article on the coverup over fiesta and focus transmissions at ford. Shit like this is why I don’t buy “American” (Mexican) cars