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Honest question: do you think Teslas are, on the whole, overpriced? I am neither an owner nor an expert in electric cars, but I have been routinely impressed wi
by jchw 7y ago
Honest question: do you think Teslas are, on the whole, overpriced? I am neither an owner nor an expert in electric cars, but I have been routinely impressed with the rate at which the price has come down. I don’t doubt that the $35k Model 3 configuration is probably non-sensical (at $35k minimum spec seems silly) but also it seems pretty competitive for an electric car that can replace a gas car. My personal hunch has always been that the price for relatively cheap Tesla configurations that make sense probably are limited by volume and initial cost of R&D and scaling up manufacturing. (Of course almost any company does some market segmentation for better or worse, so I’m sure the prices of options are non-sense.)
Not to say the prices won’t go down. But I actually didn’t think the reason they were high was due to mature, moated companies. My personal belief is that Tesla would be foolish to rest on their success in such a way when other companies with a lot more resources are surely going to be competing more competently soon.
- sneak 7y agoNo, I don’t think they are super overpriced, I just think the quality isn’t there yet. Hopefully we can see higher quality all-electric options at similar or lower price points. Tesla’s service reputation is the main reason I still currently drive an ICE. (Before that, it was their laggy touchscreen - my gas guzzler has an iPad on a bracket on the dash, which does not lag.). Also I’m never going to drive something that spies on me; I had the GSM radio transceiver removed from my current vehicle. AIUI if you do that to a Tesla you never receive future updates, even to features you paid for in advance. More competition in the EV market is going to be awesome. Right now it’s just a bloodbath where Tesla can basically do whatever they want, because until very recently every other EV was simply hot garbage.
- leeoniya 7y ago> Also I’m never going to drive something that spies on me; I had the GSM radio transceiver removed from my current vehicle. i'd like to do the same to my VW Golf. i bought a VCDS tool to go in and fiddle with the settings to essentially put the gsm module into airplane mode (i think it's verizon telematics). dunno if this will be sufficient though. i read that just ripping it out causes a bunch of the infotainment system misbehave, etc.
- cptskippy 7y agoYou've never owned an EV but you're perpetuating the notion that they're of unspecified poor quality compared to ICE vehicles? I have a Nissan Leaf and a Tesla Model 3 and both are of comparable quality to ICE vehicles. They are in two different categories in terms of materials finish but neither is bad quality. The fit and finish of both is average to above average in the industry.
- sneak 7y agoI’ve driven several different instances of every model of Tesla and I’ve toured their California factory. I am well acquainted with what Teslas are and are not.
- cptskippy 7y agoYou made a blanket statement about EVs as a whole and didn't qualify it in any way. So what's poor quality about Tesla's? An what's your basis for comparison?
- chapium 7y agoI doubt you could convince me that there is $40k more value in a Model X than a Model 3. In terms of $ per "car" I'd also say yes, but that comes down to my own personal preferences being categorically outside of the luxury car market.
- jchw 7y agoI also am not in the luxury car market - my personal daily driver is a humble Civic. I’m actually moving in the direction of less dependence on owning a motor vehicle, though, with no real need to drive to work anymore.
- chapium 7y agoSimilar with me. Once I moved to an area that supports less dependence on cars, their negative effects have become much more apparent.
- imtringued 7y agoThe renault ZOE's most expensive configuration costs $35k. I don't think Tesla is going to win price wars.