3 ms·

I'm really curious to see how Tesla's reputation will change over time. As they scale and have to provide cheaper cars (assuming they want to go after a larger

I'm really curious to see how Tesla's reputation will change over time. As they scale and have to provide cheaper cars (assuming they want to go after a larger market anyway, which they've publicly stated for over a decade), and have to deal with more customers who are less forgiving than early adopters, and also have to deal with legacy decisions from their early years of cars failing and all of the weird service issues and NDAs and bricking cars that are resold and have to make good on their FSD promise and (I could go on - my point is not to hate Tesla but merely to point out they are still in the early stages of being an adored consumer company because most consumers currently cannot afford them) well, I think Tesla is going to earn a similar reputation as other car manufacturers as time goes on. Yeah, I know Tesla sells things besides cars. But I think their reputation will be based on things they sell to the public, and I think most people will judge them on their cars.

cptskippy 6y ago
It will be interesting, they're having to learn hard lessons about support and customer service that other car companies learned half a century ago. The question is can they learn those lessons faster than the other car companies can learn to build comparable EVs. I would say they're going to have a hard time of it.
devlopr 6y ago
It will be an era of lawsuits and lower share prices. The brand will survive.
curryst 6y ago
> have to deal with legacy decisions from their early years of cars failing and all of the weird service issues and NDAs and bricking cars that are resold and have to make good on their FSD promise I honestly think they were hoping to make that up in volume. As it gets cheaper to make cars at scale, some portion of the savings goes to fixing up the issues with the cars they already shipped. They haven't been able to scale their pipeline, though. > I think Tesla is going to earn a similar reputation as other car manufacturers as time goes on. Long term, I don't think it's going to go well. "Move fast and break things" is a bad principle to apply to a car. I can use DDG or Bing if Google doesn't work, but I can't summon a Kia when my Tesla won't start. I don't think they can use that velocity to create features consumers want enough to deal with the instability. They might strike gold elsewhere though where the instability is less of an issue. It might be okay for self-driving semis to break down, if they're cheap enough that you can afford extras to use when some break.

cptskippy 6y ago

It will be interesting, they're having to learn hard lessons about support and customer service that other car companies learned half a century ago. The question is can they learn those lessons faster than the other car companies can learn to build comparable EVs. I would say they're going to have a hard time of it.

devlopr 6y ago

It will be an era of lawsuits and lower share prices. The brand will survive.

curryst 6y ago

> have to deal with legacy decisions from their early years of cars failing and all of the weird service issues and NDAs and bricking cars that are resold and have to make good on their FSD promise I honestly think they were hoping to make that up in volume. As it gets cheaper to make cars at scale, some portion of the savings goes to fixing up the issues with the cars they already shipped. They haven't been able to scale their pipeline, though. > I think Tesla is going to earn a similar reputation as other car manufacturers as time goes on. Long term, I don't think it's going to go well. "Move fast and break things" is a bad principle to apply to a car. I can use DDG or Bing if Google doesn't work, but I can't summon a Kia when my Tesla won't start. I don't think they can use that velocity to create features consumers want enough to deal with the instability. They might strike gold elsewhere though where the instability is less of an issue. It might be okay for self-driving semis to break down, if they're cheap enough that you can afford extras to use when some break.