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One thing people don't understand about cost saving is that it almost always looks good in the short term. You save a lot of money by using commercial grade par

One thing people don't understand about cost saving is that it almost always looks good in the short term. You save a lot of money by using commercial grade parts (like eMMC, the dashboard screen, etc.), or by hiring SW and HW engineers who have never worked in the automotive or embedded environment. It's sacrificing quality for quantity and price. But it's usually the customers who pay for it all, one way or another. From Tesla's perspective the bet might have payed off, by the time this becomes an actual problem for them, they're already over the hump and weathered the worst of times, and can afford to spec them better (one would hope they learned something from this although I have my doubts). In reality probably the real reason this worked for Tesla is Musk's ability to build a fanatical fanbase that can drown out any other voice.

pound 6y ago
Funny thing is while I was okay with buying Tesla, it was Musk's personality attached to it that really bugged me.. So while there is a (quite loud) fanbase, there is also a group of potential Tesla owners who may go other route just due to desire to not be associated with "meme king"
- onethought 6y ago
  The (actual) founders of Tesla are much more interesting and compelling than Elon in this regard
- buran77 6y ago
  The idea was that there is a critical mass of people which are vocal enough to help Musk push Tesla's public image past any blunder. No other car manufacturer has this kind of clout.
  - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
    >No other car manufacturer has this kind of clout. Toyota does. Though they did put out ~20yr of great cars (emphasis on cars) to get that.
    - buran77 6y ago
      Could be but the clout I'm talking about is how easily they're let off the hook after repeated blunders. I personally doubt Toyota could get away with Tesla's QA for a few years. Hard to judge in practice though.
      - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
        Toyota has fixed the frame on the Tacoma and pinky promised the new ones won't rust out every year since 1990ish and recalled something every year since 2000ish. People find all sorts of ways to hand-wave it away. And then there was that decade where they made trucks and SUVs with ball joints that would pop out with levels of wear that would be inconsequential had they designed them conventionally. I guess the above are engineering examples. Their QA is definitely spot on.
        carlmr 6y ago
        How are the numbers cars sold vs cars recalled though? Toyota is one of the largest car producers in the world while Tesla is tiny by comparison.
        buran77 6y ago
        Don't leave out the scale. Toyota sells almost 10 million vehicles per year across some dozens of models. Tacoma makes about 2% of that. Any manufacturer might have a few problematic models in their lineup even if mostly specific model years. But when it's across the board you have a problem. It's not just one factory, one model, one year, one batch. It's not an exception, it's the rule. You can twist and turn it until the situation looks the same between the 2 brands but if we're being honest, it's not.
        throwaway0a5e 6y ago
        If anything your readiness to excuse Toyota's faults is proving my point. They've had 40yr to fix the problem. Still not fixed. We'll have to wait a few years to see if they fixed it this year. Yes the Tacoma is small compared to their global presence. The Focus is small compared to Ford's global presence and they still got a ton of crap for that transmission. Nissan gets crap for their CVTs that aren't really that bad anymore. Subaru gets crap about head gasket and transmission issues they mostly cleaned up a decade ago. My point is that Tesla is at say a 5 and the fanboys pump up their reputation so that they look like a 6. Toyota is at say a 7 and the blind fanboys pump it up to an 8. It's not about who's better. My point is that this blind fanboyism that guards a reputation in the face of mis-steps isn't something unique to Tesla or the cult of Musk. If anything the common factor is upper middle class allure. Nothing rounds out a driveway in a nice school district like a Model 3 paired with a Toyota pickup or SUV. Though I have no idea whether it's the cause or the effect or maybe a feedback loop.
  - yumraj 6y ago
    And that is why there is only one real threat, if it is even real, from Apple. If Apple actually makes a half decent EV, it will put a massive dent in Tesla..
    - justicezyx 6y ago
      The blind trust in apples ability to build a car is not well reasoned as it appears. If the story from Apple was true, I.e., they actually designed almost all parts of the phone, and give out instructions to implement, then they'll need to be able to design a car as if they were build them, to match iPhone's legendary quality. Can apple do that? With enough time, sure. But can they catch up Tesla in a meaningful time frame, say 5 years? I doubt it.
Spooky23 6y ago
The other factor to consider is Tesla is always on the ropes, so they will do whatever to survive. I wouldn’t be surprised if the eMMC was selected based on what oem would give them credit. It’s a shady company that skirts or ignores the law, that has to live in the edge to survive.

pound 6y ago

Funny thing is while I was okay with buying Tesla, it was Musk's personality attached to it that really bugged me.. So while there is a (quite loud) fanbase, there is also a group of potential Tesla owners who may go other route just due to desire to not be associated with "meme king"

onethought 6y ago
The (actual) founders of Tesla are much more interesting and compelling than Elon in this regard
buran77 6y ago
The idea was that there is a critical mass of people which are vocal enough to help Musk push Tesla's public image past any blunder. No other car manufacturer has this kind of clout.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  >No other car manufacturer has this kind of clout. Toyota does. Though they did put out ~20yr of great cars (emphasis on cars) to get that.
  - buran77 6y ago
    Could be but the clout I'm talking about is how easily they're let off the hook after repeated blunders. I personally doubt Toyota could get away with Tesla's QA for a few years. Hard to judge in practice though.
    - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
      Toyota has fixed the frame on the Tacoma and pinky promised the new ones won't rust out every year since 1990ish and recalled something every year since 2000ish. People find all sorts of ways to hand-wave it away. And then there was that decade where they made trucks and SUVs with ball joints that would pop out with levels of wear that would be inconsequential had they designed them conventionally. I guess the above are engineering examples. Their QA is definitely spot on.
      - carlmr 6y ago
        How are the numbers cars sold vs cars recalled though? Toyota is one of the largest car producers in the world while Tesla is tiny by comparison.
      - buran77 6y ago
        Don't leave out the scale. Toyota sells almost 10 million vehicles per year across some dozens of models. Tacoma makes about 2% of that. Any manufacturer might have a few problematic models in their lineup even if mostly specific model years. But when it's across the board you have a problem. It's not just one factory, one model, one year, one batch. It's not an exception, it's the rule. You can twist and turn it until the situation looks the same between the 2 brands but if we're being honest, it's not.
        throwaway0a5e 6y ago
        If anything your readiness to excuse Toyota's faults is proving my point. They've had 40yr to fix the problem. Still not fixed. We'll have to wait a few years to see if they fixed it this year. Yes the Tacoma is small compared to their global presence. The Focus is small compared to Ford's global presence and they still got a ton of crap for that transmission. Nissan gets crap for their CVTs that aren't really that bad anymore. Subaru gets crap about head gasket and transmission issues they mostly cleaned up a decade ago. My point is that Tesla is at say a 5 and the fanboys pump up their reputation so that they look like a 6. Toyota is at say a 7 and the blind fanboys pump it up to an 8. It's not about who's better. My point is that this blind fanboyism that guards a reputation in the face of mis-steps isn't something unique to Tesla or the cult of Musk. If anything the common factor is upper middle class allure. Nothing rounds out a driveway in a nice school district like a Model 3 paired with a Toyota pickup or SUV. Though I have no idea whether it's the cause or the effect or maybe a feedback loop.
- yumraj 6y ago
  And that is why there is only one real threat, if it is even real, from Apple. If Apple actually makes a half decent EV, it will put a massive dent in Tesla..
  - justicezyx 6y ago
    The blind trust in apples ability to build a car is not well reasoned as it appears. If the story from Apple was true, I.e., they actually designed almost all parts of the phone, and give out instructions to implement, then they'll need to be able to design a car as if they were build them, to match iPhone's legendary quality. Can apple do that? With enough time, sure. But can they catch up Tesla in a meaningful time frame, say 5 years? I doubt it.

Spooky23 6y ago

The other factor to consider is Tesla is always on the ropes, so they will do whatever to survive. I wouldn’t be surprised if the eMMC was selected based on what oem would give them credit. It’s a shady company that skirts or ignores the law, that has to live in the edge to survive.