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And on top of that - there is a lot of good competent competition now, gone are the times were the Model 3 was pretty much undisputed king of cheap-ish EVs. The

And on top of that - there is a lot of good competent competition now, gone are the times were the Model 3 was pretty much undisputed king of cheap-ish EVs. The only thing they really still have going for them is the Supercharger network, but honestly fewer people seem to care than you'd think.

dzhiurgis 2y ago
Yes there’s competition for basic cars. But they still lack so many features at same cost. I.e. heatpump, hepa filters, seat heating, power seats, power lift gate, app, autopilot, etc. you literally would pay double to get all same features and it would still suck in software.
- gambiting 2y ago
  Sure, maybe - but a LOT of car buyers don't look at it this way. They don't compare specs or value for money. They just go "I have £30k, what can I get for that money" - and more often than not, they decide on the looks or immediate availability or finance deals, not on things like heatpumps or hepa filters. I know a lot of people whose criteria are "my dad drives a KIA so I'm also buying a KIA" or "it has to be a volkswagen, I'm not interested in any other brand", or "I like how Alfas look, can you help me pick one". You can argue whatever you want about features or drivetrains, but they will go and pick their preferred thing anyway. When I bought my Volvo the guy there said maybe 1 out of 50 people actually read the specs, they just pick the model they like the look of and pick a spec they can afford. Maybe 1 in 10 actually test drives the car before buying. All of that is shocking to me - but I guess for a lot of people cars are appliances, no different than a fridge(but then again I do a lot of research before buying a fridge too, but maybe that's just me). But back to my original point - those people I describe above, few years ago if they were dead set on buying a Volkswagen and also wanted an EV for whatever reason....there really wasn't anything to pick from, if the eUp/eGolf didn't work for them. So someone dead set on an EV would eventually gravitate towards Tesla because that's what was available. Now the same buyer walks into a VW dealership and walks out with keys to an ID.3/4/5/6, never even looking at Tesla and whether it's a better deal or not.
  - dzhiurgis 2y ago
    Bingo. In fact KIA hacked this recently by introducing even more stripped down car with more range because range sells (not that you need it).

dzhiurgis 2y ago

Yes there’s competition for basic cars. But they still lack so many features at same cost. I.e. heatpump, hepa filters, seat heating, power seats, power lift gate, app, autopilot, etc. you literally would pay double to get all same features and it would still suck in software.

gambiting 2y ago
Sure, maybe - but a LOT of car buyers don't look at it this way. They don't compare specs or value for money. They just go "I have £30k, what can I get for that money" - and more often than not, they decide on the looks or immediate availability or finance deals, not on things like heatpumps or hepa filters. I know a lot of people whose criteria are "my dad drives a KIA so I'm also buying a KIA" or "it has to be a volkswagen, I'm not interested in any other brand", or "I like how Alfas look, can you help me pick one". You can argue whatever you want about features or drivetrains, but they will go and pick their preferred thing anyway. When I bought my Volvo the guy there said maybe 1 out of 50 people actually read the specs, they just pick the model they like the look of and pick a spec they can afford. Maybe 1 in 10 actually test drives the car before buying. All of that is shocking to me - but I guess for a lot of people cars are appliances, no different than a fridge(but then again I do a lot of research before buying a fridge too, but maybe that's just me). But back to my original point - those people I describe above, few years ago if they were dead set on buying a Volkswagen and also wanted an EV for whatever reason....there really wasn't anything to pick from, if the eUp/eGolf didn't work for them. So someone dead set on an EV would eventually gravitate towards Tesla because that's what was available. Now the same buyer walks into a VW dealership and walks out with keys to an ID.3/4/5/6, never even looking at Tesla and whether it's a better deal or not.
- dzhiurgis 2y ago
  Bingo. In fact KIA hacked this recently by introducing even more stripped down car with more range because range sells (not that you need it).