5 ms·

I think he may have just tanked his chances. People buying cars in that price range 1) expect to have mechanical service available for the foreseeable future,

by davidp 14y ago

I think he may have just tanked his chances. People buying cars in that price range 1) expect to have mechanical service available for the foreseeable future, and 2) don't like to be associated with losers. You don't want to drop $90k on a cool new car and then six months later have your friends roll their eyes or pity you when you roll up at the party.

nagrom 14y ago
It seems like an odd interview to give; almost more like a rallying call to staff than a marketing pitch to the public. But whenever I've seen an interview with Elon Musk, he's always been extremely honest. Maybe he's not thinking this through as a marketing pitch and just being honest about the challenges ahead?
pwny 14y ago
It reads to me like he's conscious of the challenge his company will face rather than admitting defeat. This is a good thing. I also expect the man whose other company sends stuff into space to be able to lead this one to overcoming those challenges.
corin_ 14y ago
Point one is valid, but point two: surely if the company dies then the exclusivity feel of your car goes way up, and it becomes more cool not less.
- ednc 14y ago
  Agreed. I'd still love to have a Delorean.
  - MartinCron 14y ago
    I think there will always be a DeLorean support cottage industry. I hope so, anyway.
- bengl3rt 14y ago
  Until you need a replacement part, and they're out of production... For a discontinued car (or, a car made by a defunct company) to still be drivable, there needs to be a sufficiently large community of enthusiasts around it that have figured out how to fabricate the parts that are no longer available. Now, this has certainly happened. Lots of cars from the 1920s and on are still on the road, and a cottage industry has sprung up around keeping them running. However, the defining feature of these cars is that a substantial amount were sold. Getting parts made in the future for a very unusual and technologically advanced car like a Tesla if the company is no longer around is going to be very expensive indeed. It will cross from being a daily driver to being a project car, and the owner will need to be very dedicated to the project.
  - corin_ 14y ago
    All of this falls under his part 1, which I agreed with.
  - gruturo 14y ago
    3D printers sure look like they could help with this problem in the future. Heck I'd love for mandatory escrow of every component's 3D models with an agency which has the power to release them into public domain upon certain conditions (car company fails, component no longer available from any manufacturer, class action successful, X years have passed, etc)
    - anamax 14y ago
      > 3D printers sure look like they could help with this problem in the future. What fraction of the parts on a car do you think that a 3d printer can produce? For example, they can't produce any of the electronics. They can't produce any of the load bearing parts. They can't produce any of the sheet metal. > Heck I'd love for mandatory escrow of every component's 3D models Lack of 3d models is rarely the problem. (In most cases, you can use an existing part as a template.)
      - gruturo 14y ago
manaskarekar 14y ago
Are you familiar with the Tesla strategy mentioned by him in a some interview? Their goals are: - High price low volume car. - Medium price medium volume car. - Low price high volume car. They seem to be on their way. Also the article claims he said 'It's going to be tough.' He has always been pretty straightforward with that. Check out any of his interviews. Check out his interview after Falcon 1 failed http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa An excerpt from that: "Wired.com: At the end of the day you're still zero for three; you have so far failed to put a rocket into orbit. Musk: We haven't gotten into orbit, true, but we've made considerable progress. If it's an all-or-nothing proposition then we've failed. But it's not all or nothing. We must get to orbit eventually, and we will. It might take us one, two or three more tries, but we will. We will make it work. Wired.com: How do you maintain your optimism? Musk: Do I sound optimistic? Wired.com: Yeah, you always do. Musk: Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work."
- Gring 14y ago
  That's the spirit! :-)
- Retric 14y ago
  Considering the next 2 launches where successful I think he had reasonable expectations at the time. As CEO your in a strange place of needing to be advertise and create a positive image without creating unrealistic expectations so people trust what you say in six months.
rdl 14y ago
I think this is Elon Musk defining a "problem" which he knows he can solve successfully. By defining the problem as "can we sell 20k cars/year", he'll be able to point in 6 months that "yes, we did sell 20k cars, and in only 6 months". The big open question (which Tesla doesn't want to set as the benchmark for success) is selling a mass-market car (the next one). I'm confident Tesla can do a 50-100k unit/yr high end product ($40-100k) on its own, eventually, but building a $20k car and shipping hundreds of thousands is a different matter.

by davidp 14y ago

nagrom 14y ago

It seems like an odd interview to give; almost more like a rallying call to staff than a marketing pitch to the public. But whenever I've seen an interview with Elon Musk, he's always been extremely honest. Maybe he's not thinking this through as a marketing pitch and just being honest about the challenges ahead?

pwny 14y ago

It reads to me like he's conscious of the challenge his company will face rather than admitting defeat. This is a good thing. I also expect the man whose other company sends stuff into space to be able to lead this one to overcoming those challenges.

corin_ 14y ago

Point one is valid, but point two: surely if the company dies then the exclusivity feel of your car goes way up, and it becomes more cool not less.

ednc 14y ago
Agreed. I'd still love to have a Delorean.
- MartinCron 14y ago
  I think there will always be a DeLorean support cottage industry. I hope so, anyway.
bengl3rt 14y ago
Until you need a replacement part, and they're out of production... For a discontinued car (or, a car made by a defunct company) to still be drivable, there needs to be a sufficiently large community of enthusiasts around it that have figured out how to fabricate the parts that are no longer available. Now, this has certainly happened. Lots of cars from the 1920s and on are still on the road, and a cottage industry has sprung up around keeping them running. However, the defining feature of these cars is that a substantial amount were sold. Getting parts made in the future for a very unusual and technologically advanced car like a Tesla if the company is no longer around is going to be very expensive indeed. It will cross from being a daily driver to being a project car, and the owner will need to be very dedicated to the project.
- corin_ 14y ago
  All of this falls under his part 1, which I agreed with.
- gruturo 14y ago
  3D printers sure look like they could help with this problem in the future. Heck I'd love for mandatory escrow of every component's 3D models with an agency which has the power to release them into public domain upon certain conditions (car company fails, component no longer available from any manufacturer, class action successful, X years have passed, etc)
  - anamax 14y ago
    > 3D printers sure look like they could help with this problem in the future. What fraction of the parts on a car do you think that a 3d printer can produce? For example, they can't produce any of the electronics. They can't produce any of the load bearing parts. They can't produce any of the sheet metal. > Heck I'd love for mandatory escrow of every component's 3D models Lack of 3d models is rarely the problem. (In most cases, you can use an existing part as a template.)
    - gruturo 14y ago

manaskarekar 14y ago

Are you familiar with the Tesla strategy mentioned by him in a some interview? Their goals are: - High price low volume car. - Medium price medium volume car. - Low price high volume car. They seem to be on their way. Also the article claims he said 'It's going to be tough.' He has always been pretty straightforward with that. Check out any of his interviews. Check out his interview after Falcon 1 failed http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa An excerpt from that: "Wired.com: At the end of the day you're still zero for three; you have so far failed to put a rocket into orbit. Musk: We haven't gotten into orbit, true, but we've made considerable progress. If it's an all-or-nothing proposition then we've failed. But it's not all or nothing. We must get to orbit eventually, and we will. It might take us one, two or three more tries, but we will. We will make it work. Wired.com: How do you maintain your optimism? Musk: Do I sound optimistic? Wired.com: Yeah, you always do. Musk: Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work."

Gring 14y ago
That's the spirit! :-)
Retric 14y ago
Considering the next 2 launches where successful I think he had reasonable expectations at the time. As CEO your in a strange place of needing to be advertise and create a positive image without creating unrealistic expectations so people trust what you say in six months.

rdl 14y ago

I think this is Elon Musk defining a "problem" which he knows he can solve successfully. By defining the problem as "can we sell 20k cars/year", he'll be able to point in 6 months that "yes, we did sell 20k cars, and in only 6 months". The big open question (which Tesla doesn't want to set as the benchmark for success) is selling a mass-market car (the next one). I'm confident Tesla can do a 50-100k unit/yr high end product ($40-100k) on its own, eventually, but building a $20k car and shipping hundreds of thousands is a different matter.