Seems the rush to replicate Tesla’s “overnight” success with companies like Lordstown, Canoo, Nikola and others is not paying off.
Took Tesla 18 years to be an overnight success… And their first product was not a ground-up design, it was the electrification of an existing Lotus Elise. It still took Tesla 5 years to deliver the first car. It took until 2012, nearly 10 years to deliver the first all-Tesla designed Model S. This shows just how hard building cars, EV or otherwise, actually is.
Profitably developing and selling a new car is crazy difficult. Tesla still hasn’t, its profits come from selling emissions credits and trading Bitcoin. But they’re close.
Yeah I read about that a week or so ago. Another loss for GM. Here’s the thing, one rule my FIL had which I continue to generally follow is when you see everybody going in one direction, turn around and go the other way. It’s amazing how many time the cattle have all been stampeding only to find out later they were running the wrong direction.
Think you have enough capital to start a car company? Multiply your figure by 100… and you still might be underfunded.
‘Contrarian’
The Lordstown plant isn’t owned by GM anymore. How is this their loss? A loss for Lordstown and Ohio maybe, but didn’t GM sell the plant to Lordstown Motors?
I thought GM put money into the deal.
Not that you can trust everything in Wiki but: General Motors (GM) has invested [/US$)75 million in Lordstown Motors. GM obtained a seat on Lordstown Motors’ board of directors, and has included Lordstown Motors into its Tier 1[ *[clarification needed]] supply chain.
Yes, GM is (was?) the owner of 5% of Lordstown Motors.
I would say it is inaccurate to pin that label. It’s more like watching the population, indicators, markets, and history to detect that the herd might be marching in the wrong direction over the long haul. Everyone planting corn because, maybe plant beans instead. Everyone buying small cars, maybe buy what you want. Everyone moving into condos in the big city, maybe re-evaluate, and on and on. It’s not always wise to just follow the crowd especially when there are insufficient precious metals for battery demand and a failing grid. Reminds me of the trench warfare in WW I. Everyone charge the trenches and get mowed down.