Love him or hate him, Elon has screw you money and that is all Twitter was/is, it will not make him nor will it break him. It is more of a hobby for him to have fun with. Like one of us having a hot rod or race car or whatever… lol
He is not worth $189+ Billon by not being smart… I mean, so what if he looses $44 billon $$$, what will that make him, umm still a billionaire with well over $100 billon…
And I am not a CPA but I would think that loosing $44 billon on a business would be a heck of a tax right off, rich people problems… lol
I don’t have a dog in this fight and but Elon has never gotten any of my money that I know about, but guess what, neither has Taylor Swift…
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Dang, I bought stock in a company that makes tesla hoods ;(
I firmly believe the idea behind an EV is sound and much better for our environment. And I’ve said multiple times in this forum that I won’t be buying an EV for a while until some of the newer battery technologies are available. Right now the range is too low for me. But battery technology is changing and hopefully in my lifetime I’ll see it. But EV’s are here to stay.
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I agree that the estimable Mr. Musk’s personality and his often bizarre (and inaccurate) remarks are turning-off a lot of people.
But, I return to a thought that I posted several months ago, namely that the market for EVs has essentially been saturated. People who wanted an EV rushed to buy them over a period of several years, but sales have been slumping for a while–and that trend involves all manufacturers–not just Tesla.
Folks who live in apartments or in condos that lack a garage can’t charge a vehicle at home, and they may not be eager to have to spend time at a commercial charging station. Range anxiety likely plays a role too.
I think that EVs will always have a place in the market in the future, but sales of EVs will always be limited by the type of home that someone lives in, and the segment of the population living in apartment and condo complexes is actually growing, thus placing a limit on the potential market for EVs.
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There are 16 new 2024 Civics advertised for $24,995 within 50 miles of me. Not out the door, but neither was the $20k for the 2015 version.
And if high car prices are a big problem, why do sales keep going up? 2024 Q1 sales up 5% over last year.
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I think it’s pent up demand from the Covid shutdowns and the high dealer adjustments. Now that the market is more normal and people have jobs again sales are rebounding.
No worries. I’m adding to my NPR contributions to compensate.
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Recent reports are that Tesla is reducing the price of the model Y to clear out a glut of inventory, Tesla has built 40,000 more cars than they’ve delivered. Not being able to buy out a leased Tesla might be keeping some from buying.
Most of the EV buyers I know have gone to a legacy brand’s ev such as the Chevy Bolt or the Kia Niro EV, Provided they survive there’s been more interest in the Rivian R2 and other EV’s than buying a model3 or model Y.
Elon WAS a visionary. Now he is now basically a megalomaniac. He got drunk on his early visionary successes (e.g. Zip2 / PayPal into Tesla), and is now just … well … megalomaniacal. Nothing good is coming from it - including Tesla at this point - and nothing good is likely to come of it from here on out. He lost it. If he wanted to apply whatever “genius” he has to his projects, then his various “projects” - e.g. Tesla, SpaceX, “X” would be much better off. Unfortunately he’s become much too busy being a nutcase.
Sure, his on-paper net worth is high. But whether or not it’s just hot air is still yet to be fully realized/maintained. And frankly, he has ceased being creative and making things happen. He’s moved into a strange destructive phase. Drunk on megalomania. Like some other public figures I know.
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Tesla has a lot of quite ordinary reasons why its cars aren’t selling as well as they hoped. Just for starters, the cars haven’t changed in appearance much at all, so the idea of getting the new style is not working. Second, the cars have proven to be durable enough that buyers aren’t compelled to replace the 4 year old car. Third, competition has ramped up drastically in the past five years. There is so much more choice now, that’s bound to hurt. Fourth, Tesla, unlike its competitors, only makes electric vehicles. They have decided not to offer their customers a choice of electric or hybrid, so less people even bother to look there for a car or SUV. Fifth, Tesla has chosen to bypass the dealer system entirely. You can only buy a vehicle directly from them. In Connecticut all new cars can ONLY be sold through licensed dealers, so Tesla has no outlets in Connecticut except for one at the Indian owned casino in Eastern Connecticut, far from their likely target audience. It may be a small market, but it shows just how rigid the company is.
And, Mr. Musk has shown himself to be a person that many people find disagreeable and unpleasant. Regardless of whether the opinions are fair, it’s not good business to make your customer base dislike you.
It’s kind of surprising that they sell as many cars as they do, all things considered. At the 40 townhouses in my development (in Northern California) there are at least 9 Teslas.
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Tesla has dealerships. I bought mine from a dealership, even if the store is owned by Tesla. It has a showroom, service bay, and parking lot with several new Teslas on it. That seems like a dealership to me no matter who owns it.
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Several years ago, they were the first car company to have a showroom at the very upscale Short Hills Mall. I guess that they did well enough, because they closed that showroom a couple of years ago.
Now, that space is occupied by Polestar–Volvo’s electric car division–and it gets a lot less foot traffic than it did when Teslas were on display. It also gets a LOT less foot traffic than the Lucid showroom at the other end of the mall.
The Lucid showroom always has people (including me) looking at their cars. The Polestar showroom usually just has a couple of bored-looking salesmen who are just standing around while peering at their cell phones.
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It appears that there are a number of people who are very displeased with their new Cybertruck:
I don’t discount that theory at all. I wouldn’t buy a Tesla from Musk precisely because of his personal opinions and his behaviors.
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This afternoon, I finally saw a Tesla Cybertruck “in person”. I found its styling to be jarring, not attractive, and not even functional. In other words, “different just for the sake of being different”.
My friend–who is not a car guy–said that it was the ugliest vehicle that he had ever seen… by far. When I told him the price (north of $80k) he was astonished that anyone would pay that much for something that looked the way that it does.
I’ve still not seen one “in the flesh,” so to speak. But I’ve seen the pics. I thought it was ridiculous, wasn’t a truck, and looked like something out of a bad 1980s scifi movie. I’m sure it’s more aerodynamic than having the likes of Ford & GM throw the electrics into the standard pick up bodies. But it still doesn’t have to be so dysfunctional and look like bad 1980s stuff. IMO.
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Correct! And if you believe that EVs are a solution to climate change, the public’s rejection of EVs is a political disaster.
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The 3 main reasons people are rejecting EV’s right now.
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Driving distance.
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Far longer to charge a vehicle
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Lack of (or perceived lack of) charging stations. Rural area charging stations are far and few between. There’s an Initiative in NH to build more EV’s to help tourism. North Country survives on tourism.
My town–which is largely-rural, won’t approve new commercial construction unless EV charging stations are provided. A proposed 200 unit apartment complex had 4 charging stations on the plans that they submitted to the city’s zoning/planning boards, and in addition to requiring far more landscaping, the city is requiring more charging stations (I don’t recall the number). A new storage facility was built a couple of years ago in a different part of town, and even it was required to include one charging station.
At the municipal building, they have a few (5?) charging stations for the town’s Chevy Bolt EVs, and the public is allowed to use them (for a fee, of course) when city vehicles aren’t being recharged.
Stopped at Culver’s last night. Last summer they had installed a bank of Tesla chargers. I don’t know who paid or how much, but not one in use. In all my visits there has only been one time one has been used. And they are taking up prime parking spots.
I don’t think this is the reason for lack of adoption. Some of us have come to believe that over the long haul, the public seems to make the right choice. It’s like someone came up with a re-designed wheel, but the old wheel was better.
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