… in an apparent effort to boost lagging sales. I wonder if their lagging sales are the result of Tesla owners reporting that their car had a musky odor. 
1 Like
Nah, I think it’s due to consumer revolt due to govt mandate on electric cars. Or else it’s high cost to buy. Find charging stations, limited range, and ugly design.
Lets see , Musk is a jerk , the car is not that attractive , too many stories about the socalled self driving be dangerous , battery fires during the Florida floods and apprehension about what goofy decision Musk might make next.
Kind of explains the sales problems .
4 Likes
IMO lagging sales are more likely due to the increased availability of competing EVs. As the market leader they have to be adversely affected by new entrants to the market.
Those are some sweet discounts. Add to that the available tax credits and it’s hard not to consider a Tesla. A Model 3 price of $36,490 after the tax credit is excellent.
1 Like
+1
For quite a few years, Tesla had little competition. Now, with EVs from essentially every major manufacturer, Tesla is facing some stiff competition.
4 Likes
Really? More than have the country wants electric cars. Zero emission vehicles may be mandated in the US, but NOT in other countries. And EV sales worldwide are growing very fast. Compare the cost to charge an EV to filling up a tank of an ICE vehicle…EV’s win hands down. That’s a huge selling point.
How Much Does It Cost to Charge An Electric Vehicle? | EnergySage
Unless you live in extremely remote places like the middle of Montana, EV charging stations aren’t that hard to find. But many people charge their EV’s or plug-in hybrids at home.
While it is a concern for many people…for the vast majority the range is fine. Most people don’t need more then 150-mile range. Their commute to work is less than 30 miles. Any EV on the road today will meet that requirement.
While Tesla sales may be down…most EV sales from other companies are going strong. The competition from other EV companies is probably the biggest reason Tesla sales have slumped. They were the only game in town.
So, by your reasoning, people who want a Tesla have decided to not buy one because of governmental incentives? Really?
+1
I charge my plug-in hybrid at home. Based on the volume of Teslas that I see on the roads locally, coupled with the relative scarcity of them at Tesla charging stations near me, I think that most of them are probably being charged at home. The Tesla charging station adjacent to my closest Costco has 10 chargers available, and it is rare to see more than 3 Teslas plugged in there.
1 Like
Musk may be a jerk, but so were many of the auto industry pioneers: Henry Ford certainly leads that parade, Billy Durant, Ransom Olds, Walter Chrysler, Charley Nash, Henry Kaiser, were all notoriously difficult people.
2 Likes
Our original auto shop teacher–whose career in the auto industry went back to the '20s–claimed to have known the Dodge brothers, and he said that they were both alcoholic a-holes. Whether he was spinning a tale, or was telling his actual recollections, I have no idea.
Edited to add:
I just took a look at some information regarding the Dodge brothers, and it turns out that both of them died in 1920, so I think it’s extremely unlikely that old Ed, the auto shop teacher, ever met them, and I think that he was likely spinning a tale.
My most vivid recollection of Ed was that, shortly after GM donated a “flood car” to the school’s auto shop for educational purposes, Ed bought a Chevy that was a twin to the flood car. As the years went on and as both his driving skills and the car itself deteriorated, body panels and other parts began to disappear from that flood car and they… somehow… wound-up on Ed’s Chevy. 
2 Likes
+1. I know of at least 20 charging stations around here and down to Boston. Non are ever filled. At most I see 2-3 cars using them. We have about a dozen scattered around the business park I work at. Maybe 5 are ever used at the same time.
According to my friends who follow Tesla pricing closely, the new prices are still higher than prior to the pandemic and their price increase. So they are probably still making good profit.
The competition is tough now, a lot of EV choices.
I also think Elon’s image after the Twitter fiasco has something to do with it too. Even if in the old days, the big guys were jerks, there was no social media and this stuff was not that well publicized
1 Like
But they are all long gone and Elon is still in our face.
1 Like
All of a sudden everyone hates Elon now. Two words, Twitter.
2 Likes
Heard this on radio news here in Calif today. I think they said part of Tesla’s motivation for a price drop was the lower list price made the car easier to qualify for tax credits.
Of course!
Musk’s marketing team came up with that strategy while he is kept busy losing more capital than anyone else in history, thanks to his massive mismanagement of Twitter, along with some other bad business decisions. He should be very glad that his marketing team is trying to limit his losses:
1 Like
Heh heh. Ten character minimum.
Another possibility is that most of the people who want a Tesla and have the means to buy one already own a Tesla.
1 Like
What happens to the people living in the inner city where is there charging stations
EVs and plug-in hybrids come with an app for one’s Smartphone that directs the driver to the nearest charging stations. I know someone who lives in Hoboken, NJ–which is probably the most densely-populated city in The US–and that one mile-square burg currently has 22 charging stations divided among 5 locations, thus making an EV practical for him, despite living in an apartment:
Within the next year or so, they will add 25 additional charging stations:
I used to travel the Hobie Catamaran sailboat racing circle and there was one particular competitor who had a reputation for being a jerk. I competed at the Hobie 14 nationals in Tampa FL, and he was one of the competitors. After the event he came to my table in the hotel lobby and offered to buy me a drink, sat down and we talked for a while, and he turned out to be a really nice guy. Not the jerk I was expecting. Today, I take media gossip with a huge grain of salt. Who knows? Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, and John Fogerty might actually be nice guys if you actually meet them in person rather than let media gossip shape your opinion of them.