a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
kleinbl00  ·  3381 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Porsche is throwing its hat into the electric car ring

Except they survived the same problem with the Roadster. They upped the price of everyone who hadn't bought yet and sailed on through.

Tesla got the leg up it did because no one had taken electric vehicles seriously since the GM EV1, and because they were willing to sell $160k cars for $130k. It's the same as Microsoft selling the XBox for a $400 loss, or Sony selling the PS3 for half what it cost them to build it. They've also got that massive battery factory going in in Nevada, and Tesla is only like a third of its product. Panasonic and Yuasa are getting batteries there, too.

Tesla could straight-up stop selling cars and be fine. That's what Brammo did - they made rippin' electric motorcycles at a loss, then decided they'd rather sell motors and batteries. Tesla has an exceptional exit strategy: they've established the brand name, they've established the quality, they've established the workflow, and really - an electric car is motors, batteries, controllers and a bunch of coachwork.

I can totally see Tesla getting out of coachwork, especially as their best work looks like a Maserati as interpreted by Zoloft.