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comment by mk
mk  ·  3911 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Carbon Crash, Solar Dawn

    Problem is, they can't make enough money just selling the cars in the US, so the project was scrapped. Tesla has no such trouble, given that they're just selling expensive toys to rich people. 'Expensive toys' isn't a real global market and never will be, no matter what the product.

Tesla has made it clear that their approach is to start with expensive EVs at the outset, and then use efficiency of scale, increasing demand, and improved R&D to move down towards the mass market with each successive release. I can't see why GM shouldn't be able to take the same approach in the US. Perhaps they can't walk it down between brands that are divided into fiefdoms? That said, the Volt seems to be doing well enough, and I am sure that GM will make the transition to an EV fleet, even if it is behind Tesla.

I'm not arguing that China isn't a factor, but I'm not convinced it is the largest one in the difference between Tesla and GM stock prices.





b_b  ·  3911 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Not the biggest difference in stock price. The biggest difference in being able to bring product to market. Tesla's stock price reflects the crazy irrationality of tech stocks; they can be understood much more in terms of Facebook than the GM, GE or Exxon. They will learn some lessons once they earnestly try to break into China. It's a place where IP isn't really thought of with any sanctity. Right now, GM can only operate on scale, whereas Tesla builds on spec, I'm sure.