In theory, I don’t mind discussing U.S. politics at Indie Auto. In practice, that seems to be increasingly hard to do because of partisan polarization. What could be a nuanced give-and-take can all too quickly devolve into a battle of canned talking points — often served with certitude and dripping condescension. How is that productive?
What brings this up is that Indie Auto has received a comment about the story, “Can Elon Musk survive at Tesla in the wake of his Twitter disaster?” The writer, whom I will refer to as E. O., offered an admirably thoughtful take on Tesla’s current challenges in the marketplace. However, E. O. trafficked in some sharply partisan talking points when discussing social media and climate change policies.
Also problematic was that E. O. presented sweeping statements as obvious facts rather than contestable opinions . . . where reasonable people could legitimately differ. Nor was evidence provided to back up E. O.’s claims. That’s not good argumentation.
If we are going to get into a big political debate, it seems more productive to focus on topics that directly relate to the auto industry. Social media strikes me as outside of our swim lane. The value of EV subsidies is more our thing, but I would rather have a comment thread debate in a story focused specifically on that topic. Thus, I have pruned E. O.’s comment to their discussion about Tesla’s viability.
— Steve
Tesla does not earn enough profit to update and upgrade their vehicles beyond software and battery upgrades, which is why all Tesla models look pretty much the same as their launch model year versions and are no long ‘cool’ in places with high EV subsidies and consequent high Tesla penetration.
It also doesn’t help that Tesla interiors have the quality and specification of much cheaper conventional vehicles — i.e., expensive cars with cheap plastic interiors and a big iPad stuck in the middle of the dash.
Similarly, Tesla vehicles don’t have the quiet and comfortable ride of conventional vehicles in the same price class, nor competing EVs from rivals. High interest rates are going to kill the EV industry that has only survived on venture capital looking for returns in a cheap interest rate environment.
— E. O.
Indie Auto invites your comments (see below) or letters to the editor (go here). Letters may be lightly edited for style.
Tesla faces the problem that all independent car makers face. To set themselves out from the crowd they must be, or appear to be, innovative and cutting edge. In effect they end up becoming beta testers to the market. If their idea has real traction, the big companies copy it and dominate the market. If it fails, so does the independent. To add on to this, there are no established indies except perhaps in China. Tesla, like the other EV companies are all startups with all the capital investment that entails. By the time they can get their cars into showrooms they have had three to five years of r and d, factory building, etc without a penny in income. Tesla got as far as it did because Musk accepted this reality and could afford it. It’s time for a new generation of Teslas. If Musk loses interest Tesla will be another Studebaker offering increasingly antiquated vehicles to a tightening market.
Kim, you make some terrific points. My sense is that the most successful independents developed niches that the major automakers were slower to enter and dominate. For example, Jeep lasted longer than the AMC brand arguably because it was more insulated from direct competition for a longer period of time.
I have seen a variety of folks criticize Tesla lately for not having updated its product line — particularly in the face of all the new entries from legacy automakers. I don’t think this would have been as overwhelming of a problem (at least for a few years) if Tesla had followed in the footsteps of the original VW Beetle and militantly attacked planned obsolescence in its marketing while placing an emphasis on practical attributes such as superior manufacturing quality and customer service (go here for further discussion).
Instead, Tesla has fared poorly in initial-quality surveys. I suspect that this is what’s going to hurt them more than the lack of fresh styling over the next few years.
Unlike most manufacturers who only update their offerings once a year, Tesla is constantly updating their cars with over the air updates. The styling of an iPhone doesn’t change annually. That being said a car is a more emotional purchase than a phone and some superficial styling changes to Teslas would be welcome. The Cybertruck and the new 3rd generation platform will look different. With 30% profit margins, Tesla can afford to weather some strong headwinds. Teslas sales were 40% higher in 2022 than 2021, so Tesla is doing just fine despite fluctuations in the stock price. Technologically, Tesla is a generation ahead of anybody else and don’t forget are also, by a wide margin, the safest cars on the road for occupant protection. Tesla has had to weather withering criticism that is never leveled at GM or Toyota.
E.O. responded to Bill’s comment. Below you will find the parts that fit within Indie Auto’s guidelines:
“BR – You apparently have never read a car buff magazine from the 1970s to 2010s (i.e. Car and Driver, Road and Track), or even this site, because they all regularly criticized the once great GM for mediocre products and poor management. As with GM during its 2008-09 bankruptcy bailout, much of the criticism of Tesla from the political Right has been its dependence on government, which in the case of Tesla comes in the form of subsidies and zero-emission mandates that were the primary source of Tesla cash-flow and “profits” until very recently. . . .”
E.O. proceeds to slip in sharply partisan talking points about climate change policy and Twitter. We’re not going there. — Steve
“. . . with increasingly expensive electricity supplied by increasingly unreliable grids, rising interest rates, and rapidly rising EV prices as battery raw materials become scarce, will greatly hurt Tesla sales specifically, and EV sales more generally.”
E.O. responded to the above comment by insisting that his allegations regarding Twitter “are facts not opinions.” That sounds to me like someone who gets his news largely — if not exclusively — from hyper-partisan media. At any rate, for our purposes it doesn’t matter. Debating Twitter policies is beyond the scope of Indie Auto.