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Bob Lutz busts Tesla


zeitgeist57

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http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a26859/bob-lutz-tesla/

 

Good "food for thought" article...

 

I think Bob brought up a great point; I never thought of a range-extender for a cheaper Tesla? Maybe Ford's 1.0L turbo-3? Maybe forge a partnership with a major automotive manufacturer for Tesla service at their facilities?

 

As long as people buy profitable Tesla products (to his point, look at all the SUV's Porsche sells), the gigafactory can be built and operated to develop the next-level products Elon Musk is bringing to market.

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Tesla, by design isnt supposed to go long distances. Designed as a daily driver to commute to work and back. Putting a gasoline engine in one puts them in the same category as a Prius, and completely defeats the purpose of an all electric vehicle..
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Keep up Clay geeze...

 

At least for Bob he did what he set out to do... Generate clicks....

He literally has everything to gain and nothing to lose by shitting on Tesla.

As someone who champions himself on the Volt probably should just stop talking and go be retired.

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Clay, Tesla is not profitable yet, they don't plan to be profitable until 2020. They're going to keep investing in superchargers as well as the battery factory and developing new models. All of these things will keep sucking cash for the next four years. But if you believe in what Elon is doing in the concepts.... 4 years is a mere pittance of time. The model X is just rolling off the line, the model three will be launched by the end of 2017. And rumor has it that in 2019 the will launch a 2 seat roadster. I have been driving my car all over the place and it still is weird to go slightly out of your way to find a supercharger but yet not pay anything to recharge the vehicle. Usually less than 20 to 25 minutes and I'm on my way. An average gas stop is 14 minutes. My condo association actually put a charger in for me and one other person and the electricity is free. I believe they will build another factory in China to sell cars to APAC, and another battery facility in Europe. Add in space X getting another $2B contract from the US govt, Solar City is gearing up and the Hyperloop will become a reality. Nikola Tesla wanted everyone to have free electricity....Elon is just making his dream come true.
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Scott, I appreciate more than most the amount of capital that goes into a startup company. Elon will go down as one of the great innovators of our time. When regulatory and political environments produce headwinds to many businesses, he is doing an amazing job with multiple projects.

 

That said, let's talk when Elon releases a 4-seater, 350mile-range sedan/coupe for $30k. :) Looking forward to the "Model 3"...

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Elon is an amazing salesman. He has sold his investors on the idea of losing money in the long term because it's good for the distant future. Maximum Bob is right, Some day he isn't going to get any more money and Tesla is going to have to become profitable overnight to survive.

 

I do agree with bob that a cheaper model is needed, I don't agree that it needs to be a hybrid. A leaf competitor could keep to the brand's core values and now that the Tesla name has luxury cachet an "entry level" commuter car and leaf competitor might be the ticket to profitability. provided they don't get instantly creamed by the big three or the Japanese flooding the marketplace with their own competitors. We certainly live in interesting times.

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I do agree with bob that a cheaper model is needed, I don't agree that it needs to be a hybrid. A leaf competitor could keep to the brand's core values and now that the Tesla name has luxury cachet an "entry level" commuter car and leaf competitor might be the ticket to profitability. provided they don't get instantly creamed by the big three or the Japanese flooding the marketplace with their own competitors. We certainly live in interesting times.

 

Needs to be all electric or go home... period!

 

A discount model with a 100 mile range would be more then enough to the simple person who drives to work then back home. I would buy something like that if such a thing was competitive with with ~30k-40k price range

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Scott, I appreciate more than most the amount of capital that goes into a startup company. Elon will go down as one of the great innovators of our time. When regulatory and political environments produce headwinds to many businesses, he is doing an amazing job with multiple projects.

 

That said, let's talk when Elon releases a 4-seater, 350mile-range sedan/coupe for $30k. :) Looking forward to the "Model 3"...

 

Ok, we will not talk until Dec 2017............lol

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